Finding a stage with a pool is not easy, but neophyte Iowa City theater company Working Group proves anything is possible for a thespian.

On Saturday and Sept. 27, Working Group will make its début with Over Drinks by the Pool, an hour-long play written by UI M.F.A. playwright Mary Hamilton.

“It’s a suspenseful mystery about an actor who goes to the home of his playwright idol and reveals a secret to him,” said Working Group cofounder Jennifer Fawcett. “I can’t give it all away, but the play requires a swimming pool setting, which is difficult to find in most theaters.”

Despite this obstacle, Working Group has found its stage — a private residential pool area somewhere in Iowa City. The group is not publicly releasing the exact location, except to those who purchase tickets. Fawcett said tickets for Saturday’s show are sold out, and the Sept. 27 tickets are going fast.

Working Group consists of UI theater graduates Fawcett, Sean Christopher Lewis, and Martin Andrews. The three have worked in theater in such major cities as New York, Toronto, Philadelphia, Vancouver, and Columbus, Ohio. After gaining nationwide experience, the three have returned to Iowa City to create a theatrical base.

“[Iowa City] is not the usual place to go. People think of New York City or Chicago,” Fawcett said. “But we felt like there was fertile ground here in Iowa City. Artists always seem to come back here.”

All three young professionals bring dynamic backgrounds to the company. Fawcett is a 2008 UI M.F.A. playwriting graduate. Her play Then After Water was chosen as one of the Best of 2007 by the Columbus Dispatch. Her next project is the more serious, reflective play, Atlas of Mud, a story inspired by the 2008 Iowa City flood. She experienced the flood firsthand, and she is looking forward to presenting it to the local community next fall.

Fawcett isn’t the only one working on highly ambitious projects. 2007 UI M.F.A. playwright grad Lewis is touring his solo show, Killadelphia, across the United States and Canada. He plans to perform the one-man play in March 2010 at Riverside Theater, 213 N. Gilbert St. He directed Over Drinks by the Pool amid his busy schedule.

The third troupe founder, Andrews, is no stranger to Iowa City productions. He graduated this year from the UI with an M.F.A. in acting, and he has played major roles in Riverside Theater’s Shakespeare Festival. He is also an established voice teacher for both university students and private clients, and he will be a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voice Work in January. He will join fellow Iowa City actor Tim Budd as one of two actors in this weekend’s show.

Working Group has plenty of ambition for Iowa City and beyond. It recently started a new KRUI radio show called “Artists in Action,” it is planning to teach theater classes, and it will perform a Christmas-theme comedy during the first and second weekends in December.

“Working Group is at the beginning of a very exciting time,” Andrews said. “We are feeding off each other’s energy and saying, ‘Yes,’ to each others’ ideas.”

The young, experienced, eager founders of Working Group are certainly excited to get their feet wet in new productions. With this weekend’s play by the pool, they might just get soaked.