THEATER REVIEW:

After the sheer madness of “Shear Madness,” Laguna Playhouse audiences are due for a more sobering experience.

The theater’s second production of the 2006-07 season spans a wide canvas — from Cuba in the early 1960s to a post-9/11 America — with emotional upheaval at both ends.

It’s called “Sonia Flew,” written by Melinda Lopez and directed by Juliette Carrillo. The drama has its West Coast premiere Sept. 16 following a week of preview performances.

“The play revolves around Sonia, a cross-cultural matriarch of a Midwestern Jewish family, as she struggles with her son’s decision to join the Marines,” Carrillo explains. “The emotions triggered transport her back 40 years to Havana when Sonia’s parents made a heart-wrenching choice and sent their teen-age daughter to a new life in America.”

“Sonia Flew” touches its playwright on a personal level. Lopez recently met a cousin in Florida who had been part of Cuba’s Operation Pedro Pan. Lopez — whose parents emigrated from Cuba to South America and then to the United States — had never heard the story of the Pedro Pans and did not know that her cousin had been involved with them.

“Operation Pedro Pan occurred between 1960 and 1962 when Cuban parents sent more than 14,000 children to Miami, unaccompanied, with fake American visas,” the director explained. “With Castro’s rise to power, parents were afraid the state would revoke their parental rights.”

Although Pedro Pan parents planned to reunite with their children, some were never able to, and the youngsters were placed in foster homes around the country.

Lopez began writing “Sonia Flew” amid the renewed feelings of patriotism sweeping the United States immediately following Sept. 11, 2001 and hearing the stories of young soldiers going to war.

“Somehow, the two stories became tied together in my mind,” she said. “Out of this whirlwind of many thoughts emerged this woman.”

The play begins in Minneapolis in December of 2001 and then travels back to Cuba in 1961. It tells the story of Sonia, who was sent by her parents to America as one of the Pedro Pans.

“As an adult, she lives a comfortable middle-class life, married to a Jewish husband,” Carrillo said. “But when her son, Zak, joins the Marines, she must come to terms with her past, her parents’ decisions and the choices of her children, especially Zak.”

“Through the whole thing, I had no idea what was coming next,” Lopez recalls. Although the historical events in the play are accurate, Lopez said the characters are completely fictional and not based on her cousin’s story or anyone she knows. She said she made the discoveries about the characters as she was writing the play.

Carrillo will be familiar to audiences at South Coast Repertory, where she was an artistic associate for seven years and directed several SCR productions, including “Anna in the Tropics” and “References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot.”

Her cast includes Christian Barillas, Marissa Chibas, Judith Delgado, Matt Gottlieb and Tanya Perez.

“Sonia Flew” will be staged through Sept. 15, with performances Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Further information and reservations are available at the playhouse box office, (949) 487-2787.