NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, April 8.
PORT TOWNSEND — Friendly dentist or serial killer?
That is the question haunting divorcees Mary and Jo — both suspicious of their friend Liz’s new dentist boyfriend — in the play “Women in Jeopardy!” playing this month at the Key City Playhouse, 1128 Lawrence St.
“Women in Jeopardy!” runs Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7:30 through May 1, with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.
The is Key City’s first main stage production of 2016.
Tickets are $20 for Thursdays and Sundays, $24 for Fridays and Saturdays, and $10 for students at any performance.
Tickets are available at keycitypublictheatre.org or by calling 360-385-5278.
Pay-what-you-wish performances will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. April 14.
Fresh off its 2015 world premiere, Wendy MacLeod’s new fun and flirtatious comedy is “Thelma and Louise” meets “The First Wives Club,” MacLeod says.
Trading their wine glasses for spy glasses following the disappearance of the dentist’s hygienist, imaginations run wild as Mary and Jo — portrayed by Consuelo Aduviso and Heather Dudley-Nollette — try to discover the truth and save their friend in a hilarious off-road adventure, MacLeod says.
Aduviso and Dudley-Nollette are friends in real life, they said.
After meeting on the set of Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” in 2008, the actresses bonded over their shared experience as dedicated mothers and performers, they said.
Dudley-Nollette describes Aduviso as a layered performer who brings complexity and accessibility to her role as Mary.
“She is a consummate researcher who knows how to dig into the back story and develop a character,” Dudley-Nollette said.
“She brings a realness to Mary and doesn’t hide her emotional journey.”
On working with Dudley-Nollette, Aduviso said that their personal relationship strengthens their rapport as actresses.
“We haven’t known each other as long as our characters, but we’ve gone through difficult periods and been with each other through extended challenges,” Aduviso said.
Together, they bring the humor and pathos of their real-life friendship to the stage, said Luisa Walmsley, Key City Public Theatre marketing and sales director.
“Women In Jeopardy!” is the third annual performance to be collectively sponsored by the 66 Women Producers program.
Inspired by a similar event at the Boise Contemporary Theater, Key City Executive Artistic Director Denise Winter began the program three years ago to give women the opportunity to help produce a live theater performance and to recognize the women of Port Townsend for their support and patronage of the arts.
The sponsorship allows Key City to support female playwrights by producing their work and gives actresses and women directors powerful roles on the stage, Winter said.
