A soap opera’s worth of family secrets and lies come to hilarious life in Chaya Doswell’s Fostered, the Ken Ludwig-worthy farce now tickling audiences’ funny bones at Venice’s Pacific Resident Theatre.

Sexagenarian couple Sandy and Karen Foster (Tony Pasqualini and Terry Davis) may already be showing signs of old age (he keeps losing his glasses, she can never seem to find their iPad, and neither of them can figure out a way to change their cellphone ring tone so that they can tell whether someone is calling it or their “phone phone”), but after forty years of marriage, at least they can say they did a bang-up job of raising three out of four of their adult children.

37-year-old Alice (Katy Downing) and her husband Cal have successfully reared two school-age sons, in large part because after her graduation from Dartmouth, their eldest opted for the stay-at-home-mommy track.

Fordham grad Jeremy (Taubert Nadalini), 35, has a high-powered job in finance, he and his wife are finally ready to start a family, and he only has “like $100k in debt, which for my generation, is not bad.”

 Debt is the last thing 33-year-old lawyer Rachel (Hope Lauren) has to worry about given her very six-figure salary and the likelihood that she’ll make partner before her coworker boyfriend Daniel (Hiram A. Murray).

As for black sheep Maggie (Jillian Lee Garner), 23, well she may not be settled down and earning big bucks like her older siblings given that she still relies on her parents to subsidize what little she earns at whatever she does for a living, but at least she’s not a “sellout.” (Her word, not mine.)

And so yes, three out of four ain’t bad, which is why Sandy and Karen have decided to sell the house, the cars, the “midlife crisis motorcycle” he’s only driven twice, and move to Hawaii.

Or at least that’s what their plans have been until tonight, when not just one or two but all four of their offspring show up on their doorstep with plans to stick around indefinitely, or at least until they get their lives sorted out.

What none of them expect to find is that one of their childhood bedrooms is now occupied by a 40ish Middle Easterner named Shaheed (Satiar Pourvasei).

And this is only the beginning of one long night of family fireworks worthy of the soapiest of daytime soaps and more than enough wacky shenanigans to do farce master Ken Ludwig proud.

Still, as wild and crazy as Fostered can get (and that’s plenty wild and crazy), particularly given Andy Weyman’s zestful direction, playwright Doswell and seven terrific actors keep Fostered grounded in reality, just one reason this Pacific Resident Theatre World Premiere has already garnered a slew of rave reviews (to which this one can now be added) as it enters a much-deserved month-long extension.

Davis, Downing, Garner, Lauren, Murray, Nadalini, Pasqualini, and Pourvasei deliver a master class in razor-sharp, lickety-split-paced, highly physical comedy while never letting us forget that these are authentic human beings at the end of their rope, with special snaps to Garner’s John Moschitta Jr.-paced eleventh-hour recap monolog, one that earns a justified spontaneous round of applause.

 Scenic designer Rich Rose gives the Fosters a lived-in living room that probably still looks pretty much the same as it did when Sandy and Karen bought it in the 1970s, and the production design contributions of Michael Redfield (lighting), Audrey Eisner (costumes), and Keith Stevenson (sound) are every bit as topnotch.

Lily Brown is assistant director. Bianca Martucci Rickheim is stage manager.

Fostered is produced by Davis, Doswell, Michael Moskowitz, the Tivoli Family, and Weyman. Marilyn Fox is executive producer and Rita Obermeyer and Dalia Vosylius are associate producers. Judith Borne is publicist.

Not only is Chaya Doswell’s Fostered as entertaining as anyone in dire need of laughter could wish for, it’s also a terrific piece of writing that deserves a life beyond its PRT debut.

Best of all, since it’s now been extended, you won’t have to kick yourself for missing out on all the fun.

Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd, Venice, Through July 31. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 3:00. (Check website for exceptions.)
www.PacificResidentTheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
June 15, 2025
Photos: Zachary Kanner

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Chaya Doswell, Los Angele Theater Review, Pacific Resident Theatre