A comedy about a woman finding romance again after age 50 and her two friends who see only her suitor’s red flags, is opening on Friday night at PowPAC.
“Women in Jeopardy!” by Wendy MacLeod will be performed through June 22 in Poway’s community theater. The two-act play is described as “Thelma and Louise” meets “The First Wives Club.”
Mary (played by Eva Kvaas) and Jo (Samantha Goldstein) are suspicious of the new boyfriend of their friend Liz (Kerry Menchin). They not only think Jackson (Martin Wojtysiak) is “a weirdo,” but a serial killer who may have recently murdered his missing hygienist.
Fueled by their imaginations, Mary and Jo are determined to learn the truth and save Liz during their off-road adventure.
ing in the hilarity are Liz’s 19-year-old daughter Amanda (Abbie Black) and her boyfriend Trenner (Alex Lopez). There is also a policeman named Kirk who is the complete opposite of Jackson but also played by Wojtysiak. Casting the same actor for Jackson and Kirk is in the script notes, said director Lisa Balderston.
“When I read the script I laughed,” Balderston said. “It is hysterical and there are also a lot of things that I could relate to on multiple levels.”
She said Mary, Jo and Liz are all divorcees in their 50s. They are entering a different stage in their lives and Liz is feeling a new enthusiasm over finding love again, similar to the head-over-heels giddyness of a first love.
“They are three women very close in age who have known each other for 25-plus years and can finish each others’ sentences,” Balderston said. “I have relationships like that.
“They can recognize that Liz has blinders on and can see more clearly what their friend cannot,” she said.
The play is set in the present day, but there is a lot of ‘80s music because that is the music the three women listened to in their younger days. Balderston said.
“It is very funny and relatable on different levels to different people,” she said. “There is the friendship bond between the gals and it is funny how they interact.”
Balderston said she would give the play a PG-13 rating because “twice there is profanity, there is a reference to body parts and there are love making sounds that are overdone for the sake of comedy.”
This is the first time Balderston has directed a play. She was asked to take on the task last year by artistic director Steve Murdock after serving as the assistant director for PowPAC’s presentation of “The Butler Did It” last season.
“I am primarily a playwright,” Balderston said of her theater experience, adding it is “very exciting” to be the director because she gets to make creative choices.
Her mother died just a few days before auditions and others — especially producer Dorothy Courtney — stepped up to assist her with the play while she was making funeral arrangements. Balderston said she has appreciated the she has received.
As for her play writing, the Mira Mesa resident penned the drama “Transported,” which PowPAC presented as a premiere in 2022, and “Life by Numbers “ at Lamplighters Community Theatre last year.
Her “Queen of Lucia” had a stage reading by The Scripteasers last September, while her “The Art of Tolerance and Forgiveness” was selected for a stage reading at the Trinity Theatre Company’s New Works Festival in April. It was one of 10 plays selected out of 534 submissions. “Let’s Chat” will get a stage reading by The Scripteasers in June, according to Balderston.
She also is a professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, teaching a course that analyzes the dramatic writing of literature.
Balderston’s journey as a playwright began while she was working on her master’s degree and took a dramatic writing class. Her professor encouraged her to enter a one-act play she wrote as an assignment to Scripps Ranch Theatre’s local playwrights contest. It was one of two winners in 2019 and staged there.
PowPAC’s artistic director at the time, Gil Savage, saw it and asked Balderston if she could turn her work into a full-length play. What she first penned became the second act of “Transported,” she said.
“To see your words come to life is magical because it is very different from the voices in my head,” she said. “It’s exciting and a weird feeling to see what you have on the page getting people to breathe life into it.”
While Balderston is new to PowPAC in of directing, she has a long association with the community theater. Around 28 years ago, her mother-in-law Nan Katona, a longtime PowPAC volunteer, presented Balderston and her husband with season tickets and since then they have been patrons. Later, Balderston was asked to judge PowPAC’s shows for its annual awards ceremony and for a few years was the judging coordinator.
“Women in Jeopardy!” can be seen at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sundays from May 30 to June 22. There will also be 2 p.m. shows on Saturday, June 7 and 21.
Tickets are $26 for general ission; $24 for seniors, students and active duty military; and $22 for groups of 10 or more. Buy at powpac.org, call 858-679-8085 or email [email protected].
PowPAC is at 13250 Poway Road on the second level of the Lively Center. Those who want to avoid the stairs can park in the back so they can access the elevator.
