According to a program note, Becky's New Car was first produced by ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) in Seattle as a result of an incentive project for company donors to commission work by established playwrights. The play was a birthday gift from a husband to his wife when it premiered in 2008. "Art patrons funding new works in tribute to friends and lovers was very common during Shakespeare's time," said the donor, a Seattle realtor.
Becky's New Car, now in a Southern California premiere run at Pacific Resident Theater, would make anyone a splendid gift. Written by Steven Dietz, it is a gentle romantic farce about well-meaning but badly flawed people making a mess of their personal lives. Dietz pokes fun at his characters but always in a deft, light-hearted way.
As if to say, "Look, don't take any of this too seriously," he not only breaks the fourth wall by addressing the audience directly but sometimes invites onlookers to step on stage and take part in the action.
he action centers around Becky Foster (the superb Joanna Daniels), the happily married business manager of a "mega car lot" who inadvertently blunders into an affair with a billboard mogul (Brad Greenquist). That triggers a mounting series of conflicts and complications involving her husband (Jon Eric Preston), her 26-year-old son (Nick Rogers) and his rich girlfriend (Jules Willcox), a car salesman (the hilarious Christopher Shaw), and a recently widowed matron (Suzanne Ford).
Various kinds of automobiles figure in the action, including the brand-new SUV Becky commandeers in a desperate attempt to escape from the hell her life has become.
Michael Rothhaar directs the madcap plot skillfully, giving his actors ample room to show off their comedic gifts.
