Peninsula Players will present a reading of Rebecca Gilman’s stage adaptation of Carson McCullers’ “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” on Monday, Jan. 30 at Björklunden at 7 pm.
Lili-Anne Brown
Produced in coordination with Door County Reads and its exploration of the novel, the reading will feature Players actors Lili-Anne Brown, Anya Kopischke, Osiris Khepera and Alan Kopischke, as well as local actors Mark Moede, Hervy Hodges, Chad Luberger, David Maier, Amy Ensign and Brandon Bogenschütz. Signing actor Robert Schlieffer will portray the pivotal role of the mute John Singer. Players Artistic Director Greg Vinkler and Players Development Director Alan Kopischke are directing the reading. Brown was last seen at the Players in “Little Shop of Horrors” and will appear Off-Broadway this fall in “A Twist of Water.”
Osiris Khepera
Khepera was in last season’s “A Few Good Men” and has created a one-man show he will launch in Chicago in February. Schlieffer recently played John Singer in the Steppenwolf production of “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” in Chicago.
Peninsula Players is fortunate to be able to work with some fine local talent. Anya Kopischke is a Gibraltar High School junior who was last on stage with the Players in “A Little Night Music” and will perform in Door Idol in February and as Erma (Bonnie) in “Anything Goes” at Gibraltar in April. Moede, Hodges, Luberger and Ensign are all active in the Door County theater community with such companies as American Folklore Theatre, Door Shakespeare, Isadoora Theatre Company, Third Avenue Playhouse and Theatre M. Bogenschütz is a Gibraltar senior who will play Sir Evelyn Oakleigh in “Anything Goes.” Maier, Managing Director of American Folklore Theatre, and Alan Kopischke both had long professional acting careers prior to their theater administration careers in Door County.
Door County Reads is in its second year, having grown out of the Library/Players partnership to bring The Big Read to Door County for three years. This year’s read focuses on the beautiful novel by Carson McCullers, “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” A full listing of events can be found at www.doorcountyreads.org.
Peninsula Players is America’s oldest professional resident summer theater and is unique in the country for its diverse productions, continuing loyalty to a resident company, and its beautiful setting of 16 wooded acres along the cedar-lined shores of Green Bay. In the past 76 years, the theater has become a Door County landmark and its cornerstone arts institution, attracting audience members from throughout Wisconsin and across the country.
