A NEW PLAY by LISA BALDERSTON – LIFE BY NUMBERS
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE: SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE: Art & Culture – The Best Things to do This Weekend: June 7-9, 2024 (Life by Numbers written by Lisa Balderston)
Lamplighters Community Theatre Presents Life by Numbers by Local Playwright Lisa Balderston
Saturday, June 1st, 2024 @ 8:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays, 2:00 PM on Sundays
Life By Numbers – Written by Lisa Balderston, Directed by Julia Smith
It’s been two years since Ellie’s father passed away, and she’s nervous about her Mom’s recent interest in dating, which prompts her to move back home. She finds there are more changes in her Mom’s world than she anticipated. https://sandiegomagazine.com/community-event/lamplighters-theatre-presents-life-by-numbers-by-local-playwright-lisa-balderston/
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LIFE BY NUMBERS – Top Row: Natalie Geib (Stage Manager), Lisa Balderston (Playwright), Julia Miller (Director) Bottom Row: Joanne Branch, Lucinda Moaney, Ell Miller, Lesa Sailors & Steven Ronggur Silalahi.
CELEBRATE PRIDE with “LIFE by NUMBERS” – A Coming Out Journey!
Meet the AMAZING cast in Life by Numbers (written by Lisa Balderston) Featuring: Laura Ganz-Holtan, Ell Miller, Lucinda Moaney, Steven Ronggur Silalahi, Lesa Sailors. (Photos by Ken Jacques) https://adobe.ly/4aQCRaO)
OPENING NIGHT is this Friday! Get your tickets to this heart-felt dramedy!! (June 7th through June 16th) Lamplighters Theatre – 5915 Severin Drive, La Mesa, CA 91942.
STORY: It’s been two years since Ellie’s father passed away, and she’s nervous about her Mom’s recent interest in dating, which prompts her to move back home. She finds there are more changes in her Mom’s world than she anticipated.
What a wonderful review from San Diego Jewish World:
| A New Play by Lisa Balderston |
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| AUDITION NOTICE Lamplighters Theatre is holding auditions for Life By Numbers By Lisa Balderston DIRECTED BY: Julia Smith PRODUCED BY:: Pamela Stompoly AUDITION DATES: Monday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 17, 2024 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM |
| RSVP at SIGN-UP GENIUS link for available times: **AUDITIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE THEATRE LOBBY** 5915 Severin Drive, La Mesa, CA 91942 SHOW RUN: June 7 through June 16, 2024 PERFORMANCES: Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm. AUDITION INFORMATION:The audition will consist of cold reads from the script with a reader. Please arrive 15 minutes early for schedule comparison and paperwork. No performance conflicts permitted. Please use Sign Up Genius link above to secure an audition spot. Please bring your most current headshot and resume. All roles are open for inclusivity and diversity. Lamplighters is an all-volunteer organization. SYNOPSIS It’s been two years since Ellie’s father passed away, and she’s nervous about her Mom’s recent interest in dating, which prompts her to move back home. She finds there are more changes in her Mom’s world than she anticipated. |
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PowPAC Premieres ‘Transported‘ by Lisa Balderston – a Look at How Violence Affects Families
(PowPAC’s “Transported” cast includes Suzanne Whitman as Sara, Laura Gracie as Mari, Tim Benson as Enrique, Kanaan Hesseling as Javier and Rayne Gonzalez as Gabi.)
TRANSPORTED – Originally the winner of the Local Flavor Stage Reading Competition at the Scripps Ranch Theatre, will now be performed on stage at the PowPAC Theatre during the 2021-2022 season, running January 28 – February 20, 2022. This heart-felt, thought-provoking play is about two women who lose their gay sons in a mass shooting. Once close friends while their sons dated, they drift apart after the funerals. Two years later, they run into each other during a late subway ride home. Initially, they exchange basic pleasantries to catch up on the latest in their lives. The conversation takes a turn when they reveal how much their lives have truly changed, filled with regrets and resentments. Will they ever come to terms with the pain of losing their sons? Will they ever find peace in their current lives?
Play Deals With Healing After Hate Crime Killings
JAN. 19, 2022 11:48 AM PT
The world premiere of a play that explores the varied ways two families — united in tragedy due to gun violence and a hate crime — respond to their heartbreak opens at PowPAC on Jan. 28.
“Transported” by San Diego playwright Lisa Balderston can be seen on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Feb. 20 at PowPAC, Poway’s Community Theatre. Director Gil Savage, who is also PowPAC artistic director, said the play was chosen because of its message.
“The show addresses the horrors that automatic weapons do every year,” Savage said. “The primary message is about the horror of this mass murder caused by a hate crime … and how it destroys society.”
“When I read it I said we got to do this play because it has an important message,” he said. The play revolves around two Latino families. In Act I, the families come together to celebrate the marriage of their sons. But later that night, the young men — off stage — go to a gay nightclub to continue celebrating with friends and are victims of a hate-based mass shooting.
Act II is set a few years later, when the two grieving mothers — who were close friends before the tragedy — and the sister of one of the men meet by chance on a train. Since the murders, one mother has become a gun control advocate, whose mission has become preventing another tragedy like the one that caused the death of her son. The other mother has withdrawn, concluding nothing will ever change society, Savage said.
“So it is about learning to live together,’ Savage said. “Those who commit hate crimes affect and destroy families, not just the individual. Families have to pull together. It is about their faith and strength.”
“(The characters) have to keep their heart open and remember … faith in family gets you through (anything). … It is through support and relying on faith that they get great strength,” he said. Balderston wrote “Transported” as a one-act play and there were performed readings in 2019 at Scripps Ranch Theatre and OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista, Savage said. Since then, she expanded it into a two-act play and this is the first time it is being staged.
“It has been in development for more than a year,” Savage said, adding Balderston is “super talented and has a future in the theater world.” Balderston, a San Diego native, earned a bachelor’s in English from San Diego State University and a master’s in creative writing and literature for educators from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University. Working with a playwright is something Savage has done before. The Scripps Ranch resident began his theater career as a 15-year-old with The Old Globe back in the mid-1960s.
“I’ve always been in love with community theater and starting or originating works,” said Savage, who has been with PowPAC for 10 years. Savage said casting the show during a pandemic has been a challenge, with some actors needing to be replaced due to “problems beyond our control.” To audition, all actors had to be fully vaccinated against COVID.
“There was not the typical turnout of actors at auditions, which we totally understand,” he said. “It is rough to rehearse in masks, though they will not perform with masks.” The cast consists of Suzanne Whitman, Laura Gracie, Tim Benson, Kanaan Hesseling, Rayne Gonzalez, Kevin McGinnis and Gyanesh Billakanti.
“Transported” can be seen at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays from Jan. 28 through Feb. 20. There will also be two Saturday matinees, at 2 p.m. on Feb. 12 and 19. Tickets are $22 for general admission and $20 for students, seniors and active duty military. Purchase at powpac.org.
According to PowPAC’s website, audience members upon arrival must show photo ID and proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or negative results of a COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance. They must also wear a mask over their mouth and nose at all times.
PowPAC is at 13250 Poway Road, on the second-level of the Lively Center in Poway. Parking is free and there is an elevator in back for those who want to avoid the stairs.
Transported – Act Two
LISA BALDERSTON 