Garland Civic Theatre continues its 48th season with a production of “Mrs. California,” Doris Baizley’s hilarious comedy about a pageant for homemakers. The production will run Fridays and Saturdays until November 7 with a Sunday performance on October 25 at the Granville Arts Center, 300 North Fifth St. in downtown Garland.
Call the Arts Center Box Office at 972-205-2790 for tickets or order them online at www.garlandartsboxoffice.com. All tickets are $22 which includes service fee. Discounts are available for KERA members and groups of 10 or more. Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 8 p.m. and the Sunday matinee is at 2:30 p.m.
The director for the production is the multi-talented Ryan Matthieu Smith. His cast includes Marilyn Twyman as Dot (Mrs. Los Angeles), Tammy Partanen as Babs, Joshua Hensley as Dudley, Emma Shaw as Mrs. San Francisco, Candice Newsum as Mrs. Modesto, Brandy Nuttall as Mrs. San Bernardino and Nick Clark as Stage Manager.
The time is pre-women’s lib 1955, the place a Los Angeles hotel, where a homemaker’s contest is in progress—the winner to embody the epitome (at the time) of the ideal woman: “a happy, good and beautiful homemaker.” Entered as Mrs. L.A., Dot, sponsored by the local gas company, vies with the others in ironing a man’s shirt, sewing an apron from an original pattern, setting a table, preparing a meal and delivering a monologue entitled “My Proudest Moment” —which, for Dot, was when she saved an American naval force from submarine attack while serving as a decoder in the WAVES during World War II.
She is also abetted by her tart-tongued friend Babs, an electronics wizard who is not above tampering with sewing machines and stoves as the contest comes down to the finals, with Mrs. Modesto, Mrs. San Bernardino and Mrs. San Francisco going head to head with Dot for the victory. Urged one way by the brassy Babs (who can’t resist showing up the contest for the ridiculous farce it is) and another by the fatuous man from the gas company (who pleads with Dot to play by the rules) Dot ultimately decides to do what she thinks is right rather than what she is told to do—the result, of course, being that the final nod goes to the contestant who best fulfills the image ordained by the macho men who run the contest and the one who manages to blend a good helping of sex appeal with her compliance. Come for a time of laughter and reflection.
Visit www.garlandcivictheatre.org or call 972-485-8884 for additional information.