Since Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007), the author of “Slaughterhouse-Five,” would have been 100 this year, the Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company is celebrating the occasion by offering three of his charming stories in “Who Am I This Time? (& Other Conundrums About Love.)”   Adapted by Aaron Posner, these humorous tales filled with heart take place in the small town of North Crawford, Connecticut in 1962.

The first tale, “Long Walk to Forever,” is about a soldier who goes AWOL so he can hitchhike home to talk his childhood sweetheart out of marrying the wrong man.  In the next one, “Who Am I This Time?,” a new woman in town falls in love with the man she’s performing with in the community theater production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”  The last of the trio, “Go Back to Your Precious Wife and Son,” centers on a successful writer who realizes that being married to a film star can be difficult.

This comedy runs from July 27 – September 3, every Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00 PM at The Cape May Presbyterian Church where ELTC is in residence. Tickets are $35; $30 senior; $20 full-time student and military (active/retired/vet); and anyone age 12 and under is free.

Playwright Aaron Posner is currently an Associate Professor at American University in Washington, D.C. He was one of the founders of Arden Theatre Company in 1988 in Philadelphia, and served for a while as artistic director at New Jersey’s Two River Theater. He’s directed more than 100 productions at major regional theaters and written about 20 plays, all (but one) of which are adaptations of short stories, novels, novellas, or plays.

The cast for the most part will be familiar to ELTC patrons. Veronique Hurley, Mat Labotka, and Mark Edward Lang were in “The Rainmaker” in 2019 and Alison J. Murphy last trod the ELTC boards in “Ah, Wilderness!” Andrew Lofredo worked backstage for ELTC in 2019 and performed in “Tales in the Backyard,” in 2020. New to ELTC are Liz Mattera and Nathan Garcia. Liz is a recent graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Musical Theatre. Nathan is currently taking film and theater classes at Anne Arundel Community College in Annapolis where he recently performed in “Clue.” He retired from the New York City Police Department as a Detective in 2017 and from the US Navy Reserves as a Chief Petty Officer in 2019.

Gayle Stahlhuth is directing “Whom Am I This Time?” and taking on a small role. She has performed Off-Broadway, in regional theaters, and in film and television.  Since 1999 she has been Artistic Director of ELTC, producing over 120 different plays and musicals for this company, and directed most of them.