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For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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In the 21st Century’s fast-paced digital culture, the personal letter, handwritten on fine stationery from one person to another, has all but disappeared -- become a lost art few seldom indulge in anymore. Emails, texts, Tweets, Instagrams, connection apps – these are the main means of communication between people in a world increasingly dominated by the code of a metaverse we no longer actually touch.

Perhaps this was on the mind of playwright Ken Ludwig when he sat down last year to pen his Helen Hayes Award Winning play, “Dear Jack, Dear Louise.” Because the heart of the play is about just that – personal, handwritten letters that passed between a World War II Army doctor and a Broadway starlet working at the Stage Door Canteen in New York during the war. And they’re not just any letters – these were epistles that formed the joyous, heartwarming story of Ludwig’s parents’ long-distance courtship and eventual marriage.

“Dear Jack, Dear Louise” is set to make its South Florida debut December 20th as the opening production of the Red Barn’s 43rd Season in Key West, with a run that goes through January 14th of 2023. It will star Key West favorites Jessica Miano Kruel as Louise Rabiner, an aspiring actress and dancer in New York, and Cody Borah as Captain Jack Ludwig, a military doctor then stationed in Oregon. The Barn’s Artistic Director, Joy Hawkins, will direct.

“It’s a good, old-fashioned story,” Hawkins said. “And I think it’s special to have such an unabashed love story in these times. It takes you back. And it’s pertinent right now as we’re dealing with war in the world. It’s sweet, it’s funny, but it’s also real – these were real people, living real lives, and we’re privileged to watch how they managed to fall in love under such circumstances.”

Ludwig and Rabiner, living on opposite sides of the country in 1942, strike up a correspondence at the urging of their parents, who were old friends. They find a rapport right away – he encouraging her with auditions, she commiserating over his hardass commanding officer. It’s not all fun and games, though, as the ugly situation in the world encroaches on their connection.

The show isn’t schmaltzy either, in great part due to the way it’s staged, with the two characters on stage together but separately – he in his world on one side of the stage, and she in hers on the other. The beauty of the play is in the way the characters build chemistry in front of the audience’s eyes without ever looking at one another. And they’re not reading the letters – they’re living the words we understand they wrote.

“It’s captivating to watch,” Hawkins said. “We’re not sure they’ll ever get together, but it’s a beautiful ending. I hope the audience will feel connected to their own experiences, and maybe those of their own parents.”

The Washington Post said the play is “…a poignant, funny tribute to the enduring power of human connection.” The Lit Arts Maven said, “One of the finest theatre experiences I have had in 25 years of reviewing.”

“Dear Jack, Dear Louise” runs December 20 – January 14, excepting Christmas Eve and Christmas, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com/tickets or by calling 305-296-9911, 3-5 pm weekdays.

The Red Barn season is sponsored in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, and the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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The best seats in the house are now on sale at Key West’s Red Barn Theatre for their big 42nd season of top-flight professional stage entertainment. Individual per-show tickets and a four-show season subscription are available online on their website and by phone at their box office.

As usual, Red Barn Artistic Director Joy Hawkins has put together an eclectic mix of comedy, drama, and music, featuring stellar new works from playwrights Ken Ludwig, Michael McKeever, and Jane Martin.

Kicking off the season December 20 through January 14, 2023 is Ludwig’s poignant “Dear Jack, Dear Louise”. Sparks fly and love blossoms across the darkened landscape of World War II, when Jack, a U.S. Army doctor, begins a letter correspondence with Louise, an aspiring actress living a world away from his war-torn reality. The play won the Helen Hayes and Charles MacArthur award for Best New Play of 2020. It will feature Jessica Miano Kruel and Cody Borah.

From January 31 through February 25, be ready to take a wild and crazy ride into the classic mash-up spoof of a Western-Horror “B” movie with Jane Martin’s hilarious “Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage”. Big 8, a rodeo competitor, is facing foreclosure on the Wyoming ranch where she rehabilitates injured rodeo cowboys. The arrival of a shocking woman named Shedevil and a one-eyed Ukrainian biker named Black Dog leads to violence and horror in this satire of pulp western writers like Zane Grey. It will feature George DiBraud, Susannah Wells, Cassidy Timms Iain Wilcox, Tim Dahms, and Mathias Maloff.

