Saratoga Native Plays In Hot Theater Number

SARATOGA, CA --When Jillian Bader read the script for "110 in the Shade," the 30-year-old Redwood Shores woman was hooked. Even though the story represents quite a departure from the world she grew up in Saratoga, the actress has experienced times when she could relate to the role.

After all, this eight-time Tony-nominated play due to run from April 24 to May 12 at the Gateway Theatre in San Francisco is set in the Depression.

Granted, the theater world isn't exactly a bastion of fame and fortune like its kissing cousins of the big screen and television, but it certainly pales in comparison to a time in American history that coined the phrase "soup line."

"I think everybody has gone through some type of hardship. I've had my own rough patches. I got a grasp of it in this role," she said.

Of course, her parents provided a stable life for her while growing up in Saratoga. It was "kinda inevitable" her professional life would involve the theater. Her parents are also actors and met on the set of "Brigadoon." The young Bader started acting at age 5.

She learned early on how to transform an angle of her experiences to other characters with varying personalities.

"She's a great character," Bader said of her character Olive Barrow.

The production is based on the story by N. Richard Nash called "The Rainmaker" from 1954, which two years later was made into a movie starring Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn. It's a touching, romantic view of finding joy in a small, drought-stricken, Depression-era town.

The lines portray a sharp wit more associated with a metro city, but one soon learns that life on the ranch in these particularly troubling times amid prayers for rain requires an unrealized sarcasm to survive.

"This story is great," Bader said, adding how she particularly likes the ensemble of a talented cast with the 42nd Street Moon company.

Andrea Dennison-Laufer plays an insecure, rancher’s daughter named Lizzie, who has resolved herself to live out life as a spinster until charming stranger Starbuck comes to town with the promise to make it rain. Meanwhile, the town sheriff must deal with the con man coming to terms with his own past. The show boasts a score by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (best known for the longest-running musical in history "The Fantasticks" from 1960.

“It is such a privilege to be able to tell the incredible story of '110 in the Shade," Director Josh Marx said. “Not only is this a story about enduring hope through trying times, but it also talks about finding beauty in unconventional places - and what it means to in fact ‘be beautiful’. The cast and designers for this project are absolutely stellar, and we are geared up for this to be a truly remarkable experience and an incredible show.”

Tickets running from $30 to $75 may be purchased online at www.42ndstmoon.org or by calling the box office at 415-255-8207 from Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Gateway Theatre is located at 215 Jackson St.