The Hope Summer Repertory Theatre begins its 38th season with the comedy Room Service by John Murray and Allen Boretz opening Friday, June 19th at 8 p.m. at Hope College's DeWitt Theatre.

The Hope Summer Repertory Theatre begins its 38th season with the comedy Room Service by John Murray and Allen Boretz opening Friday, June 19th at 8 p.m. at Hope College's DeWitt Theatre.

Follow what happens as nineteen hungry actors are holed up in a Times Square hotel room with a headstrong producer, trying to find a backer for his new Broadway show while racking up monstrous room service bills.  Will the emissary sent from the greedy businessman or the producer's brother-in-law, who is also the hotel manager, turn cold hearted and shut them down before the show even goes on?  As the tension keeps mounting, the producer insists that his play is a hit and will save him from future financial burden.

This popular comedy was a hit on Broadway in 1937 and then turned into a Marx Brothers movie.  Filled with jokes, pratfalls, fast-paced chatter and financial chicanery, the season kicks off with an evening of non-stop foolery. Order Room Service to find out!

Equity Guest Artist and Hope College graduate, Chip Duford, is returning for his sixteenth season and will be playing Gregory Wagner.  Duford can also be seen as Professor Bhaer in Little Women.  Jonathan Spivey, also a HSRT alumni and Equity Guest Artist, can be seen as Joseph Gribble.  His previous HSRT credits include last year's Forever Plaid and Kiss Me Kate.  Making his HSRT debut is Joseph Byrd, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in voice and conducting, is playing Dr. Glass.  He has served as music director for two seasons at Oregon State University's Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

David Colacci, returning for his 24th season and 18th as artistic director, is directing the performance.  Recent directing credits for HSRT include favorites such as Kiss, Me Kate, Godspell, Seussical, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Oliver, and A Midsummer Night's Dream and was also seen as Charlie in last season's The Foreigner.  David has performed at theatres nationwide for over 30 years, including The Old Globe in San Diego, The Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Chicago's Wisdom Bridge and Northlight Theatre, the Guthrie in Minneapolis, the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, People's Light and Theatre in Philadelphia, Boston's New Rep, and most recently in True West, at New Jersey's Two River Theater Company. He has won numerous awards as a narrator of audio books, including an Audie nomination this year for Philip Pan's Out of Mao's Shadow.

Performances continue throughout the summer on June 20, 25, 30, July 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 22, and 25.

Tickets are on sale through DeWitt Theatre Ticket Office.  Prices range from $8-$26 for musicals, and $8-$18 for plays. Season tickets, ranging from $45-$85, are also available.

The ticket office is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Beginning June 14 the ticket office is open on Saturday's at noon. On performance dates, the DeWitt Ticket Office will be open through intermission.  The ticket office is located in DeWitt Cultural Center at 12th Street and Columbia Avenue. For tickets call the ticket office at 616-395-7890. For more information visit the HSRT website at www.hope.edu/hsrt. 

The DeWitt Theatre is located at 141 East 12th Street. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located in Holland's downtown on 8th St. and Baker Lofts is located at 171 East 24th Street.

And while at the ticket office, make sure to check out HSRT's other productions such as Suds: The Rocking 60's Soap Opera Musical opening June 26 in the Knickerbocker Theatre, The Complt Wrks of Wm Shkspr...Abrdgd opening July 10, Little Women (the musical) opening July 17, and Dogpark: the Musical opening July 23 at Baker Lofts (formerly known as Til Midnight).  The Children's Performance Troupe will also be presenting Click, Clack, Moo opening June 24 and Charlotte's Web opening July 15.