LA JOLLA, California –I find it thrilling to track the evolution of a play. When you get to see a show grow from a seedling into a sapling and then actually put down roots before emerging as a fully grown tree, it’s a rare treat and feels as though you’ve been let in on a secret.
Recently, I attended a staged reading of Queen of Lucia. Writer Lisa Balderston conceived this play, and it was first read by Scripteasers of San Diego. With some critiques and suggested edits, the script underwent modifications and appeared again on the Lamplighters La Mesa stage.
The cast could not have been one ounce stronger. The three individuals on stage, and the Narrator (John Tessmer) delivered a reading that was emotion packed, credible and haunting. The 80-minute production plucked at virtually every human sensibility. There is some humor woven into the very serious content. The shifting between affection, anger, grief and pain is visceral and the pacing between one moment to the next is perfectly timed.
A married couple, both college English professors, are taking a weekend away in a cabin. This escape is intended to help Elena (Rhiannon McAfee) and Jim (Charles Peters) heal their relationship which has been upended with Elena’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Her loving and perpetually patient husband just wants to indulge her in hopes of restoring her to mental health and emotional stability.
Elena is skeptical and perhaps even paranoid about Jim’s motives and after having been hospitalized for a period, is angry and mistrusting of Jim. To make matters worse, Elena has created an imaginary friend whom only she can hear and see. Hal (Jamie Feinstein), this hallucination, feeds Elena’s fears and encourages her to lash out at Jim in hurtful ways.
Following this reading, the play will receive a full stage production at a location as yet unknown. There will be additional changes made to the second act. It is this writer’s hope that the cast will remain a constant as each of the actors did a supreme job of portraying their character. Keep tuned for a production of Queen of Lucia in autumn of 2026.
*
Trieger is a freelancer specializing in the coverage of the arts.