An award-winning one-woman comedy makes its hometown debut in Abbotsford on Sunday, May 4 after a successful 2024 tour.
Who Drinks Mocktails on the Beach?! won awards last year for Outstanding Production and Audience Choice in the On the Edge Fringe
Festival.
The Abbotsford show kicks kicks of the 2025 tour before stopping in Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver this summer.
Told in the style of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag with an early 2000s pop-punk soundtrack, the show follows party-girl Candace as she runs away to Mexico for her best friend's destination wedding – and she isn’t the maid of honour or even a bridesmaid.
A karaoke bar, dead goldfish, and a spirited adventure awaits.
The play is written and performed by Sara Mayfield, an Abbotsford local living in the Mt. Lehman area.
It is directed by Damon Bradley Jang and developed as part of Playwriting 102 with the Arts Club Theatre Company. The play is produced by Painted Fern Productions, with presenting sponsor Fabulist Theatre.
Painted Fern Productions’ previous show, The Girl Next Door – a new queer pop/rock musical co-written by Mayfield and Ava Maria Safai – won nine regional Broadway World awards and an Ovation Award nomination for Outstanding New Work.
Mayfield is the artistic director of Painted Fern Productions, and has worked with companies such as The Vancouver Opera, UK-based dance company Sirenscrossings, and Montreal-based Shakespeare Canada.
Jang is a recent Stratford Festival Company member, the co-artistic and marketing director of Fabulist Theatre, and holds a bachelor of performing arts and musical theatre from Capilano University.
“I am so excited to finally be performing this show in my hometown," Mayfield said. "It’s been wild telling people about the show and last year, when they would ask, letting them know that the closest show is a ferry ride away in Victoria.
“I love pop-punk music. There's this great emotional and edgy drive that these iconic songs have that is perfect for this show. Candace struggles with alcohol abuse and transitioning to adulthood, and what better way to show how she’s clinging to her teen self than through music?"
Showtime is 8 p.m. at Coolrunnings Bistro, 5814 Riverside St. Tickets are available at paintedfernproductions.com.
