James Magruder Boeken

"I figure some of you have been in plays, and so know how a closing night feels. With some shows, it's a relief. With others, you're fighting tears. Robin's theory is that it depends on how you feel about the makeshift family you've created for those weeks," says chorus boy turned master baker Cary Dunkler.Cary, Isa Vass, Kristy Schroyer, Judy Gabelson, and Mark Shinner have lives that are transformed in surprising ways by working on or backstage at the Hangar Theatre, a summer stock outfit in upstate New York in the 1980’s. They make—and remake—their families in this closely observed, ultimately comic valentine to the Socialist-leaning hamlet of Ithaca and to the pleasures of putting on a show at warp speed in hot weather."A precise, affectionate collection of linked stories follow the lives of several "townies" in Ithaca, New York, from 1980 to 1992. It's a tour de force performance, charming and unstrained." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)