Michael McKeever’s new play, “The Code” will grace the Red Barn stage March 7-25, as McKeever revisits one of his favorite subjects, Hollywood. It’s 1950, and Billy Haines, Henry Wilson, Tallulah Bankhead, and a beautiful young man have gathered for cocktails, caviar, and all-out war. With great humor and stinging insight, “The Code” explores the hypocrisy of what it takes to be a man in the land of make-believe. It will feature Tom Wahl, David Black, Mary Falconer, and Gabriell Salgado.

The Barn’s 42nd season ends with one of it’s always-popular favorites, “Short Attention Span Theatre, 2023”. The funny and fast-paced evening is filled with pertinent and hilarious short plays, helmed by a group of directors guiding a big handful of favorite Key West actors.  You never know what you’ll see next at SAST!

And finally, tucked into the transition period between Ludwig’s and Martin’s plays will be a special musical event, “Back in Baby’s Arms”, January 18 through 21, 2023. The show features the voice and stylings of Christine Mild, who has played Patsy Cline in the popular “Always, Patsy Cline” play dozens of times, including a sold-out run at the Red Barn in 2018. Expect to hear many of Cline’s biggest hits, with the stellar accompaniment of arranger/pianist Jim Rice and trio.

Also, make plans to attend the Red Barn’s annual fundraising party, January 15 at the Oldest House on Duval Street. Christine Mild will be featured in performance at the party. Full details to follow –- watch the Red Barn website.

Tickets for any and all shows can be purchased on the Red Barn website – redbarntheatre.com – or by calling their box office at 305-296-9911. If they happen to be busy, leave a message and they’ll get right back to you. Tickets are $53 for Opening Nights, which includes admission to the Opening Night After-Party, and $48 for all other shows of a run. There’s a Four-Show Subscription available that offers a ticket to all mainstage shows, priced at $153, a 20% discount to the single ticket prices.

The Red Barn season is sponsored in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, and the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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Key West’s Red Barn Theatre will be holding audition interviews with any actors interested in working in their upcoming 2022-23 season, which will open in December of this year.

The interviews will be held at the theatre at 319 Duval Street (behind the Woman’s Club) in Key West on May 28, from noon to 3 pm.

Artistic Director Joy Hawkins said that she will not be holding actual auditions for specific parts, but conducting preliminary interviews with actors to determine what possibilities there will be to fill uncast roles in the upcoming season. Formal auditions may be held later. The Red Barn Theatre is a professional company and all roles will be paid.

Hawkins is particularly looking for younger attractive men in their 20s and 30s, and character men in their 30s to 50s. Shows to be cast include “Dear Jack, Dear Louise” by Ken Ludwig, “Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage” by Jane Martin, “The Code” by Michael McKeever, and the Red Barn’s perennially popular “Short Attention Span Theatre” (SAST). All types and genders will more than likely be needed for SAST, as the show is comprised of several short plays that require a varied cast of men and women of all ages. Those plays are still to be determined.

Interested actors with questions are encouraged to text Joy Hawkins at (305-509-0917) or email her at (hawkinswells@gmail.com).

Please be advised that there is no parking at The Red Barn Theatre.  Actors may park bikes there.

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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Thirty-two years ago, a cast of talented kids hit the stage of the Red Barn Theatre in Key West, singing and dancing their way through a delightful musical called “Eat Like a Child: And Other Lessons on How Not To Be A Grown-up.”

Among that group of young actors were Amber McDonald, Garth Holtcamp, and Camila Duke, who were nine or ten years old at the time. Amber had literally grown up in the theater her parents – Mimi and Gary McDonald – established eight years earlier.

Fast forward 32 years. Amber, Garth, and Camila all have kids of their own and history is about to repeat itself.

The Red Barn will present an updated version of “Eat Like A Child” in a very limited four-performance run Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1. The Friday and Saturday shows are at 7 pm, and there will be a 2 pm matinee on Saturday and Sunday.

And front and center on the stage? The next generation: Lilly and Logan Good (Amber’s kids), Phineas Haskell (Camila’s son), and Greta Holtcamp (Garth’s daughter), among a dozen others.

