Rachael Lindhart

Exit stage right (laughter)

Rachael Lindhart often heads to the theater for a good laugh.

“Theater gives you a way to talk, laugh about things that are hard to talk about,” Lindhart said. “It is a way to relate to other human beings. It can be so healing.”

In addition to being a fan, Lindhart always has been involved in theater.

The theater bug bit her when she was a third-grader in Humboldt. She played the Queen of Hearts in “Who Stole the Tarts?”

“I don’t remember if people laughed, but they must have,” Lindhart said.

As soon as she could, she staked out a career as a professional stage manager. Now she is semi-retired.

A show that never fails to get her laughing is “Charlie’s Aunt,” by Brandon Thomas.

“It is a classic farce,” Lindhart said. “I never get tired of it.”

There is not a theater in town that Lindhart hasn’t worked with. She serves as co-artistic director of Dreamwell Theatre.

“I go to a lot of plays,” Lindhart said. “I go to most of the plays we do around town.

“The theater makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry. I get a great deal of laughter from the theater.”

— Deanna Howard

Iowa City Press-Citizen -- March 12, 2009