STAGE TUBE: Preview Hale Theatre's THE HIT, Running thru Feb 9

A musty antique shop is not a place you'd expect to find wacky comedic patrons, romance, and an attempted assassination. But maybe it makes more sense if the hired hit man is a bumbling, conflicted first-timer, who is actually a hit woman. That's the premise of the romantic comedy, "The Hit," receiving its Arizona debut at Hale Center Theater, now through February 9th. Watch a video preview of the show below!

The story centers around a brother and sister who run a small antiques shop. Susan (Amie Bjorklund) and her younger brother Steve (Brett Etzel) took over the cluttered shop after their mother died from cancer. Now Susan has been given a similar diagnosis but hasn't told anyone. She has decided that rather than suffering and putting her brother through the pain again, she will hire a hit man to put a quick end to things. Things start to get a little crazy, when Susan meets, and starts falling for, the adorable Sam Gunderson (Matthew Cary). Sam is a widower who is just getting back to the dating scene, if a bit awkwardly, but still seems to be the perfect match for Susan, except that she still has a hit coming. And that's just the start of the antics.

The Hit is a light-hearted romantic comedy that hosts a vast array of characters (played by two actors: Katie Cook and Nathaniel Luis) that are included just to highlight some of the zanier people you might meet at an antiques shop (like the Minnesota mom or the silent-touch-everything type). There's also some action and everything is topped off with a message of living life to the fullest.

The Hit was recommended to the Hale's owners by managers of Hale's sister companies in Glendale, Calif., and Orem, Utah, after viewing its first staging in San Diego. The first production of The Hit was performed by Lamb's Players Theatre, who has a notable reputation for producing world premieres, with more than 40 new productions to its credit.