“We’re calling it a ‘legacy’ production,” said Mimi McDonald, who with actress Carolyn Taylor will be directing the new show. “We’ve been waiting for all our kid’s kids to get to the 8 to 10-year-old stage so we could do it. It’s a very sweet show, written about and for kids, performed by kids. We’re having a ball.”

The very cute book for the show was written by Delia Ephron (Nora’s sister), with music and lyrics by John Forster, the award-winning singer-songwriter and composer of multiple children’s musicals. Nancy 3 Hoffman will be providing the musical accompaniment for the score, and Penny Leto will be handling the choreography.

The show centers around everything that impacts a kid’s world in wonderful little vignettes that feature various combinations of the young actors – from trying to sell the parents on getting a dog, to not wanting to go to bed, pretending to be sick to get out of going to school, how they don’t like their little sister, and the injustice of having to walk somewhere when there’s a perfectly good car to take them there. And that’s just a sampling.

“It’s really fun to hear them sing the same songs that have been stuck in my head all these years,” said Amber. “And it’s nice to acknowledge what really hasn’t changed – technology may have changed a lot, but all the stuff that’s true to being a kid is still the same, generation to generation.”

Her mom, Mimi, adds, “It’s about universal truths that don’t change. Any adult who sees this will most definitely see a lot of things they did themselves, for sure.”

Tickets are limited because of the short run and can be had at redbarntheatre.com or by calling 305-296-9911. The show is sponsored in part by Keys Open Doors and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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The hilarious HURRICANE DIANE stars Lauren Thompson, Susannah Wells, Erin McKenna, Jessica Miano Kruel, and Caroline Taylor.

What if the Greek God Dionysus, deity of wine and ecstasy, suddenly walked into your kitchen and announced that it was time mankind shaped up and started taking care of “his” planet and that you and your girlfriends were going to be the first acolytes in his quest to bring the Earth back to its natural, unsullied state? What could go wrong, right?

This is the reality-bending set-up for the hilarious new play, “Hurricane Diane”, set to open at the Red Barn Theatre in Key West on March 22 for a four-week run. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George, the play will feature a who’s who of Key West women, including Erin McKenna, Caroline Taylor, Susannah Wells, Jessica Miano Kruel, and Lauren Thompson. It will be directed by Red Barn artistic director, Joy Hawkins.

George launches her play right from “Lights Up”. We meet Dionysus immediately, though not as we might expect. He has morphed into a rabble-rousing lesbian gardener from Vermont named Diane, and she’s chosen four suburban New Jersey housewives – think a sophisticated, socially-conscious version of a “Real Housewives” show and you won’t be far off – to join his efforts at reclaiming the natural beauty of the planet.

The four women all live on a cul-de-sac in flood-prone Red Bank, New Jersey in identical cookie-cutter houses. They regularly gather over wine and coffee to gossip about anything but the latest portents for the climate. There’s control freak Carol, who just wants a well-manicured lawn; and Renee, a top editor at HGTV Magazine; and Pam, an Italian dragon in animal prints; and weepy Beth, who’s just been left by her husband.

Into this coffee klatch comes lesbian landscape gardener Diane, livid at humanity for “despoiling the green earth that gave you life.” She has great plans – not the least of which involve indulging her Dionysian proclivities – and she’s going to begin right here, right now.

Will Diane be able to enlist them all? Will this diverse band of suburban women be inspired by the appetites of their divine visitor to unleash their wildness to help the battered planet? Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll have to see.

To say the play is outrageously funny is a given. But it also carries a subtextual message that has profound relevance in this day and age. Called “incisively smart and boisterously funny” by the Boston Globe, “clever and timely” by New York Theater, and “An astonishing new play” by the NY Times, “Hurricane Diane” lives up to its fantastical premise.

Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com or by calling 305-296-9911. The play is sponsored in part by The Dogwood Foundation, Design Group Key West, and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.

The Red Barn continues to monitor and adhere to the CDC guidelines concerning Covid protocols for small spaces. Patrons may direct any questions as to the current suggested practices to the box office at 305-296-9911.