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Pothole leads to lots of laughs
Senior Players presenting cast of kooks this weekend

by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

If you like to smile, chuckle and laugh out loud, check out the Firehouse Arts Center this weekend. The Pleasanton Senior Players have been busy with final practices every afternoon for its production of "You Can't Get There From Here."

"It has everything I like in a play," said director Barbara David. "It's funny, it has a lot of good parts, it doesn't have any little kids, it doesn't have any dogs and it's not too racy -- it's just a light comedy, and it makes us laugh while we're doing it."

Written by Pat Cook, "You Can't Get There From Here" is a play of hidden agendas, with a blossoming romance, a hard-headed heavy-tempered business woman and a serene old country philosopher. It also has a crazy actor.

At Monday's rehearsal the stage was set, and the actors slipped easily into character.

"Around here truth is relative," the editor of the paper in the small town explains to a big city journalist.

Arthur Lyman is investigating the disappearance of a Pulitzer Prize winner when he damages his car by running over a pothole. This means he has to spend the night at the Marvis Garner Bed and Breakfast. When Lyman realizes the pothole is a scam to force people to spend the night, he begins to investigate it instead.

The cast of kooky characters delivers a laugh in almost every line. Yes, some are corny but are they are nonetheless quite funny.

This is the second play David has directed for the Pleasanton Senior Players, who have made their stage productions an annual event for the last 11 years.

"They asked me to choose what play to do. They had a file full of prospects," said David, who is also director for the Asbury Players Community Theater in Livermore. "I like to do light comedies. If we're going to work on something for three or four months, it should make you laugh."

David has also acted but said she prefers directing.

"As George Clooney said, 'I'd rather be the painter than the paint,'" she said with a laugh.

The group of senior thespians meets at the Pleasanton Senior Center once a week, said Recreation Coordinator Raymond Figueroa. Throughout the year they read plays at assisted living and retirement communities throughout the area.

"This is their big production," Figueroa said. "Last year was their first time at the Firehouse Arts Center -- they were elated."

Performances are at 7 p.m. tonight; and at 2 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday. Tickets are $9-$10 and may be purchased at the door, online at www.firehousearts.org, by phone at 931-4848, or at the Firehouse Arts Center Box Office, 4444 Railroad Ave. in Pleasanton.

Parking is available at the large lot adjacent to the Arts Center and accessible from Spring Street. And it doesn't have any potholes.