Hilarious tales of da deer camp coming to theater in ‘Escanaba in da Moonlight’

Billed as a hunting story to beat all hunting stories ?Escanaba in da Moonlight? comes to the Rogers City Theater for a two-weekend run. The play opens Friday for a 7:30 p.m. performance and will be performed Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. It returns for a second weekend of performances Friday November 6 and Saturday November 7 at 7:30 p.m. and again Sunday November 8 at 2 p.m. The play is directed by Meghan Riordan.

The popular play and movie, written by Jeff Daniels, takes the audience to the opening day of deer season in the Soady clan?s Upper Peninsula camp. Reuben Soady, played by Chris Flewelling, brings with him the infamous reputation of being the oldest Soady in the history of the family to never bag a buck. The play shows Reuben going to great lengths to remove himself from the embarrassing end of the family record book for finishing the deer season ?widdout baggin? a buck.? Helping Reuben is his wife Wolf Moon Dance, portrayed by Sheela Welch Allum, who has better hunting skills than her husband.

Reuben?s father Albert, portrayed by Mike Marx serves as an occasional narrator for the play. Dave Crull plays Remnar, Reuben?s slightly off brother. Jimmer Negamanee, who claims he was once abducted by aliens, is played by Bob Starnes III. Edwa

rd Perrault plays Ranger Bob, a transplant from downstate, rounding out the crazy cast of characters. Daniels, known for appearing in nearly 50 movies such as ?Terms of Endearment,? ?Dumb and Dumber,? ?Speed,? ?The Purple Rose of Cairo,? ?101 Dalmatians,? and ?Pleasantville,? brought the play to the stage in 1995 and made a movie out of it in 2001. Shot mostly on location in Escanaba, the film debuted to a sellout crowd at the Fox Theater in Detroit before coming back to Escanaba the following week. Daniels is a resident of Chelsea, where he owns and operates the Purple Rose Theater, a local production company.

Tickets are available at the box office, at the Advance office or at the Rogers City Area Chamber of Commerce.

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