Secrets of a Soccer Mom, presented by Laughing Matters Theatre Company, March 2-10 at North Vancouver's Presentation House Theatre. Tickets: $26/$28. Show times and info: www.phtheatre.org.
IT was a match made in heaven.
Jenny Mitchell had been searching high and low for a quality script that spoke to her mission of making theatre accessible as well as one that would resonate with local audiences. After reading playwright Kathleen Clark's Secrets of a Soccer Mom, she couldn't believe her good fortune.
A comedy, the play profiles three soccer moms who go head-to-head in a soccer game against their respective eight-year-old sons. What starts out as a friendly afternoon activity soon turns into something else entirely.
Making its Western Canadian premiere, Secrets of a Soccer Mom opens tonight at 8.p.m. at North Vancouver's Presentation House Theatre, followed by a gala reception. Presented by Mitchell's Laughing Matters Theatre Company, the production stars her, and fellow professional actors Tammy Bentz and Jessica Heafey. Bentz also serves as director.
"A lot of the audience is going to know who these people are," says Mitchell. "There is going to be a lot of those laughs, I think, or chuckles of recognition. As soon as you pull out a bucket of oranges, they go, 'Yeah, I know what that's like.' And, 'Oh, I know what that's like to be rushing around trying to get your kids out the door.'"
Coincidentally, Mitchell and Bentz, both North Vancouver residents, knew each other through their sons' sports community, rather than the local arts community.
"Our kids play soccer and baseball together," says Mitchell. "So when this project came up and Tammy's name was brought up, I was like 'That's perfect!'"
Mitchell plays Lynn, an avid volunteer and PAC member, Bentz fills the role of Nancy, the big mom on campus, and Heafey tackles Alison, the new mom in town.
"All of the characters learn things about themselves, they learn things about each other and they learn things about their kids too," says Mitchell.
"People need to come and see how the game ends," she adds. Mitchell founded Laughing Matters Theatre Company in 2005 in response to the Southeast Asia tsunami. Interested in supporting the relief effort, she presented a play reading and raised approximately $4,000 for UNICEF. Laughing Matters has continued to mount shows and incorporate fundraising for various charities.
"I always like to have some of the proceeds or, if not the proceeds, a silent auction or a raffle or something that can be going on so people are coming to have a good night and some of their money is going to help somewhere else," says Mitchell. "It's sort of a ripple effect."
Laughing Matters' last production was 2007's How the Other Half Loves at Presentation House Theatre in support of the North Shore Christmas Bureau.
At Secrets of a Soccer Mom, donations will be accepted for Athletics for Kids, which provides financially disadvantaged youth greater access to organized sport, and Project Limelight, a free performing arts program for young people living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Strathcona and Mount Pleasant neighbourhoods.
Secrets of a Soccer Mom marks a sort of departure for Laughing Matters. "I've always wanted it to be a comedy because I always wanted to get people out that don't normally go to the theatre," says Mitchell.
In addition, it's intended to celebrate women and moms, timed with International Women's Day March 8. The experience has proven refreshing for all involved, seeing three female leads have an opportunity to tell women's stories.
"It's great to have a great comedy with three strong women," says Heafey, adding, that's not to say it's a "chick play."
Bentz encourages adult community members of all genders to take in a performance.
"It's a great opportunity for 'North Shorians' to go out to a night of really good theatre and it's locally made and it's going to be funny and it's going to hit them where the soccer ball does," she says.
Secrets of a Soccer Mom's run continues to March 10.
