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Bluebonnet Court

4545 Park Boulevard, San Diego, 92116

Whether, as a radio ad says, they're the "Yellow Rose of Texas, or one of God's plainer flowers," everyone in Zsa Zsa Gershick's dramedy is living a double life. Austin, Texas, in the spring of 1944, punishes nontraditional preferences. War rages in Europe, and hate sears the Lone Star hill country where, when her car breaks, down, Helen Burke becomes stranded. She's a writer (did an advice column for Hearst, now's headed for Hollywood). She's also Jewish and a lesbian. She learns that the Webbs, who own the motor lodge (where scorpions nap in empty shoes), their African-American employee Orla Mae, and Nanalu Branch, the local librarian, have been stranded all their lives. They're caught between the ideal, glamorized on radio and in movie mags, and closeted choices. In the middle, they've created false, but life-preserving identities. Though the comedy at times upstages the drama (the jokes are so funny, their absence lulls the pace), and though the ending's more a wish than a possibility in 1944, it's clear to see why Blue Bonnet's won several awards. The Moxie-Diversionary Theatre co-production gets the play's grit and its hope. Her hair swirling like twin tornados, Wendy Waddell exudes Helen's crack-wise attitude. Monique Gaffney's Orla Mae says little, speaks volumes about racial barriers. Jo Anne Glover, Christopher Buess, and Leigh Scarrit play moving variations on the theme of pain. For contrast, Lisel Gorrell-Getz and Fred Harlow etch unreal, often screamingly funny radio personalities (Harlow, in fact, must play half of Austin, from the compassionate to the cutthroat). Jennifer Brawn Gittings's costumes evoke the period with precision.


Worth a try.

When

Ongoing until Sunday, April 13, 2008

Hours

Sundays, 2pm & 7pm
Thursdays, 7:30pm
Fridays, 8pm
Saturdays, 8pm
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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