PowPAC’s ‘Unnecessary Farce’ promises big laughs

Enjoy wacky comedy with PowPAC, Poway’s Community Theatre’s new show “Unnecessary Farce,” opening Friday, July 24.

“Unnecessary Farce” will run for five weekends, closing on Sunday, Aug. 23. Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at 13250 Poway Road, in the Lively Center. The theater is located on the second floor; it is handicap accessible via an elevator in the rear of the building.

Tickets are available on-line at www.powpac.org, and are $22 general admission and $20 for students, seniors and active duty military. Prices include ticket handling charges. There is a $2 surcharge for opening night, which includes a post-performance reception with the cast.

“This is the funniest farce my husband (Keith Anderson, who is the show’s director) and I have worked on,” said Mary Anderson, one of the show’s producers. Dorothy Courtney is the show’s other producer.

“Unnecessary Farce” tells the madcap tale of two inept cops assigned to conduct a sting on the town’s mayor at a local motel, the two criminals who are on to the sting, the mayor, and the accountant who is trying to get the mayor to admit on tape about his wrongdoings.

“Unnecessary Farce” was written by actor and playwright Paul Slade Smith, and premiered in 2006. It has been produced more than 150 times, in both English and French, in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Iceland and Singapore.

“It’s a typical farce,” said Anderson. “It’s got a far-fetched plot, with exaggerated characters, lots of physical humor, lots of slamming doors and lots of people running in and out of those doors.”

The cast features Lizette Kent Allen as Billie Dwyer, Nathan Boyer as Todd (the Scottish hit man), Frank Godinez as Agent Frank, David Ryan Gutierrez as Eric Sheridan, Peggy Schneider as Mary Meekly, Brandon Kaye Thomas as Karen Brown and Martin White as Mayor Meekly.

“We’ve got a very talented cast,” said Anderson. “They’re all up to the physical humor. It’s a very fast-paced show.”

Staging the show includes setting up two identical, yet mirrored economy motel rooms on the stage, with eight doors for the cast to use. “People are running in and out (of the doors) to hide, escape and go running for help,” said Anderson. “It’s supposed to be a cheap motel, so it has a few wild elements with a wild bedspread that ties into the plot.”

Anderson said she thinks audiences will enjoy “Unnecessary Farce.” “Farce is always meant to be improbable,” she said. “It’s not meant to be logical. In farce, one event always leads to another and to another. But I think it will surprise and delight the audience. I think we’ll have non-stop laughter.”

Making the audience laugh is her and her husband’s goal, she said. “We love doing community theater, and doing PowPAC. It’s always a joy to hear the audience laugh and enjoy themselves. The goal is to make sure the audience is having a good time and go away smiling.”