Like many people entering a new chapter in their lives, the writers and actors in a La Jolla-based performance group are looking to answer the question “What’s next?”
The What Next? Collective, founded in 2023 by La Jolla residents Jena Joyce and Melissa Jordan Grey, is a space for women older than 40 to create short theater pieces to present onstage.
Its production of “Park Bench Confessions,” a reading of five original works, will be performed at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at the National Comedy Theater in San Diego.
The founders have been friends for over 20 years, starting from when their children were attending La Jolla schools. Through the years, they explored local theater by seeing plays and taking classes.
Then a couple of years ago, Jordan Grey, a writer, and Joyce, an actor, started to toy with the idea of staging a performance.
“We were seeing that there is an opportunity for women over 40 to tell stories and tell their stories, but we weren’t really seeing those stories on the stage consistently,” Jordan Grey said. “We found there is an unbelievable pool of talented women in this community, and they are talented in multiple ways. For example, Jena is an actor, a lawyer and a community leader, so you have this nexus of talent and perspective that is incredibly rare and valuable. That same thing exists with all the women in our collective. … That makes it very powerful.”
The two welcomed other women into the collective to write their stories and work with actors to bring them to life. In addition to Jordan Grey and Joyce, the collective currently includes La Jollans Julie Alexandria and Lindsey Salatka and San Diegans Susan Clausen, Maria Costello, Caroline Gilman and Lolo Moreno Ines.
“We take the experiences we have had and, as a collective, come up with a theme,” Jordan Grey said.
The first production, staged last year, was called “Good Girls and Badassery” to showcase the different aspects of womanhood.
This year’s theme is “women’s work,” which Jordan Grey said incorporates “working for a living, staying in shape, taking care of others, volunteering, taking one for the team, motherhood.”
Touching on that theme, five pieces were selected to stage as part of “Park Bench Confessions,” which Joyce is directing.
“Part of what is attractive about [The What Next? Collective] is that they are all new works and they are short, so audiences can get these little bites,” Joyce said. “We also wanted to try something new and have all the pieces take place in a similar location. So we can have the makings of a set, even though it is a reading. They are all set in a park, hence the name.”
For those who cannot attend “Park Bench Confessions,” which is sold out, Jordan Grey and Joyce said they will reopen the collective to new participants in coming months and stage something again next year.
“We want to open the door to other actors and writers. … We want to have a whole stable of artists and creators,” Jordan Grey said.
“As we evolve and develop more and become a known entity, can we find new ways to make this work?” Joyce said. “We want to eventually do things more as a play rather than a reading. It would be fantastic to turn these into fully formed pieces.”
The two said they also would like to partner with a venue for rehearsals and/or performances and find ers to help fund future productions.
“The purpose is to make art, get better every year … and to give voice to their experiences and possibilities as artists,” Jordan Grey said. “There is a community of people that want to be seen, to see themselves on the stage, to have their experience recognized and come together as a community. To be able to create that … fills a much-needed gap, and we are still wanting to widen what it means to be a woman over 40 … and bring those stories.”
Learn more at thewhatnextcollective.com. ♦
