The Players Theatre Company will close out its 2023-24 season with the four-person American comedy-drama “Butterflies Are Free.”
The show opens at the Owen Theatre June 21 and continues weekends through July 7.
Here’s what to know about the show and the summer at the Owen Theatre:
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Play synopsis
Set in the 1970s, Don Baker, a blind young man, moves into his own apartment against the wishes of his overprotective mother. Jill Tanner, the freethinking young woman next door, takes a liking to him and his meticulously kept apartment. As they begin a closer relationship, Don’s mother, Mrs. Baker, enters to “help” her son navigate his new life.
“Butterflies are Free” is a funny, touching and emotional play about the risks that go with loving someone, according to a play description on the Owen Theatre website.
“Butterflies are Free” is a 1972 American comedy-drama film based on the 1969 play by Leonard Gershe. Goldie Hawn and Edward Albert starred in the movie as Jill and Don. Eileen Heckart received an Academy Award for her performance as Mrs. Baker.
The director
Shawn Havranek directs this Players’ season ender. He’s been in “The Foreigner,” “Wait Until Dark” and others at the Owen and “Clue,” “The Dinner Party” and “Murder on the Orient Express” with Stage Right at the Crighton Theatre.
In January 2023 he directed “Calendar Girls” at the Owen. When not at the theater, he is an educator at Humble ISD.
“I have a fondness for small casts and deep character work, especially with a romantic element and this has everything that I enjoy,” he said. “I especially like stuff written in the 1960s and 1970s because I like to see if I can maintain the original emotions that the writer wanted to convey while still making it enjoyable and appropriate for today’s audiences. It’s an interesting challenge and I enjoy it a great deal.”
The cast and crew
The cast includes Carlos A. Soto as Don, Christina Taylor Wood as Jill, Peg Sampson as Mrs. Baker and David Chapin as Ralph.
Crew members include Jennifer Prior as stage manager and head of props; Hayden Conner as production assistant and assistant director, Roger Ormiston with scenic design and head of construction and Philip Harris on sound design. Michael and Sue Hayes are costuming this play.
For Don, Havranek was looking for someone with the core of a strong heart with a combination of innocence and a seeking of discovering himself.
“Carlos was an ideal choice. More than anything else he brings an earnestness and an inner strength of character. There is a core of goodness and a desire to be good that he exudes naturally and that baseline innocence is integral to the part of Don,” he said.
Earlier this year Soto was Juano in “West Side Story” at the Crighton Theatre and was in the “Buddy Holly Story” at the Crighton in April.
Havranek hopes to bring a different perspective to the show.
“I tried to shift the direction of the show so that it’s not solely about Don’s journey but it’s just as much Jill’s journey as well so that it’s not her helping him to find a new way out, it’s also him helping her find a way to genuinely express feelings for another person,” he said.
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This summer at the Owen
This show continues through July 7. Tickets are $25 at owentheatre.com or by calling the box office at 936-539-4090.
From July 13-21, The Players host “The Rocky Horror Show 2024 Fundraiser.” In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. They are quickly swept up in the scientist’s latest experiment, and the night’s misadventures cause Brad and Janet to question everything. Tickets are $30 on the Owen website.
The 2024-25 season kicks off with 80s musical “Rock of Ages” Sept. 6-22.
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