MARINE CITY, Mich.–Riverbank Theatre here will present Same Time, Next Year at Riverbank Theatre from September 17 – October 17.

This romantic comedy is directed by Brittany Everitt Smith, and tells the story of Doris and George, who are married, but not to each other. They first meet in 1951 and begin an affair that spans 24 years. As time passes, their relationship develops into an emotional intimacy deeper than what one would expect to find between two people meeting for a clandestine relationship just once a year. Real-life couple Tyrone and Jennifer Evenson of Port Huron star in the production.

Written by Bernard Slade, Same Time, Next Year opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for more than three years. It was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New American Play. Ellen Burstyn won both the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. In 1978, a film adaptation directed by Robert Mulligan starred Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda.

New York Times reviewer, Clive Barnes, had this to say after the premier in 1975, “There are six scenes, for over the years we see George and Doris on six weekends. We see them through their ups and their downs. We see them through childbirth and analysis, through the death of loved ones, through restatements of self and reorganizations of life. We see them gradually, and very subtly, grow older, passing from the 25‐year‐olds we first met to people touching 50. When she becomes a 35‐year‐old flower child, he is a stuffy executive on his way to his first million. When he has dropped out, and is playing cocktail piano at a singles bar, she has become a feminist businessperson with a chain of fancy delicatessens. Yet they still love one another, and their spouses, who eventually become unknown friends to their unknown rivals.”

Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets are $28.00 plus a $2 service fee for reserved seating and are available online at www.riverbanktheatre.com or by phone at 810-278-1749.