‘Drawer Boy’ begins July 4

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

HORSE CAVE July 03, 2008 06:24 pm

— Robert Brock was a little reluctant to talk about Kentucky Repertory Theatre’s production of “Drawer Boy” a couple of weeks ago for fear he would spoil it for future audiences.
“I don’t want to give anything away because it is so powerful,” said Brock, the theater’s artistic director.
“Drawer Boy” will open at Kentucky Rep on Friday.
Written by Canadian playwright Michael Healey, the play is about a Canadian actor, Miles, who wants to write a play about farming.
To gain knowledge about the farming industry, Miles finds two farmers, Angus and Morgan, World War II veterans, who are willing to let him stay with them for a while so he can do research for his play.
“One of the farmers has a problem with memory. It comes out that something happened to him during the war, World War II, in England, when he was called up. An explosion during an air raid did something to his head and knocked out his memory,” Brock said. “He basically can’t remember much of anything from one moment to the next.”
He can do simple tasks, but forgets people’s names two minutes after being introduced to them.
“The bottom line of this play is about the healing power of art,” Brock said.
Starring in “Drawer Boy” are Henry Kevin Haggard from the theater’s productions about the tiny Texas town of Tuna; Brian Webb Russell, who portrays Billy Herndon in the theater’s production of “One Man’s Lincoln;” and Dirk Fitzgerald from the theater’s production of “Cindersmella.”
“Drawer Boy,” according to Brock, has won numerous awards and is one of the most produced plays.
“It is a beautiful, funny, heart-rending, touching play,” Brock said. “My thing about this is if you don’t see another play this year, see this one. It is so good.”
The play begins at 7:30 p.m. with a special Pay What You Can Performance. Each ticket for the July 4 opening performance will be a minimum of $5 per ticket.
“Drawer Boy” will run from July 4 to Aug. 3.
For reservations, call the theater’s box office at (270) 786-2177 or (800)-342-2177. For additional information, visit Kentucky Rep’s Web site at www.kentuckyrep.org and the Kentucky Rep MySpace page.