HART opens 'Drinking Habits' Sept. 12 in downtown Hillsboro

Hillsboro Artists' Regional Theatre (HART) opens "Drinking Habits," a farce about wine-making nuns and undercover reporters, on Saturday, Sept. 12, at its downtown stage.

The comedy by playwright Tom Smith carries the subtitle "Holy Spirits, Unholy Secrets — A Divine Comedy of Errors." Kraig Williams directs the production, which runs through Sept. 27 at HART Theater, 185 SE Washington St.

The plot centers on two nuns at the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing who have been secretly making wine to keep their convent's doors open. Two reporters and former fiancés, Paul and Sally, go undercover as a nun and priest to investigate. Their arrival, combined with a new nun joining the order, sets off convent-wide paranoia that spies from Rome have been sent to shut the place down. Secrets and wine get spilled in equal measure.

Opening night on Sept. 12 includes a red carpet preshow event starting at 6:30 p.m., with the curtain at 7:30 p.m. The show runs until 10 p.m. A matinee follows on Sunday, Sept. 13, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The full performance schedule for the rest of the run is available on HART's ticketing page.

Tickets range from $5 to $25. Reservations are required.

Harrison Butler, HART's artistic director since October 2022, also serves as executive director of the Hillsboro Downtown Partnership. In an Aug. 21 profile in the Hillsboro News Times, Butler described his philosophy connecting theater and community life: "Putting on a play is a community effort … It's not about the play that you go see. It's about the community that was created, the relationships."

Butler, who moved to Hillsboro after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his theater career in Los Angeles, told the News Times he sees downtown as a gathering place. "I like to think of downtown Hillsboro as the city's living room," he said in the same August profile. "You can come down here. You can have conversations. You can come to an event, sit on the lawn, listen to some music, do some great retail shopping, go see a play."

Residents can reach the HART box office at (503) 693-7815 or visit hart-theatre.org for tickets and schedule details.

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