(L to R: Melanie Nicholls-King, Sandi Ross, Karen Robinson, Ordena Stephens)

“Even at a brief 25 minutes, there’s no Fringe show that packs more energy onstage than The Johnson Girls, adapted from a story by American writer Toni Cade Bambara about five sisters who congregate to offer support when one has trouble with her man. Ranging from the stolid but disturbed Inez (Karen Robinsons) and the no-nonsense Gail (Pat Idlette) to Sugar (Sandi Ross), who who wants her man as a blue-plate special, these women are vibrantly alive, sexy, tough and funny.” Jon Kaplan, NOW

“Also fun, though with more of a message, is The Johnson Girls at the Helen Gardiner Phelan. An intriguing story about a group of women coming to the aid of a mutual friend when her lover unaccountably takes a powder.” Mira Friedlander, The Star