'Stardust' has Tacoma acting couple

There is some truth to the saying that staging theater production creates families. The cast and crew spend hundreds of hours together during the months of rehearsal, often meaning that they see each other more than their actual families. Bonds grow through those long hours of rehearsal.

Sometimes those ties run even deeper. Couples are created. It is not uncommon to have husbands and wives playing roles in the same productions. Such is the case with the current show at Olympia’s Harlequin Productions, where “Stardust Homecoming” has a Tacoma couple on its cast list. Emilie Rommel-Shimkus plays club worker Nora, while her husband Matt, plays her coworker Marty. Both are rising stars in the South Sound theater scene. Rommel-Shimkus has taken to the stages around Tacoma, with credits ranging from 1776 and the Seven Year Itch to The Hollow and Black Coffee. She is likely best known as the lead singer of the band Igneous Rocks. Shimkus has credits from Intiman and Seattle Repertory. They are among the ranks of Micheal O’Hara and Sherri O’Hare and Matthew and Kaarin Vail as standout acting couples.

In the show, they anchor the cast in this musical review straight from World War II. The year is 1942 and one of the members of the Stardust team is set to deploy for the war effort. But the club is linked to a counterfeiting ring of gas rationing stamps, prompting an investigation of Christmas Eve. Fun and music ensues as this original work plays out in this latest of 15-part holiday series. Tickets are $12 to $20. The show runs through Jan. 3 at the State Theater.

More information at HarlequinProductions.org