PowPAC’s adult comedy ‘Social Security’ opens on Friday

An adult comedy the director says is sure to make audiences laugh is opening at PowPAC on Friday night.

When director and producer Deb Zimmer read the script for “Social Security” by Andrew Bergman over a year ago, she found herself constantly laughing. It was for that reason she submitted the two-act play for PowPAC’s 43rd season.

“I was reading some plays and with this one I found myself laughing. I read some more and kept laughing. I could not stop,” Zimmer said. “I connected with it. It is set in New York in (1985) and I grew up in New York. It is about a Jewish family and I am Jewish, so I got all the jokes.

“You do not need to be Jewish at all to get it, but I particularly connected with it,” she said.

Of the play’s six characters, Zimmer said the widowed 80-something Sophie Greengrass, mother to characters Barbara and Trudy and played by PowPAC veteran Peggy Schneider, reminded her of her mother and grandmother.

“She lives with (Trudy) and is dropped off at (Barbara’s) when her daughter has to go talk to her granddaughter,” Zimmer said.

The plot has David and Barbara Kahn (played by Josh Click and Christy Reid) as married art dealers living in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Their domestic tranquility is shattered when Barbara’s “goody-goody” older sister Trudy Heyman (played by Kelley Goode) and uptight CPA brother-in-law, Martin (played by Tim Arends) from Long Island come over to drop off Sophie so they can fly to save their college-student daughter “from the horrors of living only for sex,” per the show’s description.

“The comic sparks really begin to fly when (Sophie) hits it off with the elderly minimalist artist (Maurice Koenig – played by Jim Clevenger) who is the art dealers’ best client.”

Zimmer said the entire play takes place in the Kahn’s home.

“It’s real, with real people and real connections,” Zimmer said when asked why she found the play so funny. “They have issues with each other and it is by a clever writer. … There is great sarcasm.”

Zimmer also said her six actors — all of whom she has worked with in theater before, some for many decades — are very good at portraying their characters, especially Schenider as Sophie whose “facial expressions are priceless.”

As for the play’s title, it is based on one “very funny” line in the play, Zimmer said.

“Its meaning is how secure are you in your social connections? It is about family, love, falling in love, staying in love and how secure you are in your relationships,” she said.

Due to the dialogue, Zimmer said the play is “very adult. It’s not X-rated, but it is the kind of play where sex is in the air. I would not bring a young child. This is for mature audiences who will love it.

“It’s a laugh a minute, so funny,” she added.

The play, which ran on Broadway for a year in 1986, is the only play written by Bergman. His other writing credits include “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “It Could Happen to You,” both of which he directed. Bergman also came up with the original idea for and collaborated on the final screenplay for “Blazing Saddles.”

This is the second play Zimmer has directed at PowPAC. Her first was 2023’s holiday show “Inspecting Carol.” She has also acted in PowPAC shows over the past seven years and she is on its board.

The Vista resident is a retired optician who has a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater production, but never pursued theater as anything other than a hobby. Zimmer said most of her previous acting and directing was with Patio Playhouse in Escondido and as part of the Off the Cuff improv group. She has also directed productions at MiraCoasta College.

“Social Security” can be seen at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays from Sept. 19 to Oct. 12. There will also be matinees on Saturday, Sept. 27 and Oct. 11. PowPAC is at 13250 Poway Road on the second level of the Lively Center. There is an elevator in back for those wanting to avoid the stairs.

Tickets are $26 for general admission; $24 for seniors, students and active duty military; and $22 for groups of 10 or more. Buy at powpac.org, call 858-679-8085 or email boxoffice@powpac.org.