Graphic Design by Ifaat Querishi
Photos by David Anthony
Pictured: Matilda Downey, India Myone McDonald, Heather E.
Cunningham and Kristen Vaughan in Mrs. California by
Doris Baizley
Click on the photo to see pictures of the production. |
Directed by Megan Wills
with Design by Viviane Galloway
and Sound by Di Drago
Starring Elizabeth Burke and Heather E. Cunningham
Dave DiLoreto, Matilda Downey, Jim Kilkenny,
India Myone McDonald, Kristen Vaughan
and featuring the voice talents of
Jack H. Cunningham, Reginald V. Ferguson,
and
Kimberly Greene
at the 78th Street Theatre Lab
236 West 78th Street at Broadway,
New York City
March 15-17, 22-24, 30-31 at 8pm
March 18, 25 at 3pm & 8pm
April 1 at 3pm
Tickets $20, cash only at the door or
call 212.352.3101 or visit
www.theatremania.com
Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Special Thanks to Materials for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural
Affairs/NYC Department of Sanitation/NYC Department of Education
Our Production of MRS. CALIFORNIA is
registered with the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. We are
eligible for several awards: Design, Direction, Leading and Featured
Performers. You can vote for us at
www.nyITawards.com.
Just click "Cast Your Vote."
 |
"This meticulously presented, charming, emotionally affecting
play by Doris Baizley is based on a mid-1950s competition to
find the best housewife in California."
"River Heights Productions,
a small, fairly new company whose work I did not previously
know, does a very impressive job turning the script into
theatre. Director Megan R. Wills allows her actors to
create characters with great style and flair but without
indulging their excesses. Elizabeth Burke (River Heights'
managing director) is very convincing as Babs. Heather E.
Cunningham (the company's artistic director) is solid as
Mrs. Los Angeles. Matilda Downey is utterly charming as
Mrs. Modesto, while Kristen Vaughan is funny and
positively magnetic as Mrs. San Francisco. Dave DiLoreto
and Jim Kilkenny, as men who happen to be involved in the
contest, are just right as well.
Even Viviane Galloway's set is pretty: a series of ovens
and stoves carefully and lovingly prepared, like the production
itself. "
Michael Lazan,
Backstage |
 "Cunningham and Burke do a
nice job showing the close friendship and banter between the two women.
Kristen Vaughan, Matilda Downey, and India Myone McDonald,
are terrific as the other contestants, as they manage to portray both
their doll-like exteriors as well as their own private struggles."
"The set design by Viviane Galloway is inspired—these
three-dimensional, vibrant women are forced to live in a two-dimensional
world. The paper-doll house set is both chilling and cute."
"Mrs. California is a valiant effort with a lot of heart, and River
Heights Productions should be praised for being the first company to
bring this marvelous play to New York City. The play is remarkably adept
at showing how women have been fighting to be treated as individuals for
generations, and how “femininity” (and perhaps “feminism”) is an
ever-changing concept. It also highlights a very important message—that
behind every great woman is another great woman who is her friend."
Josephine Cashman,
www.nytheatre.com
NYTheatre gave us a star! Starred shows
are considered to be noteworthy or of special interest by NYTE's editor. |
Mrs. San Francisco, a Stepford-wife
type perfectly played by Kristen Vaughan, and Mrs.
Modesto, a ditz who isn't really so ditzy, captured nicely by
Matilda Downey.
Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times |
"The play is
strongest when we catch a glimpse of the complex personalities
that lie beneath the judge-charming caricatures these women have
created for themselves. Cunningham believably fleshes out
Dot's seemingly mindless character through the slow revealing of
hidden facets you wouldn't have guessed she possessed. A
climactic speech about her "proudest moment" is stirring and
strong, especially in the stunned moment when she trembles with
the realization that her mother, aunts, and grandmother fought
for equality, and here she stands, a competent woman who saved
hundreds of soldiers' lives, struggling to earn respect by
ironing a shirt. Within her lies a fiery, determined spirit that
has been too easily and thoroughly suppressed."
Adrienne Cea,
www.offoffonline.com
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