Author: Life Without Lesson Plans

by Shari Murphy Coote and Friends The Shootin' Match, Annie Get Your Gun, 1983, Foreground from left, Bob Athey, Amy Charlton, Rick Taylor, Linda West, Terry Stuck THE TWELFTH SEASON, 1983 THE SHOWS Annie Get Your GunThe RainmakerLunch HourThe Solid Gold CadillacSomething’s AfootSee How They Run*The Prince and the Pauper (presented by the Heatham House… Continue reading Brooke Hills Playhouse: A Collective Memoir, Part 22, 1983 →

By Shari Murphy Coote and Friends Amy Charlton as Josephene and Randy Stuck as Ralph Rackstraw as the secretive lovers in H.M.S. Pinafore, 1982. We were saddened to learn of Randy's death, May 28, 2025, surrounded by his family in Granby, Connecticut THE ELEVENTH SEASON CONTINUED 1982("1982, The Season That Nearly Didn’t Happen") THE SHOWSThe… Continue reading BROOKE HILLS PLAYHOUSE: A COLLECTIVE MEMOIR, Part 21-B, 1982 →

By Shari Murphy Coote and Friends Susan Price, Tanya Nelson, Chris Cipriani, Anne Roberts, Ken Kasprzak in Blythe Spirit, 1982 THE ELEVENTH SEASON, 1982The Season That Nearly Didn't Happen THE SHOWS The Music Man Opal Is a Diamond Blythe Spirit H.M.S. PinaforeNot in the Book U.T.B.U. THE STAFFShari Harper Al and Betty Martin Karen Hall Harrigan… Continue reading BROOKE HILLS PLAYHOUSE: A COLLECTIVE MEMOIR, Part 21-A, 1982 →

by Shari Murphy Coote and Friends CONTINUED FROM PART 20-A, 1981 Front and back of the 1981 Playhouse Program Booklet [NOTE FROM SHARI: If you’ve read the previous installment, Part 20-A, you have already read the memories of Amy Charlton Portale and Cathy O’Dell. Part 20-A got so long, that I moved Amy and Cathy… Continue reading BROOKE HILLS PLAYHOUSE: A COLLECTIVE MEMOIR, Part 20-B, 1981 →

by Shari Murphy Coote and Friends SEASON TEN, 1981 THE SHOWS GodspellMusic Festival*Art Auction*Barefoot in the ParkArsenic and Old Lace Everybody Loves Opal Babes in ArmsNot Now, Darling*Work-arounds for the 4th of July THE STAFF Bill and Shari Harper Al and Betty Martin John and Judy Porter* Erich ZuernCathy Gaines Bill Hossack Cathy O’Dell Kendra… Continue reading BROOKE HILLS PLAYHOUSE: A COLLECTIVE MEMOIR, Part 20-A, 1981 →

by Shari Murphy Coote and Friends Press release photo for Oklahoma! Rick Taylor as Curley, Marla Mercer Weaver as Laurie, Russ Welch as Judd, 1980. Photo from Amy Charlton Portale's scrapbook. SEASON NINE, 1980 THE SHOWS Oklahoma!The Music Festival July 5, 6That’s No Excuse (orig. Dear Agatha, by Dick Boyd of Wheeling)God’s FavoriteWait Until DarkA… Continue reading BROOKE HILLS PLAYHOUSE: A COLLECTIVE MEMOIR, Part 19, 1980 →

by Shari Murphy Coote and Friends Harold's Club, Betts's to the Playhouse gang. Early 2004 A HISTORY AND A DIVERSION: SOME TALES FROM BETTS’S BARINTRO My Aunt Alice Hamilton took me to Betts’s, a bar in downtown Wellsburg, West Virginia, during the summer of 1967, after my sophomore year at West Liberty State College. Up… Continue reading Brooke Hills Playhouse: A Collective Memoir, Part 17 →

by Shari Murphy Coote and Friends Judy Porter Hennen and Rick Taylor in I Do! I Do! Season Six, 1977 (Continued) [NOTE: For a list of the shows and staff and many more memories from 1977, see Part 15-A. The summer of 1977 was chock full of good things at the Playhouse—our first sell-out, many… Continue reading Brooke Hills Playhouse: A Collective Memoir, Part 15-B →