Hope Summer Repertory Theatre Closes AN ITALIAN STRAW HAT 8/14

Continuing the 39th season, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre opens An Italian Straw Hat on July 9th at 8:00 p.m. in the DeWitt Theatre. The work was originally written by Eugene Labiche and Marc-Michel and adapted to English by Lynn and Theodore Hoffman.

This hilarious French farce follows a charming bridegroom coming from rehearsal on his wedding day, trying to coordinate last minute details when his horse wanders off and eats the hat off of the head of a soldier's wedding guest. Because the soldier's guest is married to another man, she hides in the woods and cannot return home without her expensive hat without much suspicion. The solider threatens the bridegroom to make sure that he will find a replacement hat for the lady. Tension builds as the bridegroom disappears in search of a new hat, leaving his bride-to-be clueless, while he encounters multiple women along the way and does whatever he needs to find a hat, including seducing the women and pretending to be a famous Italian opera singer. As the search goes on, the bridegroom has the whole city of Paris involved and an angry soon-to-be father in law on his heels.

Returning for his fourth summer, HSRT favorite, Michael Hanson plays the part of the bridegroom Fadinard. He can also been seen in this season's productions of Into The Woods (Rapunzel's Prince) and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Peachy). Previous HSRT credits include The Cmplt Wrks of Wm Shkspr...Abdrgd, Forever Plaid (Sparky), The Foreigner (Rev. David), The Hypochondriac (Cleante), and She Loves Me (Head Waiter). Other credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius) at The Actors Shakespeare Company at New Jersey City University, The Threepenny Opera (Matt the Mint) at Columbia Stages, Cabaret (Cliff), The Threepenny Opera (Macheath), and Shakespeare In Hollywood (Dick Powell) at Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Director of the production is Jim Daniels, a member of Actors Equity Association and a professional actor for over thirty-five years. He has acted at such theatres as Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, the Cleveland Play House, Missouri Repertory Theatre, the Houston Shakespeare Festival, the Asolo Theatre of Florida, Shakespeare on the Green/Chicago and Pennsylvania Centre Stage, as well as at the Wagon Wheel Theatre in Warsaw, Indiana. Jim is the Director of Performance in the Department of Theatre at Western Michigan University where he directs and teaches all levels of acting. His production of Othello at WMU won the American College Theatre Festival competition and was produced at the American College Theatre National Festival in 2005 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Performances continue throughout the summer on July 10, 15, 17, 21, 30, August 5, 12, and 14.

Tickets are now on sale through the DeVos Fieldhouse and DeWitt ticket offices. Prices range from $10-$26 for musicals and $8-$19 for plays. Season tickets, ranging from $48-$85, are also available. A Family Four Pack including tickets for two adults and two children is available this year for $55.

The ticket office is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Saturdays at opening at noon. On performance dates, the DeWitt Ticket Office will be open through intermission. The ticket office is located in DeWitt Cultural Center at 12th Street and Columbia Avenue. For tickets call the ticket office at 616-395-7890. For more information visit the HSRT website at www.hope.edu/hsrt.

The DeWitt Theatre is located at 141 East 12th street. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located in Holland's downtown on 8th street.

HSRT is now on facebook! Keep up to date with what's happening this season by searching Hope Summer Repertory Theatre on www.facebook.com.

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