Paul Stroili's MY MOTHER AND THE MICHIGAN/OHIO WAR to Begin in April The Purple Rose Theatre

Paul Stroili's latest play, My Mother and The Michigan/Ohio War will begins preview at The Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, Michigan on April 3, 2025 with opening night set for April 11th. Concurrently, his previous PRTC-produced play A Jukebox for The Algonquin will enjoy multiple productions in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio with more theatres and dates to be announced.

Before his affiliation with The Purple Rose, Stroili's award-winning one man show, Straight Up with a Twist premiered at the Gascon Center Theatre in Los Angeles. A limited six-week engagement turned into a nearly nine-year run for that show, with nearly 1,000 performances nationwide, culminating in a twice-extended Off Broadway run.

Stroili, a resident artist at the Purple Rose, is delighted with the audience reaction to previous and current work. "Straight Up was a success, but it was a solo show that I wrote and performed, so aside from director Bill Penton - there wasn't a lot of collaboration. I was a bit apprehensive about writing a larger piece with a full cast and a broader scope. When I met the people at the Purple Rose, all those feelings shifted. I have worked there as actor in six productions so far, five of which were world premieres. The theater is known for fostering new work, so observing their process and their respect for the script kind of calmed the nervous playwright in me."

"Jukebox was a huge hit for our theatre." says Purple Rose Managing Director Katie Hubbard. "The run was essentially sold out and far exceeded ticket sales projections. The audiences were not only in stitches but also wiping away tears. Many of our audience members called Jukebox their favorite play of all time at the Purple Rose."

Jeremy Koch, artistic director at Farmers Alley Theatre in Kalamazoo, agrees. "After we saw the show at PRTC, we immediately knew we had to add it to our next season. It's timely, sharp, poignant and seriously hilarious. We're proud to produce it this year and even happier that Paul has signed on to direct it."

The recipient of a Wilde Award for Best Play, the show has gone on to win acclaim with subsequent runs. A recent production at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center in Golden, Colorado garnered four awards including Best Original Play and a True West Impact Play Award from the Denver Gazette. In addition, a monologue from the play was selected for the Smith & Kraus anthology, Best Women's Stage Monologues, 2024.

After the success of Jukebox, PRTC Artistic Director Jeff Daniels and Stroili discussed ideas for his next play. "Jeff suggested I write about the Midwest with a sense of humor, " remembers Stroili, "regional audiences like seeing and hearing themselves on stage and now, more than ever, they need to laugh."

So what is the latest play about? "My love of obscure history combined with my wife's love of research led us to discover that Michigan and Ohio actually went to war in 1835," says Stroili, "the Michigan/Ohio war was hardly that, it was basically a boundary dispute - but coupled with the legendary college football rivalry, it quickly became fodder for a comedy about a father obsessed with historical reenactments, a mother who is both the family's coach and referee and the sparks that fly when your daughter is a Wolverine and your son is a Buckeye."

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