PowPAC Won’t Forget About ‘Fuddy Meers’

PowPAC, Poway’s Community Theatre, brings Fuddy Meers, a fast-paced poignant comedy with adult themes, to the stage Oct. 16 through Nov. 8. This engaging show combines bizarre behavior with plenty of comic relief. It traces one woman’s attempt to regain her memory, while surrounded by alarmingly strange characters.

Director Steve Murdock says the play does not have an ounce of fat on it. “Every actor has something interesting and compelling to do in this piece. Fuddy Meers strikes an excellent balance between the poignant and the comedic. If you were looking for a category, I would call it a dark farce. The piece runs from uproariously silly to horribly violent, to sad and introspective to surreal and then back again.”

Producer Sherrie Colbourn agrees that Fuddy Meers allows us to face tragedy with humor. “It allows for the juxtaposition of classic themes on modern situations. Scenes are handled in a comic way, allowing for a hopeful conclusion.”

The story is focused around Claire, who has a rare form of amnesia that erases her memory whenever she goes to sleep. Every morning her husband comforts her and re-introduces Claire to the world. But her condition is far from the only oddity of this story. There’s her alienated, pot-smoking, dyslexic 17 year-old son. Claire’s mother, a lucid, but aphasic stroke survivor. There is a mysterious limping man in a ski mask with a pronounced lisp, and an agenda. Plus, there is a convicted felon in a stolen suit with a foul-mouthed hand puppet, and a fair but firm female police officer with claustrophobic tendencies. Every twist and turn in this funhouse plot brings Claire closer to realizing her past life, and everything she thought she had forgotten.

Murdock says, “The real strength of the play is that it takes many well-worn elements found in countless farces and comedies and reworks them into something smart, contemporary and ironic.” Murdock adds that he has the perfect cast to bring all these elements to life. “We have the best cast working at any level of theater, period. They bring a formidable array of perspectives and talents to the diverse characters with a crack production team bringing it all together.”

Fuddy Meers
Presented by PowPAC, Poway’s Community Theatre
Oct. 16 – Nov. 8
Tickets: $15

PowPAC, 13250 Poway Road (In Poway)
Box-Office: (858) 679-8085
Online: powpac.org