COASTE | APR - MAY 2016

ARTISTs IN RESIDENCE

For this talented Fort Myers theatrical couple, one standing ovation doesn’t seem quite enough.

To hear the stories stage actors will tell, it can often be a challenging journey they’ve chosen in life — or better put, life’s chosen for them. You go where the work is, meaning if you’re good or lucky, you can be traveling from city to city, around the country, eight weeks here, six weeks there. Or, then there are the times when there’s no work to be had — sometimes months on end — rejection at its finest, whether you’re called to audition or the phone doesn’t ring. But actors are artists, and they do it for the love of their craft. And here in Southwest Florida, there’s a highly talented couple who not only do it for love, but in love. Rachel Burttram Powers and husband Brendan Powers are familiar names to those aficionados of Florida Repertory Theatre, named among the

“top repertory companies in the United States” by the Wall Street Journal. And while combined they’ve performed in more than 100 plays, it was an innocuous first rehearsal late in 2007 that might be called the most important performance of their lives. “The first time I met Rachel was in the rehearsal hall of the Rep,” Brendan recalls. “I had been hired out of New York and was contracted for only one six-week show. We knew we got along well and enjoyed each other’s company, so when the show ended and I was scheduled to return to New York, there was some disappointment. But then, fate stepped in.” In this case, fate was in the form of an actor who was unable to perform for the next show — and fate was aided, in no small part, by Rachel’s dual

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