|
HCCT-03-09 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MIDDLEBROOKS OF MEADOWLAKES CAST AS LEADS
IN SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR AT HILL COUNTRY COMMUNITY THEATRE
Two-person play one of most popular romantic comedies.
COTTONWOOD SHORES, TEXAS (May 9, 2003) -- GiGi Fischer, guest director for Same Time, Next Year (May 29 through June 8) at the Hill Country Community Theatre, has cast a Meadowlakes couple to play George and Doris, two happily married people who have an annual affair for three decades at a California inn.
Ironically, Lee and Bob Middlebrooks, who moved to Marble Falls from the Dallas area in 1999, have themselves been happily married for almost 20 years. And while they play a couple somehow always "out-of-sync," the Middlebrooks are anything but that.
Bob, a native Texan, and Lee, originally from the Kansas City, MO area, have two daughters and four grandchildren. They jointly operate Target Marketing, a full-line, packaging and equipment brokerage from offices in their home.
Lee has been involved with the theatre for more than two years, working behind the scenes, as well as appearing on-stage in The Last Night of Ballyhoo at HCCT. Neither spouse had set foot on stage since grade school, and for Bob, it will be a first appearance "on the boards."
"We are both very excited and, okay, maybe a little nervous about our demanding roles, since snappy dialogue carries the extensive two-act play," Lee said. "But under the experienced direction of GiGi, we know the production will be entertaining and rewarding for all our patrons and visitors."
"We work at home, spend considerable time with our friendly neighbors and travel regularly for vacations, often camping nearby to enjoy the beauty of the Hill Country," Bob said. "That agenda will be on a back burner for six weeks of rehearsal and a two-week run, but it is kind of nice to rehearse being affectionate with a person I've been affectionate with for so many years".
Fischer, co-founder of HCCT and a familiar face on its stage during the past 17 years, directed Over the River and Through the Woods with rousing success just this past year. She said:
"I believe Bob and Lee will prove surprisingly adept at these demanding roles, and that theatergoers will appreciate the comedic interaction as well as the numerous costumes and time periods through which most adults have lived."
STNY ran for four years on Broadway, was a successful motion picture and remains one of the most widely produced plays in American theatre. It follows a relationship between two people who meet in 1951 and rendezvous annually despite being happily married parents and loyal to their families – except during their brief encounters.
The play has six scenes, each five years apart, with special effects that will capture the prevailing mood of America.
George begins as an uptight, neurotic accountant who becomes stuffy and rich, gives it all up when he goes into analysis and then joins encounter groups and becomes a latter-day hippie before returning to establishment ways.
Doris matures from an awkward girl into a restless housewife, a college returnee, an over-age flower child, a career woman and finally a settled matron. Their transitions never synchronize, making for hilarious contrasts throughout their lives and the play.
The playhouse is located at 4003 FM 2147 West, across from Bob’s Exxon and at the entrance to Cottonwood Shores, between Marble Falls and Horseshoe Bay. The office hours at the theatre are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR INTERVIEWS:
Preston F. Kirk, APR
HCCT Governor
Spicewood, TX
830-693-4447;
F 693-9898,
kirk@281.com
Bruce Hennie, Executive Director
Hill Country Community Theatre
Cottonwood Shores, TX,
830-693-2474
bruce@hcct.org |