By Mike Hazlip—
As the saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows, and Citrus Heights resident Bill Rowland hopes his play of the same title will give audiences some laughter and maybe even bring some folks together.
In his comedy, Strange Bedfellows, which is slated to begin showing locally at Theatre in the Heights later this month, Rowland explores a romance between two political candidates at opposite ends of the political spectrum. The production takes a light-hearted look at some of today’s hot-button issues and Rowland hopes audience members will come away with a laugh or two as they find some common ground in what he sees as an increasingly polarized political landscape.
“The idea is we’re going to work together and try to bring people together in some fashion, which seems pretty hard to do these days,” he says.
Rowland started work on the play more than 30 years ago, just after graduating college, he said. After stints with a classic rock band and opening a music store, he took a job at Hewlett Packard and put Strange Bedfellows to rest while he concentrated on family and career.
“I got started on it back then, just had this idea,” he said. “I got it maybe half-way done and had to put it on the back burner and decided I needed to make a living to pay bills and things.”
After retiring from Hewlett Packard a few years ago, Rowland pulled the covers off Strange Bedfellows and decided to finish the play. He approached Blake Flores at Theater in the Heights and the comedy musical is set to debut July 29.
Rowland and his wife of 50 years have lived in Citrus Heights more than three decades, and he says working with Theater in the Heights has been a good experience. He says the volunteer talent is helping bring his production to life.
“We’ve got some great, great actors and singers, I’m just amazed at how these people can remember all these lines,” Rowland said, noting that Flores called in a choreographer to help with the performance. “I don’t think you can call this amateur theater, except nobody is getting paid.”
Although Rowland says none of the characters were directly inspired by Citrus Heights, he does take ideas from national headlines.
Without giving away too much of the plot, Rowland says the comedy includes a news reporter looking for a scandal, a thorny constitutional question, and even a “birther” controversy.
“I just think they’ll have fun with it,” he said. “I hope there’s a message of some sort that we can try to work together and do some compromise and hopefully get people in Washington to do something except just staying on their side of the fence all the time.”
Theatre in the Heights is located at 8215 Auburn Blvd., in Citrus Heights. Strange Bedfellows is scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., from July 29 through August 21. Sunday matinee performances are scheduled for August 7, 14, and 21 at 4 p.m.
