Original theater plays Pacifica

"Pacifica Spindrift Players is a very supportive theater group for a small town and the work is very challenging," Wells said. "Coming from professional theater it is very different but PSP is the only theater group that I've wanted to work with since I moved here a couple of years ago. Even the San Francisco productions that I've seen just didn't impress me."

Wells finds PSP challenging because they are running one of his plays. Not because it is his but because it is an original script and unknown. Although Wells' play " Son of Elvis Sighted at 7-11," ran in New York at St. Marks Theater in 2002, that's not to say a community theater group would want to pick it up.

"It's actually rare that a small town would put on an unknown production," Wells said. "Usually community theater puts on more well-known productions and musicals to sell tickets."

Wells also said that the scripts admission process is a little different at PSP even compared to other community theaters. While most theater groups will set up five to six plays a year before choosing directors, PSP does the opposite.

"We line up five to six directors a year and let the directors do the work in selecting a play and I think it's more rewarding for us to do that, especially since it's free labor," Wells said.

Wells found PSP to be one of the more progressive theater groups in the Bay Area, but that doesn't mean that community theater is what he's used to.

Wells is not only used to the professional theater process of auditioning and rehearsing, he's used to being in charge through his own theater company "Dysfunctional Theater."

Wells moved to San Mateo in 2002 because of a lucrative job in textbooks. Since he has left, his theater company is in the hands of his business partner in New York and Wells gets involved through e-mail and some mandatory visits.

"The main difference between PSP and what I was used to is the fact that free labor is involved," Wells said. "That takes away from the professionalism involved but that's expected when people are volunteering."

Wells also expressed a few more differences in putting on a community production compared to professional theater.

The audition process in professional theater involves an initial sift through of head shots just to establish a certain look. Then the call backs consist of actors performing a monologue. The second round of call backs have the actors read from the play itself.

"In community theater, we skip the head shot and monologue all together and read straight from the play and it's an open call," Wells said.

Rehearsal time in community theater is longer, about six weeks compared to about three weeks of rehearsal time in professional theater.

Again Wells said that this is due to the fact that professionals are not involved, the community is.

"These are people who have jobs and families and can only come in a couple of hours a night to rehearse if that," Wells said.

Opening night also has different meaning. By the time a professional theater has its opening night everyone and their mother has seen it, he said. There is a week or so of previews where performances are put on for critics and the press.

In community theater, what you see is what you get and the excitement that fills the room during an opening night performance is real.

Another pretty significant difference, which Wells had experience with a couple of weeks ago, is that in community theater there are usually no understudies.

"One of my actors had food poisoning and after being violently ill all day arrived for the show," Wells said. "We got through it, but we had strip down his part as much as possible."

The satiric dark comedy " Son of Elvis Sighted at 7-11," will be running through Feb. 27. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. You can purchase tickets at www.pacificaspindriftplayers.org or by calling 650- 359- 8002. PSP is located at 1050 Crespi Drive in Pacifica.

"If you like a mystery and you're attracted to plays written by the likes of Tennessee Williams or Sam Shepard then you would enjoy this," Wells said. "It also wouldn't hurt if you had a sense of humor about the South."