Meet the women
who inspired the script
Rebecca Axelrod
A versatile singing actor with classical training, Becky (Jacqueline Sturgeon) has sung over 30 leading roles in musical theatre, including leading soprano roles with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players.
She performed for 19 years with New York Cabaret Unlimited, an American songbook touring ensemble located in Westchester County.
After retiring to Essex in 2012, she has enjoyed many roles with Stage 284 in Hamilton. Favorites include Aunt March in Little Women, Aunt Martha in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods. She also created a staged reading of her great-great-grandfather’s letters from the Civil War.
Last April, Becky debuted at the Firehouse Theater as Mrs. Jarrett in Escaped Alone.
She feels both hugely challenged and enormously grateful to Doug for writing Best If Used By for her and Barbara.
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Becky graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Music. She worked for many years for Phillips Oppenheim, an executive search firm in Manhattan. She feels grateful to be living near her two daughters, son-in-law, and three grandchildren, and singing with her church choir and the Paul Madore Chorale.
Barbara Bourgeois
Barbara Bourgeois (Josephine Duquesne) has been performing in and around the Boston area for the past 40 years.
Some of her favorite roles include Jennie in A Murder Of Crows (Quannapowitt Players), Abby in Arsenic and Old Lace (Arlington Friends of the Drama), Clairee in Steel Magnolias (Acme Theater), Deliverance Hobbs in Saltonstall’s Trial (Punctuate 4 Productions), and Nell in Haiku (Act) for which she won the NETC best actress award.
Barbara has also appeared in TV commercials, training videos and film.
Barbara was raised in Holbrook, MA, and earned a BA in business education at Boston University. She and her husband raised four children, and Barbara has five grandchildren. She worked for a dermatologist for 20+ years.
She always wanted to act, but never pursued it till her mid-40s.
“I am so fortunate,” she says, “that I am still able to follow my dream after all these years.”