Sister Wonder Woman is a one woman show written and performed by Josie Ryan, the
younger sister of Xena’s Lucy Lawless. Ryan’s energetic performance and light hearted touch
takes a surprising turn when she exposes the dark side of fame, family pathos, what it’s
like living in the shadow of a more famous sister, and the incredible pain and callous
disregard that exists beneath the cheerful surface of television stardom.
Ryan plays Rhonda Carter, a washed up 70’s television star that became famous after
starring as Wonder Woman. Ryan also plays the younger sibling, Sylvia Carter, who
struggles to escape her sister’s famous shadow and feel good about herself despite being
dumped by her latest boyfriend who doesn’t want to be seen with her after her sister’s
show is cancelled. Rhonda tells her younger sister, ‘You could be me. We look identical.
If you lost 20 lbs.’
This play if filled with what I love to call “awkward, uncomfortable moments that make you
squirm." Everyone squirmed after the “20 lbs., look like me" comment, especially since
Ryan looks remarkably identical to her older sister Lawless, albeit with the extra 20 lbs.
And of course in the shallow world of being a woman on television, being caught with an
extra 20 lbs. is the most nightmarish thing that can happen to you.
As Rhonda, Ryan blithely enacts news media interviews extolling struggles with alcoholism,
drug abuse to the adoring t.v. viewing public. And all is forgiven because, unlike her
sister Sylvia, Wonder Woman Rhonda is free of those extra 20 lbs.
It may be covering obvious territory to trash these television “values," but there’s
something haunting which silenced the audience watching the play with me. When Ryan
played Wonder Woman Rhonda telling her sister Sylvia ‘we look identical… lose 20 lbs.,’
you could suddenly see Lawless saying this to her sister Josie. Ryan looks a lot like her
sister Lawless and sounds like her when she delivers Rhonda’s lines at that moment. It
became hard to separate reality from the play which seems to be Ryan’s message to begin
with… about becoming lost from who you are and your own identity. And it feels like an
indictment of our values as an audience just to make this observation about Ryan and
Lawless. I suddenly felt like this wasn’t just a riveting play but great fodder for one
of those “Mass Communications and the Observer" classes you find on high brow college
campuses.
Ryan also plays Rhonda as a woman maintaining a cheerful façade and a quiet dignity
despite enduring demeaning and mind numbingly dumb celebrity interviews, which make up the
typical talk show. This could be Ryan’s loving tribute to her sister, who handles her
interviews in a similarly graceful manner. And there’s some hilarious material on what
it’s like to be a fetus inside the belly of a pregnant super hero actor. ‘I could take it
all, but those (Wonder Woman) spins.’
Despite these lighter moments, Ryan continues to chase the pain. Sylvia must endure a
clueless boyfriend who naughtily admits he sometimes fantasizes about sleeping with her
famous sister when they’re in bed. And there’s the pain of Rhonda who suspects her
executive producer/husband is really more in love with her character than her and rebels
by refusing to renew her contract to ‘wear that Halloween costume for another three
years.’
There’s a wonderful reconciliation and truth sharing between the two sisters, but it was
hard to hold onto after seeing Ryan’s stomach churning performance as Rhonda at a fan
convention 20 years hence, signing autographs next to the bathroom and being nothing more
than a glorified “info booth."
It takes a backbone of steel to be a t.v. super hero and not lose your soul or your
sanity. And it takes a backbone of titanium to be the sister of a Wonder Woman.
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"Lucy Lawless' Sister Josie Ryan Rocks as Sister Wonder Woman"
