It’s No Ordinary Day at the Grossmont College Stagehouse Theatre

     A woman of a certain age contemplates suicide when the phone rings in her San Diego apartment. The caller, believing she is contacting an analyst she read about in a health magazine, launches into her own tale of woe.

     So begins “An Ordinary Day,” a one-act play by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, and directed by Martin Katz, a Grossmont College theater arts instructor. The lead character, Julia, finds herself trying to help the woman on the phone, in between encounters with her neighbors, the police and two flower-delivery men. As the tragic-comedy unfolds, it illuminates the themes of zealous commercialism, relationship stress, the notion of betrayal and the exhilaration of contributing to someone else’s life.

     “Working on this character has been a mixture of entering a world that is very different from mine, but at the same time, it has been an exploration of myself,” said Julia Yvette Angulo, who portrays Julia. “Ironically enough, the character I play shares my name, which brings a somewhat eerie sense of connection.”

     Angulo, 27 and a graduate of both Grossmont College and San Diego State University, was most recently seen as Penelope in Grossmont College’s production of “The Odyssey.” Other Stagehouse Theatre productions include the touring show “Inside the Actors Process: Drama,” Jackie in “Mauritius” and FB in “Tata Twins.” She was also seen in “The Man Who Came to Dinner” at Coronado Playhouse.

     “An Ordinary Day” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. May 9, 10, 16 and 17, and at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. May 11 and 18 in the Stagehouse Theatre on the Grossmont College campus, located in Building 21, Room 247.

     Tickets can be purchased online at www.grossmont.edu/theatrebrochure, or through the box office at (619) 644-7234. All major credit cards are accepted. The box office will open one hour prior to all performances. Parking is free.

     Grossmont College is located at 8800 Grossmont College Drive in El Cajon. For driving directions and a campus map, visit “campus information” at www.grossmont.edu