Mid-life malaise crashes into the Stage at Burke Junction

Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer

“Becky’s New Car,” the decidedly theatrical, frenetic comedy about the consequences of mid-life choices, opens at Burke Junction Feb. 11. Becky has been in a mid-life funk and she just doesn’t know how to scratch the itch that ails her. She is in the middle of her life, in a middling marriage and works in, you guessed it, middle management. Suffering a personal loss, she finds herself questioning everything about her seemingly good life and wondering if any of it is enough. While working late one night she meets a quirky yet charming millionaire who offers her a path away from the middle.

“Becky’s New Car” premiered at Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre in 2008 making writer Steven Deitz a finalist for the coveted Steinberg New Play Award given by the American Theatre Critics Association. Since then the show has enjoyed productions at many regional and community theaters around the country.

Arguably one of the most prolific playwrights working in America in recent times, Deitz has more than 50 plays in his catalog. He was listed by American Theatre Magazine as one of the 20 most-produced American playwrights in 2019 and his plays are produced all over the world.

Director Elisabeth Nunziato is no stranger to Deitz’ work. Taking the driver’s seat of this production, pun fully intended, was a no-brainer having played the titular character at Capital Stage in Sacramento more than a decade ago while the play’s ink dried from its 2008 premiere.

“This is a show that I know is a home run — 100% crowd pleaser,” she said. “Everyone who walks through the door will see themselves on that stage.”

The storytelling style Deitz employs to tell Becky’s harrowing tale is markedly meta, n See Becky’s, page B8