Soul sisters

Tom Ziegler’s 1996 two-woman play “Grace and Glorie” is described by Interplayers director Ellen Crawford as “touching, funny and moving.”

In other words, perfect for the old Hallmark Hall of Fame. That’s where the TV movie version aired in 1998, starring Diane Lane and Gena Rowlands.

Before that, however, it was a well-received off-Broadway play featuring Estelle Parsons and Lucie Arnaz.

It’s an “Odd Couple”-like story about a feisty, 90-year-old “mountain woman” and her hospice volunteer, a high-voltage New York career woman with an MBA. They discover they have more in common than they think.

The New York Times called it a “good-natured pretense about death and friendship.”

“They bring each other back to life,” said Crawford. “They learn not only that they can help someone, but they can allow themselves to be helped. … It can be magic for our souls.”

However, Crawford wants to make one thing clear: It may be moving, but it is “not sappy.”

“It does deal with big issues, but it’s funny, first of all,” she said. “It has a sense of humor about it.”

Crawford, best known as Nurse Lydia Wright of NBC’s “ER,” has brought two of her longtime friends and colleagues from Los Angeles to appear in the title roles in the Interplayers production, which continues through Dec. 8.

Playing cantankerous Grace will be Brady Rubin, an actress whose credits include “ER,” “The West Wing” and “NYPD Blue.”

Rubin has also done a great deal of stage work and was a founding member of the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company, which, in a reversal of the original Shakespearean tradition, cast women in every role.

Playing the Type-A Gloria will be Karen Kalensky, who has appeared in such TV shows as “Saturday Night Live,” “Tales From the Crypt,” “One Life to Live” and “All My Children.” But the majority of her experience has been in the theater as an actor, casting director and director.

Four years ago, Kalensky directed Rubin in “Grace and Glorie” at a small L.A. theater. When they began brainstorming with Crawford about a good play to do at Interplayers, they immediately thought of “Grace and Glorie.”

Crawford had been at Interplayers last year to appear in “Sparky and the Fitz.” She said she loved Spokane’s arts community and atmosphere and wanted to come back.