WE HAVE ADDED TWO ENCORE PERFORMANCES OF THE SHOW BY POPULAR DEMAND!
FRIDAY & SATURDAY JAN. 27 & 28 at 7:30 PM

Do you refer to yourself as a *Yooper or a **Troll? (Not sure to what either term refers? See below!) No matter your preference or your peninsular
predilections, you’re likely to get a kick out of Market House Theatre’s upcoming production of actor/writer/director Jeff Daniels’ deer-camp comedy Escanaba
in da Moonlight.

The men of the Soady clan are gathered at their Michigan hunting cabin on the eve of deer season’s opening day. And in harmony with the notion that “All good
things come to those who shoot straight,” the cast does ample and hilarious justice to Daniels’ material, to say nothing of their way with Yooper accents and
turns of speech. The play is filled with fabulous characters and supernatural occurrences that just might thwart the latest attempt of 30-something son
Reuben (Steve Schwetman; The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged) to shed the mantle of being “a buckless Yooper.”

Albert Soady (Tom Dolan; Annie) anchors the play—as father, as narrator, as keeper of the flame. Whether he’s excoriating his sons or the audience (he suspects
we’re all a bunch of “brie-belchin’ trolls”), or musing on his late wife’s virtues (“lips like a sturgeon”), he is wry and real, delivering lines with
wonderful wit and rapier-sharp timing. His sons don’t fall far from the tree as they spar both verbally and physically, for Remnar (MHT newcomer Dean Palmer)
can’t stand it that Reuben may be jinxing them. His agitation plays out in words that tumble into each other and a lisp that grows with his anxiety.

Remnar’s speech problem, though, is nothing compared to that of Jimmer Negamanee (Mike Brewer; The Foreigner). His alcohol- and alien-addled speech is
like a foreign tongue, acquired during his week in space when a “hoovering” UFO picked him up. Ranger Tom (Chip Bohle; The Wizard of Oz), the delusional
Department of Natural Resources man, is deadpan and delightful as he bursts into the cabin to the dismay of its other inhabitants. It’s as fun to watch him
strip down to his skivvies as it is to listen to him ramble. Completing the cast is Reuben’s wife, Wolf Man Dance (Emily Chapman Hensel; Anything Goes), who
creates concoctions to favor happy hunting.

You don’t have to be a Yooper, or even a Michigander, to enjoy the fun Daniels pokes at both north and south. It’s all tempered with a sort of good humor and
love for custom and legend that’s extremely appealing. Escanaba in da Moonlight is directed by Ross Daniels, with Denise Bristol as Assistant Director/Stage
Manager.

The play runs January 12-15 and 19-22, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday nights and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoons. Tickets are $18 for adults
and $15 for students 21 and under. There will be an additional matinee at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, January 21, with all seats $15. Tickets are available at the
MHT box office (270-444-6828) at 132 Market House Square from noon to 5:00 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays or online at www.mhtplay.com.

NEW! An $8 student walk-up ticket will be available 10 minutes before each show on a space-available basis. College students should bring I.D.

*Yooper: an inhabitant of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
**Troll: an inhabitant of the the Lower Peninsula; i.e., those who dwell “below” the Mackinac Bridge connecting the two peninsulas.

Audience Advisory!  The 5 hunters indulge in crude language and bodily function humor.  Parental guidance is strongly suggested.