Haines City Theatre to Present COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA

Haines City Theatre will present the William Inge play that inspired the 1952 film of the same name that starred Burt Lancaster and Shirley Booth in her screen debut: Come Back, Little Sheba.

Set in the cramped, cluttered Midwestern house of Lola and Doc Delaney, the plot centers on how their life is disrupted by the presence of a boarder named Marie, a college art student with a strong, lustful appetite played by Kirstie Kelly. Dorinda Morrison-Garrard returns to the HCT Stage as the housebound middle-aged Lola who engages in mild flirtations with the milkman and mailman, like the ingratiating coquette she once was. She sees in Marie herself at that age and encourages her pursuit of wealthy Bruce (Kyle Carothers) and muscular Turk,played by newcomer Jeremiah Pyle.

John E. Durbin portrays Doc, who earns a living as a chiropractor and was forced to abandon a promising medical career when he married a pregnant Lola. She subsequently lost the baby. As a recovering alcoholic, Doc maintains a precarious sobriety by avoiding the past. For him, Marie represents the youth and opportunity he sacrificed, and his eventual realization that she is not as pure and perfect as he imagined sends him back to the bottle and a slow descent into unbridled rage. The title refers to Lola's missing dog, who remains lost at the play's end. The cast is rounded out with Krystalyn Drown playing neighbor Mrs. Kaufman, Travis Whirl (making his directorial debut) as the Postman, Andy Scuderi as the Milkman, Lee Matheny as Ed Anderson, and Chris Walsh as Elmo and the messenger.

Shirley Booth (best known as Hazel) won the Tony, NY Drama Critics Award and later the Oscar for Best Actress of The Year for her compelling performance as Lola.

Opening September 8th and running through September 24th on Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM; tickets are available online at Hainescitytheatre.com for $20.00 for adults and $17.00 for students.