FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Joanne Pavia

--Story by Mathis Winkler; photo by [TK]

Joanne Pavia still remembers her first time in the limelight. As a

kindergartner in Rochester, N.Y., she got a part in a show teaching kids

about safety.

She only had one line, but an important one, because it led into the

next musical number: “I’m lost. I don’t know where I live.”

That first performance’s excitement has stuck with her through the

years.

“Everyone out there was listening to me,” she said. “It taught me

early on the power of the stage, the effect it has on people.”

In school and later, while living in Pennsylvania, Ohio and South

Carolina, Pavia stayed close to the stage, performed in community

theaters and involved her three children too.

But when she moved to California about 16 years ago, it all kind of

ended. Until Dayna Pettit, the president of the Balboa Performing Arts

Theater Foundation, approached her about joining the Divas of the Balboa

Theater, the foundation’s fund-raising group.

“I said, ‘Sure, I’ll get involved,”’ Pavia said Tuesday, adding that

the 140 divas have raised $100,000 for the theater so far.

“I’ve really had a great time with this group,” she said. “We just

laugh our way through everything. . . . Everyone seems to have such

complicated, hectic lives, and this little jewel [the theater] is going

to be a place where we can feed our souls on a regular basis.”

At a recent “fun-raiser,” as Pavia likes to call them, the divas

dressed up as movie stars and competed for Oscar-like statuettes.

Pavia chose Shirley Temple as her alter ego and even got in touch with

the former child star to get some tips.

“She called me, and we had the nicest conversation,” Pavia said,

adding that Shirley Temple Black told her the wig should have 56 curls

rather than the 50 it had.

“Naturally, I redid the wig,” Pavia said, adding that her elaborate

costume and a miniature staircase her brother had built probably helped

her to leave with the award for best supporting actress.

Talking about awards, Pavia recently also received the inaugural

“Dayna award,” given by her fellow divas, for the group’s most

outstanding member.

“My son calls it the MVP,” she said, laughing.

But the theater’s not the only thing that keeps Pavia busy these days.

She’s returned to college to finish a bachelor’s degree and will

become a grandmother for the first time later this month. Her daughter,

Ria, an actress who has appeared on television shows and in movies and

commercials, plans to move to the area from Encino after giving birth,

Pavia said.

Then there’s a project to produce a new musical created by friends of

hers. Pavia’s also been talking to fellow divas about putting together a

dance troupe to perform at the Balboa Theater when it reopens.

But “I’m having so much fun backstage, I’m not sure I need to get

onstage anymore,” she said.

For information on the Balboa Theater or the divas, call (949)

673-0895.