Laugh Off Tax Season Stress with PowPAC’s ‘Pardon Me, Prime Minister’

Tax season is finally over.

Beginning Friday, theatergoers can laugh off the stress of tax season by attending Pardon Me, Prime Minister, ’s new play about top government officials trying to eliminate sin in the British Empire through a series of new taxes on alcohol, bingo, cigarettes, gambling and more.

“It’s funny,” said Director Mark Loveless. “It just makes you laugh.”

John Graham and Edward Taylor wrote the play, which runs through May 22 at Poway’s Community Theatre.

Loveless said he was excited to direct a British farce for the first time.

“I’ve acted in farces, so I’m familiar with the recipe,” Loveless said. “That’s why I was excited about doing this piece.”

Loveless explained a farce as a “chaotic piece.”

“You have four doors; you have a comical situation,” he said. “The timing has to be really perfect because there’s people going in and going out.”

The cast also has to be really perfect, he said.

“That was a challenge in directing this,” Loveless said. “I didn’t know who I was going to get.

“I got nine actors who are just wonderful. I just love all of them.”

The cast includes Bob Himlin, James P. Darvas, Julie Clemmons Vizzard, Lee Donnelley, Jeff Laurence, Cathy Himlin, Samantha Ginn, Erica Orr and Steve Heyl.

“If you get the right cast, the right mix of actors and everybody gets along, that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “If you get that, you get a winner.”

The cast of Pardon Me, Prime Minister “all fell into place,” said Loveless, who casted the play mid-February. 

Loveless received the script about two years ago, and he has read it numerous times since.

“Because I have played in farces before, I was very curious to do the piece,” he said. 

Although Loveless resides in El Cajon, he doesn’t mind the drive up north. He has directed two plays at PowPAC prior to Pardon Me, Prime Minister.  

“The people there—their theater board and the people who run the community theater—are very helpful,” he said about Poway’s Community Theatre. “They care about everything you do.”

Performances of the play, which is produced by Joel Colbourn and Gerry Reeves, take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., at PowPAC, located at 13250 Poway Road.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $13 for students, seniors and active military. There is a $2 surcharge for opening night, which includes a cast party following the play.

“If you are ready to have a lot of fun on Friday or Saturday evening or Sunday matinee, please come down and check this out,” Loveless said. “It's going to make you laugh. I promise you that.”

For reservations, call the PowPAC box office at 858-679-8085 or email boxoffice@powpac.org. 

In other news, a new session of the ’s adult drawing class begins on Thursday. The class, which runs through May 26, takes place Thursdays 6-7:30 p.m.

The center’s teen art class continues this Saturday from 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Students learn the fundamentals of drawing and explore a variety of media.

For more information about these classes and more, contact Bonnie Stromer, the center’s founder and director, at bonnie@xpressivearts.com or 858-679-2787.

Xpressive Arts Center is located at 12257-B Old Pomerado Road.

’s Melody Makers will present their Spring Concert tomorrow at the . The free concert, which is open to the public, begins at 7 p.m.

The Poway Center for the Performing Arts is located at 15498 Espola Road.

On Saturday, the Southern California Ballet will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rudolf Nureyev’s arrival in the West at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts.

There will be a talk and film on Nureyev, the celebrated ballet dancer from the former Soviet Union, as well as ballet performances.

Shows will take place at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15-$28.