HICKORY - Hickory Arts & Hickory Community Theatre are partnering to bring Jason Robert Brown's "The Last Five Years" to The Firemen's Kitchen as part of their Working Artist Series from July 12-28. The musical is directed by Jeff Hartman, featuring Carol Anne & Jeff Hartman and a string quartet including Diana Stone and Charlton Seaver. Tickets are available by calling 828-327-3855 or by visiting hickorytheater.org. *Rated R for Adult Language. "The Last Five Years" is a contemporary song-cycle musical that ingeniously chronicles the five-year life of a marriage, from meeting to break-up and vice versa. Written by Jason Robert Brown ("Parade," "Songs for a New World"), L5Y is an intensely personal look at the relationship between a writer and an actress told from both points of view, chronologically opposite, meeting only once in matrimony on the timeline. Carol Anne & Jeff Hartman met on stage in 1996. The couple wed four years later on the Charles E. Jeffers Theatre mainstage of Hickory Community Theatre. Neither has performed together in a theatre production since then. "When Jeff asked me to listen to the music when we were discussing whether or not to do this show, I heard the first song and immediately picked up the phone to tell them we had to do this," says Carol Anne. "The concept of the two timelines is fabulous, but the music is so incredibly beautiful and moving." "So surreal to be doing this show," says Jeff, Hickory Arts Artistic Director. "Carol Anne and I haven't performed together in a musical theatre production in almost 17 years—since the fall of '96! That was "The Fantasticks." We've come full circle!" This collaboration with HCT will seed what both arts organizations hope to be an annual "Working Artist Series." "There is always a need to both celebrate and facilitate working artists—that's actors, musicians, design, tech, especially during summer months," Hartman says. "We believe theatre is truly the most collaborative art form that exists." Jeff has been performing with his wife and band for almost two decades across the country. The Hickory couple runs Hickory Arts. Hickory Arts is a teaching and production studio dedicated to cultivating up-and-coming artists of all types and ages—voted the 2013 Hickory/Western Piedmont Macaroni Kid Family Choice Awards Winner for "Favorite Music Instruction." Hickory Community Theatre is one of the oldest, continuously operating theatres in the state of North Carolina offering live entertainment year-round with six mainstage productions, three cabaret shows, four children's programs, and an annual seniors troupe production. This production has been made possible by local businesses and patrons. Please visit hickorytheatre.org and hickoryarts.com for more information. The Last Five Years Written and Composed by Jason Robert Brown Originally Produced for the New York stage by Arielle Tepper and Marty Bell Originally Produced by Northlight Theatre, Chicago, IL The Last Five Years is presented through a special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019, 212-541-4684, MTIShows.com more