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You turn on the TV and all night you see advertisements for Viagra. Erectile dysfunction runs rampant.
It’s enough to get a rise out of you.
It certainly did for Dawn Varava, artistic director of the South Camden Theatre Company.
“No one seems to worry about women who are post-menopausal and could use a little help,” Varava said.
Well, help is on the way in “Sex Please We’re Sixty” on stage at the Camden theater, thanks to a retired chemist who unveils a libido-boosting pill. The result: Ladies gone wild in this comedic farce.
As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, laughter matters more and more. So, before it’s too wintry to travel, consider getting out of town for some laughs in Jersey and the Philly ‘burbs.
The closest commute from Center City sends you to a 95-seat theater in Camden, where laughter awaits in “Sex Please We’re Sixty.” How can it miss with a character named “Bud the Stud?
“People don’t think of older people over a certain age or over 60 having sexual feelings or being interested in amorous relationships and having their libidos act up,” Varava said.
“This is a good awakening, especially for young people who think we are over the hill,” she said.
Theater playbills abound nonstop with “coming of age” stories. But what about the people who have already come of age – decades ago?
Written by Susan and Michael Parker and directed by Zuhairah McGill, “Sex Please We’re Sixty” “is humor to the point of silliness,” Varava said. “It is a cast of gently older people, which you don’t usually find in today’s theater world.”
When Varava, who describes herself as “gently older-aged, sees the audition postings, “it’s very discouraging. All they want is people – ages 40 tops. What happens to all these (older) people who have all this (acting) experience and even all this life experience to bring to the stage and to bring to a role? Instead, they are cast to the side.”
Not so for this play. “I’m very excited to have a lot of actors of a certain age. They are very experienced. They’ve been in many productions” and, she said, they’re hysterically funny.
Varava said she wants theatergoers to know that there’s plenty of street parking near the theater, plus more in a nearby church parking lot.
- Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 22, South Camden Theatre Company, 400 Jasper St., Camden. 856-409-0365.
“Bun in the Oven – Contractions with the Calamari Sisters:” Sisters Delphine and Carmela out do themselves planning the Brooklyn’s biggest ever bouncing baby shower. As the theater promo says, “Lamaze will never be the same.” Coming up right after that, from Dec. 1 through Jan. 3, is “A Christmas Story: The Play,” about little Ralphie Parker’s quest for the ultimate Christmas present, a Red Ryder BB gun.
- Nov. 11-15, “Bun in the Oven” at Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol. 215-785-0100
“Cinderella: A Musical Panto:” Tired of boo-ing the Eagles? Well, boo-ing is almost mandatory at People’s Light’s annual holiday treat – the panto. Ingredients are a familiar story – i.e., Cinderella – and then lots of heroes, villains and songs. Sing along, yell and enjoy. Shows end well before midnight, so there’s no threat of your car turning into a pumpkin.
- Nov. 18-Jan. 3, People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern. 610-644-3500.
“Laughs in Spanish:” It’s not exactly the Louvre, where brazen robbers pulled off a heist of 18th-century crown jewels worth $88 million euros. But when the art went missing from Mariana’s gallery just before Miami’s Art Basel, chaos and comedy ensued. It only gets worse and funnier – telenovela style – in “Laughs in Spanish” when Mariana’s movie-star mama and an old flame show up. The play is in English. The laughs are bilingual.
- Nov. 19-Dec. 13, Montgomery Theater, 124 N. Main St., Souderton. 215-723-9984.
“Holiday Inn:” Yes, it’s corny, So, not a lot of guffaw-laughs, but plenty of smiles in this Irving Berlin holiday classic about the miscues of love and romance against the always challenging saga of restoring an old inn. Without even knowing it, you’ve probably absorbed some of the musical’s greatest hits including the inescapable “White Christmas.” There are a restaurant and a hotel on site.
- Nov. 19-Jan. 3, Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope. 215-862-2121
“Double Down:” Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, the Smothers Brothers – the laughs come in twos in this production bringing some of history’s funniest duos to life. “Double Down” is written and directed by local playwright Jennifer Childs. She’s the producing artistic director and co-founder of 1812 Productions, a Philadelphia theater company marrying comedy and theater.
- Dec. 1-Jan. 3, Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler. 215-654-0200.
janevonbtheater@gmail.com
