One has to admire Moxie Theatre. Rather than lament the fact that it has no permanent space, it just goes on producing hit after hit at various locales, including Tenth Ave. Theatre and San Diego Repertory Theatre. And now, through April 13, it joins Diversionary Theatre, where it has produced a string of hits, to co-produce Zsa Zsa Gershick’s GLAAD and NAACP award-winning “Blue Bonnet Court.”
A beautifully cast, must-see production that testifies to director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg’s extraordinary ability to create ensemble and elicit their best from each actor, the action is set in Texas during World War II. The comedy addresses authenticity ” sexual, multiethnic, multiracial ” as it examines lives that intersect in a homey, rundown 1930s-era motor court presided over by Southern belle Lila Jean Webb (Jo Anne Glover) and her shell-shocked war hero husband Roy Glenn (Christopher Buess), whose war experience and repressed homosexuality have turned him abusive and alcoholic.
On a solo automobile trip from Manhattan to Hollywood, where a job writing screenplays awaits, Manhattan lesbian/Jewish journalist Helen Burke nee Berkowitz (Wendy Waddell) hits a tree while avoiding a deer near the outskirts of Austin. Unhurt, she puts up at Blue Bonnet Court during her considerable wait for car repairs. She is the stranger who changes lives, and she is changed as well when she falls in love.
Other finely drawn characters are Orla May, an African-American maid of all work (Monique Gaffney in a most affecting performance), and Nanalu Branch (Leigh Scarritt, too rarely seen in such a knockout role), a round-heeled woman who gives comfort and succor to young soldiers. Lisel Gorrell-Getz and Fred Harlow complete the company in a series of tone-setting radio plays. Radio was the major communications medium in those days and therefore a reflector of societal attitudes.
Everyone at Blue Bonnet Court works extremely hard to pass for something/someone they are not. The play’s greatest virtues include its use of rip-roaring humor and its ability to negotiate the fine line between character and caricature, between drama and melodrama. As my companion said, one leaves the experience wanting more from Gershick, perhaps even a full play about each character.
Gershick, who resides in Los Angeles, is author of “Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military” and “Gay Old Girls,” both published by Alyson Books.
The production is heightened by the introduction of scenic designer Joel Daavid, who creates the detailed environment of Blue Bonnet Court, a nostalgic trip back in time for many of us who grew up in that era and traveled those roads.
“Blue Bonnet Court” continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday through April 13 at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd., San Diego. For tickets and information, visit www.diversionary.org www.moxietheatre.com or call (619) 220-0097.
