‘Women of Year’ Show Lights Up a Lively Stage

With hundreds of high-powered girls and some of their moms concentrating all their energies on bringing down the roof of the Correia Junior High School auditorium, it came as little surprise when a fuse blew and plunged the hall into darkness.

Unconcerned by this minor glitch, the guiding lights behind “Women of the Year,” last week’s annual MADCAPS (Mothers and Daughters Club Assisting Philanthropies) spectacular, simply lined the stage and runway with candles, and the dress rehearsal went on. There was no choice; on the next night, the auditorium would fill for the first of three performances that traditionally play to packed houses.

Now in its 27th year, MADCAPS has come to believe in spectacle in a big way, as the audience at the Thursday premiere discovered the moment the curtain rose. Before it was all over, the crowd had watched the stage erupt with a baker’s dozen of major production numbers, ranging from a Jazzercise routine that included 50 frenetic dancers, to a tribute to Shirley Temple in which 26 seventh-graders, all in blond curls, remembered the sticky wonders of “The Good Ship Lollipop.”

Charitable Duties

MADCAPS exists for far more reasons than to offer yearly paeans to Broadway and Hollywood. Organization President Colleen O’Connor explained that the group introduces girls to community involvement at an early age, by tapping them in the seventh grade for membership--and all its concomitant obligations--that will keep them busy through their high school graduation. The annual show is important among these obligations, but alongside it are charitable duties that in the past 12 months required the girls to give more than 10,000 hours in aid to such charities as the drug abuse program at Rancho Park Hospital, the Special Olympics, the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation and the Save the Coaster Committee. These charities, along with several others, will share in the show’s proceeds of $20,000.

During their membership, the girls go through a revolving schedule that requires them to deal with programs for the elderly in seventh grade, and in subsequent years with charities benefiting children, the handicapped, drug abusers and charitable institutions. The final year of membership allows each youngster to return to involvement with whatever program she found particularly worthwhile.

Icing on the Cake

Participating mothers say that they gain plenty from MADCAPS, too, including the satisfaction of seeing their daughters learn how to work for the good of the community. That they also get to produce and perform in the shows is the icing on the cake.

Donis Lovett, who wrote and directed “Women of the Year,” said that she would have loved to have had the opportunity to belong to such a group when she was a child.

“A lot of the girls would never have a chance to be in a musical performance if it weren’t for this show,” said Lovett, whose own childhood musical experiences were limited to singing in her minister father’s church choir.

One of the privileges of completing the six-year membership schedule is inclusion in the grand presentation of seniors that always precedes the show’s finale. It is a debut of sorts, in which each girl marches down the runway on the arm of her father and is introduced to the audience.

Among those taking bows Thursday were Sarah Welch, Audrey Asaro, Sara Tracht, Nicole Bowers, Toni Tortorelli, Kristen Brown, Erika Soares, Corry Chapman, Therese Seiber, Meg Deely, Shandon Eales, Cori Scholl, Jennifer Rodi, Anne Fleischli, Julie Gildred and Judy McCleary.

Seven Honored

Seven women were honored as “Women of the Year,” including Princess Diana, Liza Minnelli and the late Marilyn Monroe. The biggest production numbers were written as tributes to three local women, Jazzercise creator Judi Sheppard Missett, “Suzy’s Zoo” greeting card wizard Suzy Spafford Robie, and Golden Door proprietor Deborah Szekely. Missett and Spafford were on hand to receive the “M-y” (“M” for MADCAPS, of course) awards; Szekely was represented by her son, Alex.

In addition to O’Connor and Lovett, the show production committee included Linda Eves, Richel Khoury, Dode Shaw, Gina Mullanney, Judy Garrett, Lynette MacDonald, Wendy Thompson, Ingrid Nielsen, Joan Fulton, Jean Collins, Carol Palmiotto, Diane Bell, Kay Chapman, Nan Lutes and Pat Holmes.

While the MADCAPS were forced to rehearse by candlelight, the Assisteens, the junior auxiliary to the Assistance League of San Diego County, had to contend with a mischievous fire alarm that attempted to disrupt the proceedings at their annual fashion luncheon and presentation of senior girls.

Given in the ballroom of the La Jolla Marriott Hotel for 250 guests, Saturday’s “Spring Into Service” glided smoothly through its sprightly program until just before the senior presentation, when a malfunctioning fire alarm sent peals of noise through the room and threatened an untimely conclusion to the event. Prompt action by the hotel silenced the device.

The fashion luncheon is the annual reward for the Assisteens, who spend their four high school years working in several community service projects. Chief among these is Operation Schoolbell, the primary charity of the parent Assistance League; this program furnishes new clothing to needy schoolchildren. Other programs involve the teens in throwing Halloween and Christmas parties for abused and handicapped children, ushering at the Old Globe Theatre, and raising funds to support their projects.

Bittersweet Moments

Despite the glamour and excitement of the event, the day apparently has bittersweet moments for the girls who will be graduating from the group.

Assisteens President Rachel Bradbury said that she was saddened to be graduating after what she called “four years of fun and work.”

“We’ve learned and done so much,” she said. “We’ve learned the meaning of community work, and we’ve learned about different life styles, and that not everyone is as privileged as us. Working with disadvantaged kids really taught us something.”

Carol Shively, one of three Assisteens mothers who co-chaired the luncheon (the others were Rebecca Bradbury and Berneil Cole), echoed Rachel’s assessment of the organization’s effects upon its membership.

“These girls give plenty of service to the community,” she said. “They’re really doing something positive, and, hopefully, they’ll become leaders when they’re adults.”

Special Day

But, having worked so much, the girls were encouraged to enjoy themselves on their special day. The teens themselves modeled in the fashion show, which revolved around the various moments in a young adult’s life. Finally, the eight seniors found themselves on the runway for the crowning moment of their young charitable careers, in which, dressed in formal gowns and escorted by their fathers, they were presented to the audience.

Presented were Leigh Ashburn, Rachel Bradbury, Christine Ekeroth, Kathy Hoyt, Beth Moulton, Kristen Rounsavelle, Lori Wolfe and Kara Lynch. The audience (salted with grandparents for maximum applause value) loved it all.