It’s a sure bet that every person of at least middle-age reading this has, without a doubt, asked themselves the same question about their lives at some point – “What if?”
What if I’d made a left turn instead of a right one back when I turned twenty? What if I’d said “Yes” instead of “No” that night when that special someone and I were walking in the park? How would my life be different now?
With the opening production of their 47th Season, Key West’s lauded Red Barn Theatre dives headlong into those “What if’s” as it offers up award-winning playwright Steven Dietz’s “Shooting Star”, a funny, engaging, heartfelt tale of two people coming face to face with laughter and tears, regrets and memories, shared and unshared.
Cast of Red Barn Theatre’s SHOOTING STAR: Lauren Thompson & Dave Bootle
The play runs December 8 of this year through January 2, 2027, with all curtains at 7 pm. It stars Key West favorites Dave Bootle and Lauren Thompson, and will be directed by the Red Barn’s artistic director, Joy Hawkins. Best seats for all performances are on sale now at redbarntheatre.com.
The play centers on a man and a woman who find themselves stranded overnight in a mid-western airport due to a snowstorm cancelling their flights, one of them heading from Boston to Austin, the other the reverse. Boston businessman Reed McAllister (Bootle) is a wage slave in a suit, a reader of the Wall Street Journal, and a man who has grown into someone far different from his idealistic twenty-something self. Elena Carson (Thompson) is an earth mother Austinite, a veteran groupie and lonely free spirit. It takes them a moment, but they suddenly recognize one another.
These two were lovers back in their university days 25 years ago, but life pulled them apart and took them in different directions. Now it appears they’re going to be stuck there all night, and neither is sure they want to be answering those awkward questions – what happened to you and do I really want to know? Is this an opportunity to finally tell each other the truth about their feelings? Or not? Or….what if?
Reunions are typically built on laughter, banter, remembrance, and alcohol, and this one is no different. The fun and surprises unfold quickly as the play progresses, then things suddenly compound when the two discover each is heading to the other’s hometown. Is this fate telling them to be together again? Could it be that one will change their plans and decide to follow the other home to see where things go? Romantics may want that to happen, while realists know that “once bitten, twice shy” should be a fair warning that you can never go back. But….what if…?
“I think everybody is intrigued by past loves and what plans they had for their lives,” said Hawkins about why she chose the play. “And then life changes and we wonder about the ‘what if’s.’ None of it comes down as right or wrong, but we just wonder, you know? The play does a beautiful job with that -- full of laughter and romance, and we have lovely actors in it. Everyone will see something of themselves in it.”
The Austin Chronicle said of the play, “Stories told this well don’t come around very often.” The Providence Journal said the play is “that rare romantic comedy that is funny, but also charming, endearing, and not removed from reality. The play starts bright and doesn’t fade.”
Due to the holidays, the Red Barn has added two Monday night shows – December 21 and December 28, both at 7 pm. There will be no performances on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, nor on New Year’s Eve. There will be a show on New Year’s Day, however, again at 7 pm.
Sponsored in part by Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the Dogwood Foundation, and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
For Immediate Release
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102