It is A Lovely Day to Kill Your Spouse at Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs. Not a suggestion to married folk, but a world premiere comedy play from New Zealand playwright Lindsey Brown.
This full-length comedy of desire-meets-killer intentions will run Oct. 20 – 30 (Thursday through Saturday evenings with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays) at the Moe Auditorium and Film Center, 10150 Bonita Beach Road.
On a seemingly innocuous and possibly romantic boat ride, obscenely wealthy couple Graham and Gloria (John Repa and Gay Smith) unveil their truest desires: to kill each other and keep everything for themselves. As they navigate their way around their intended’s intended murder and find an acceptable compromise, a raging storm shipwrecks them on a deserted island. To the rescue comes Graham’s brother David (Kyle Bittner) and Gloria’s sister (Jennifer Driggers), with their own agendas to complicate matters. Who leaves the island alive is determined in the final hilarious act.
Film and Theatre Director Frank Blocker insists that the decision to do this particular play came down to the Center’s audiences. “We presented three selections from full-length plays in our Staged Reading Series earlier this year and asked audiences to decide which one we would present for our Fall play. They chose Lovely Day due to the stylish comedy and, apparently, the relatability of long-term relationships straddling the line between love and hate… and apparently the desire to just kill each other at times.” The Center’s audiences have enjoyed Brown’s work as she has been presented on several occasions with her short plays being featured in Funny Shorts LIVE! and the international Stage It! 10-Minute Play Festival.
Blocker will co-direct with Toni Palumbo, who has amassed her own following after the wildly successful Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, featured at the Center last season. Lovely Day actors include John Repa, Gay Smith, Kyle Bittner and Jennifer Driggers.
A Lovely Day to Kill Your Spouse runs on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 7 pm; Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 pm; Saturday, Oct. 22 at 2 and 7 pm; Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 pm; Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 pm; Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 pm; Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2 and 7 pm; and Sunday, Oct. 30 at 2 pm,at the Center for Performing Arts, Moe Auditorium & Film Center, 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs. Tickets are $30. To purchase tickets call 239-495-8989 or visit artcenterbonita.org.
