Gilligan's 'Mary Ann' on stage in 'Vagina Monologues'

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, about "The Vagina Monologues" -- starring Mary Ann.

Dawn Wells, best known for playing girl-next-door castaway Mary Ann on the '60s sitcom "Gilligan's Island," is a featured guest performer starting Tuesday in Columbia's national touring production of Eve Ensler's provocative play about women and their sexuality.

Wells acknowledges it may seem a casting stretch since she is best known as wholesome Mary Ann, a wide-eyed baker of coconut cream pies whose navel was barred from exposure by the era's network censors.

But Wells has appeared in scores of plays, from Tennessee Williams to Neil Simon, and says mature-themed material doesn't frighten her.

"I hope the audience will say, 'Gee, there is so much more to Dawn than Mary Ann,'" Wells said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

"A lot of people think Mary Ann is all I can do," she added. "I also want them to walk away saying that play has a message. Besides, what do you think you are seeing when you come to a play called 'The Vagina Monologues?' You don't see 'The Sound of Music.'"

Not pornographic

The play features three women seated on stage, taking turns reading the words of women from all walks of life interviewed by Ensler. Some of the monologues are humorous, others serious in dealing with subjects including rape.

The monologues include graphic descriptions, but its producers say it is not pornographic and its recommended rating would be PG-13.

"I don't have any filthy words to say, and there is no nudity, which my 91-year-old mother wouldn't approve of anyway," Wells said.

The national touring production features two New York actresses and usually a third performer with local ties. For Wells, who lives in the Los Angeles area, the enduring Columbia connection is Stephens College, which was an all-women's institution when she received her degree in dramatic arts.

Wells has frequently returned to Columbia to teach master's courses in theater at Stephens, star in community productions, raise money for charities and serve on the college's board of trustees.

She spoke from Reno, Nev., while starring in a production of A.R. Gurney's play "Love Letters," co-starring another '60s TV star, Adam West, better known as the caped crusader Batman.

Unlike some performers who try to shed association with a much-recognized role for fear of typecasting, Wells has always embraced Mary Ann and her fans. The original "Gilligan's Island" halted production after three seasons in 1967, but the show is still seen around the world in syndication.

Eight performances of "The Vagina Monologues" are scheduled from Tuesday through Feb. 23 at the historic Missouri Theatre in downtown Columbia.

She stays in touch with many of the people who worked on "Gilligan's Island." Surviving cast members include Russell Johnson (the Professor), Tina Louise (sultry actress Ginger Grant) and Bob Denver, who played the hapless Gilligan, first mate of the shipwrecked S.S. Minnow.

Wells said with a laugh that she, Louise and the late Natalie Schafer, who played millionaire castaway's wife Lovey Howell, would have "done a beautiful job" filling the three stage chairs for "The Vagina Monologues."

"All three of us could have done it and Natalie would have been the first to say yes, because the messages are so important and the material is so powerful," Wells said.