"Talking With ..." is all about women's voices and stories. The series of monologues gathers together an entertainingly varied and affecting group of characters and lives. In "Rodeo," a long-time rodeo rider rails against how big-business and family-friendly the rodeo has become. In "Clear Glass Marbles," a woman deals with the slow death of her mother. In "French Fries," a woman dreams of spending her life inside a McDonald's.

Chelsea Players are staging the piece this weekend, and it's at a new location for the long-running Norwich-based theater group. Their productions are usually held in the United Congregational Church Hall, but "Talking With ..." is being presented in the Banquet Room of Prime 82, which is the restaurant in the Marriott in Norwich. More on that later.

First, here's more about the show itself. August Wolf, who is producing "Talking With ..." and is directing four of the 10 monologues, notes that the Chelsea Players program bears the tagline "It's not your average ladies' night."

She says that every segment explores deep feelings that a given female character has. Sometimes, the pieces are funny. Or bizarre. Or angry. In short, each sequence gives the actresses something rich to play.

One of the pieces features a pregnant character — who's played here by a pregnant actress.

"The added bonus, of course, is no costume (pregnancy belly)," Wolf laughs.

They got an understudy for the actress, in case she gave birth early, and the two performers and director then worked it out so one actress would do the Friday show and the other would do Saturday.

Another monologue is titled "Marks," and it revolves around a character who, after being attacked and left with a facial scar, has decided to "mark" herself with tattoos. The actress will be painted with stage makeup to create all those tattoos.

"She's going to have to get there, like, two hours early to get it all," Wolf says.

An interesting note about "Talking With ...," which debuted in 1982: It was supposedly written by a Jane Martin, but there isn't an actual playwright named Jane Martin. Theater legend has it that the script just appeared on the steps of the Actors Theater of Louisville.

"So there's some conjecture as to who it really is," Wolf says. "Jane Martin is a pseudonym, but you don't know who it is."

As for Wolf, "Talking With ..." marks her first time directing and producing, although she has acted with Chelsea Players before. (The other directors for "Talking With..." are Val O'Keefe, Tim Moore and Jim Kenney.)

Discussing staging "Talking With ..." at Prime 82, Wolf explains the decision this way: "This is a set of monologues which are fairly intimate. They're talking about very deep feelings. Most of them talk directly to the audience. So they do, I guess you'd say, break the fourth wall. So I wanted it to be a fairly intimate setting. ... Because these are a little off the beaten path — this isn't a comedy, this isn't a drama, this is a little bit of everything — I thought the audience might want to enjoy a cocktail (she laughs), which we couldn't do in our normal location. Because the play is very intimate, I wanted the setting to be intimate."

She says that Prime 82 has been a supporter of Chelsea Players and that the group is encouraging people to make reservations for dinner at Prime 82 before the show. A cash bar will also be available pre-show and during the intermission.

In a further change of pace, Chelsea Players is doing its next show very soon — in May — at yet another location: in the Donald L. Oat Theater in the Norwich Arts Center building. "The Outgoing Tide" explores how people cope when a family member develops Alzheimer's.

"Talking With ...," 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., Banquet Room of Prime 82, 181 West Town St., Norwich (it's the restaurant in the Marriott in Norwich); doors open at 7:30, Faye Ringel provides pre-show music; tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door if tickets remain available; tickets are $10 for seniors; limited seating, reservations recommended: (860) 887-7289 or  email klamothe37@gmail.com