THEATRE + COMEDY

Houston Family Arts Center (HFAC) continues its 6th season of bringing family-friendly entertainment to Houston with its Main Stage production The Money in Uncle George’s Suitcase by local Houston playwright Pat Cook. The Money in Uncle George’s Suitcase, directed by Tracy Clayton, opens on Friday, May 27, at the HFAC Garza Main Stage, 10760 Grant Road, and runs through Sunday, June 19, 2011.

Uncle George invites all of his citified relatives down to his ramshackle fishing cabin for a weekend of fun and relaxation. Since he intends to will the cabin to them, what better way to remind them of the fun you can have with your family than to spend time together in the woods by the lake? But the relatives are having none of it until George lets on that somewhere on his property is a suitcase stuffed with $480,000. Now the city slickers can't wait to turn the house (and each other) upside down in frantic attempts to find the money. But in searching for the money, they find a much bigger truth instead.

Playwright Pat Cook moved to Houston in 1970 and has written 145 plays published by nine different publishers. Many of his plays have been translated into Dutch and German.

“We are elated that Pat Cook will attend our performance on June 12 and will conduct a talkback after the show,” said Bob Clark, HFAC Executive Director. “We are pleased to provide this opportunity for our patrons and actors to meet with the author of the play.” "This play is such a microcosm of today's society that the play almost directed itself," said director Tracy Clayton. "Pat Cook masterfully intertwines the simple, carefree life of Uncle George with the hectic and often unfocused lives of his two sisters and their families. The simple gestures and mannerisms of Uncle George are in stark contrast to the greed and pettiness exposed in his family through repeated comic mishaps." Clayton further remarked, "One by one, the family begins to realize just how absurd they've all been acting in a humorous, yet heartwarming closing scene from which each of us can learn."

The talented Houston cast includes Richard Hahn as "Uncle" George Plunkett; Nora Hahn as Joanne Bryant; Mario Garza as Mitch Bryant; Olivia Clayton, Veronica McLaren, and Alyssa Mills as Chelsea Bryant; Joan Fox as Margaret (Peg) Blankenship; Rachel McKeehan-Mendosa as Gloria Shumway; Joshua Clark as Andrew Shumway; and Karen Clayton as Mamie Jo Durant.