DeAnna Driscoll’s at it again.
“I have a tendency,” she says, “to play mothers who are not mentally healthy. I even asked my own child ‘This isn’t, like, art imitating life, is it?’”
In “Sharon,” a world premiere at Cygnet Theatre written by Keiko Green, Driscoll portrays the title character, a mother living with her son in the rundown apartment building that they manage. Seems innocent enough. But without giving anything away, Driscoll says that Sharon’s struggles are “deep and kind of frightening.”
The comedic thriller, directed at Cygnet by Rob Lutfy, is the second world premiere of the year in San Diego (following “Exotic Deadly: Or The MG Play” at the Old Globe in April) for Green, who Driscoll calls “the next really great American playwright.”
For the now-San Francisco-based Driscoll, this is the very first world premiere in her lengthy career, which during her many San Diego years included a 2017 Cygnet production of Paul Zindel’s “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” also directed by Lutfy.
“It’s exciting to be in the room with a director that I have a deep love and respect for,” said Driscoll, “and to be in the room with Keiko, working on a new play. There’s nothing like creating a role that has never been done before.”
Driscoll describes Sharon as “a woman who is trying desperately. She’s incredibly lonely and confused about what the future’s going to bring. There’s an enormous amount of denial that’s going on. Denial works for a long time and then it doesn’t. Then there is an explosion.”
Driscoll has an affinity for this sort of part.
DeAnna Driscoll’s headshot.
(DeAnna Driscoll)
“I like to dig into characters that tend to not be seen in society,” she said. “We rush past them and we’re not really cognizant of what they’re going through. Often people who are lonely or are struggling with identity can slip under the radar.”
Driscoll returned to San Diego from her new Bay Area home base just to be in this Cygnet production. So far she’s done a staged reading up north but not a full production just yet.
“That is my hope,” she said. “But right as I told myself ‘I’m going to lean into auditions this summer,’ I got this job at Cygnet. So it’s like, ‘OK, let’s shoot for the fall.’”
Being back in town brought to mind some of Driscoll’s most cherished performances here.
“Superior Donuts” at the San Diego Rep in 2011 “was a lot of fun to do, and I shared the stage with some lovely people,” said Driscoll. She remembered “Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune” at ion theatre in 2010 as “one of the most honest portrayals I was able to ever give,” and “The Quality of Life” for Intrepid Theatre Company in 2015 as “an honor to do. It was beautiful and devastating.”
That “Marigolds” production at Cygnet six years ago was significant to Driscoll and connects to where she is today.
“It opened a lot for me,” she reflected. “My interest was piqued because I’d wanted to work with Robby (Lutfy). It’s very high on my list.”
‘Sharon’
When: Opens Saturday and runs through July 2. Showtimes, 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Where: Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town State Historic Park, San Diego
Tickets: $32 and up
Phone: (619) 337-1525
Online: cygnettheatre.com