Poway’s Community Theatre Kicks Off New Playwrights, Presents Show by Local Actor

PowPAC will premiere Life Cycles, an original play by a local playwright, to launch its New Playwrights presentations. 

Written by local actor Paul David Halem, the original play runs through June 26 and is a part of effort to present a show written by a new playwright each June.

“Here’s a chance to see something that has never been performed before by a new playwright,” Halem said. “I think it will be a good experience.”

Life Cycles is about the important stages people experience throughout their lifetimes. From birth to death, the play covers it all.

Halem explained five actors play 34 roles through 14 different lifecycles.

“It’s not a typical box set with the same character throughout the play. It’s a totally different type of situation,” he said. "They flow from one to the other very, very quickly. There’s no break in the action at all. It’s not the play that needs a lot of costumes or a lot of scenery or a lot of props, it’s really about the dialogue and the action."

Halem said he wrote the play from an actor’s perspective.

He added that the cast members were excited about the process and the opportunity to play multiple roles. Each of the actors will narrate the story at one point during the play and “talk to the audience,” he said.

The cast includes: Tony Bejarano, Rachel Bishop, George B. Colson, Kent Gandola and Deborah Zimmer.

“What I’ve tried to do is set up a situation where the fourth wall is really demolished,” he said. “The audience is an integral part of the play,”

Life Cycles is the first play that Halem has ever written.

He asked Director Grant Gelvin to read his play after he wrote it last May. Gelvin directed Halem in a play at Patio Playhouse shortly after Halem moved to Escondido from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004.

“I thought it was very strong in the way it deals with the things we really care about,” Gelvin said. “I thought it was an interesting blend of heartfelt drama and comedy.”

Gelvin enjoyed the play so much that he helped direct two stage readings at PowPAC in July and at Patio Playhouse in October.

“I think a lot of theaters like PowPAC want to encourage local playwrights, but it’s hard to do. They made a commitment to actually fining a local play and producing it,” Gelvin said. “I’m very pleased that we’re working with PowPAC in this way, because I think that they’re a very fine community theater.”

Halem added that the stage readings were successful and “people seemed to like it and want a full production of it.”

“Going page to stage in a year is unheard of,” he said. “I was really very fortunate for Grant, who’s an excellent director, to champion it and for PowPAC to be so enthusiastic about the project. It can take a playwright years and years and still not be able to get it out of his desk for somebody to actually do it.

“It’s a very different type of experience, and everybody who has seen it has been very entertained,” Halem said.

Performances will take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at PowPAC’s theater, located at 13250 Poway Rd. Ticket cost $12 for general admission. Tickets are $6 for children, but theater promoters note that the show is not suitable for children. For reservations, call the PowPAC box office at 858-679-8085 or email boxoffice@powpac.org. 

In other arts news:

• RB Chorale will present its annual scholarship concert on Friday and Saturday at the . During the concerts, the chorale will perform Disney and Broadway hits. In addition, local graduating high school seniors will perform vocal and instrumental selections to compete for scholarship awards. The audience will vote for their favorite scholarship finalist. The concerts begin at 7 p.m. on both nights. Tickets cost $20 for general admission,  $18 for seniors and students and $5 for children. The Poway Center for the Performing Arts is located at 15498 Espola Road.
• On Sunday, the center will host an art reception for Artists in Action, the artists whose artwork will be displayed on the lobby’s walls this month. The reception begins at 2 p.m. The exhibit was installed on June 2 and will run through June 25. The Poway Center for the Performing Arts’ gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• The Poway Folk Circle will meet for its Blugrass Jam on Monday. The jame session will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Round Table Pizza, located at 16761 Bernardo Center Drive in San Diego.