A Look at "JENNY'S HOUSE OF JOY" by Playwright Norm Foster: Strong Women and Hearty Laughs

 

Promotional Material From Lakewood Theater's Production of Jenny's House of Joy, starring (from left to right to up) Chelsea Martel, Christina Lovett Steeves, Kalyn Black, Sarah Johnson, and Midge Merrill Pomelow

BACKSTORY with Bobby Keniston

Norm Foster, the author of tonight's entertainment Jenny's House of Joy, is the most widely produced playwright in Canada, and for very good reason. His plays are relatable, accessible, and oh-so human. It doesn't hurt that they are laugh out loud funny, too! I personally had the pleasure to appear in his play Skin Flick here at Lakewood a few years back, and I had a blast. I reached out to Mr. Foster with a few questions about what inspired him to write this play set in an old West brothel, and its companion piece Outlaw, which is set in the same town and year as Jenny's and features overlapping characters. To my surprise and appreciation, he generously took the time to write back with his thoughtful answers.

"First of all, the western genre has always been my favourite", Mr. Foster writes, complete with delightful Canadian spelling. "I chose Baxter Springs, Kansas as the setting for Outlaw and Jenny's House of Joy because of the role it played in the cattle drives of the day."

When asked about the subject matter of the play, he makes it clear that he set out to write a play about strong women. "I wanted to show this group of women in a different light from what we would expect of women in that profession... I think audiences should know that some of the women who took part in this profession back then were fairly normal by most standards and had dreams like any person might."

I asked Kalyn Black, one of the lovely and talented actresses you have the pleasure of watching in theshow tonight, for her thoughts about the play's female characters. She tells me how "each one of thewomen find their way to Jenny's House of Joy through various paths of finding their true self worth.Each woman has a barrier that is unique to them that prevents them from seeing their own value."

Ms. Black concludes with perhaps my favorite insight of the play, saying it is "a story about losing yourself and finding your way back."

But what about us in the audience? If we lose ourselves in the world of the play, will we ever be able to find our way back to it?

"I always intended to write a third story about the people from Outlaw and Jenny's,"  Mr. Foster assures me. "Maybe someday I will complete the trilogy."

We can always hope!

Note:  This interview/essay first appeared in Lakewood Theater's program for their production of Norm Foster's Jenny's House of Joy.

Find out more about Norm Foster's plays here:

NORM FOSTER: CANADIAN PLAYWRIGHT