According to the Equity company in Flat Rock, NC, "Joel Hopper is a disheveled mystery writer who is suffering from writer's block — and ever since his wife left him, Joel has been in a funk that he simply can't shake. His response is to escape to the family home his father built to lick his wounds and try to work. As it turns out, the house has to be sold and fast, and when Emma, an incredibly perky and determined young realtor shows up, she decides that Joel is as much of a 'fixer-upper' as his house."

Brendan Powers directs. The cast for Real Estate includes Scott Treadway as Joel; Leslie Marie Collins as Emma; the husband and wife team of Neela and Bill Muñoz who play Estelle and Ted, Joel's chic ex-wife and her beauty product entrepreneur boyfriend.

Harkin's other plays include the musical comedy The Review (Summerworks Festival) and most recently the workshop of her new play The Boiler Room in Calgary, Alberta.

For more information visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

* Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina, has a history of producing new theatrical works and scripts that received their first professional or American production, for both Mainstage and YouTheatre: Lucky Guy (1991); Gilligan's Island: The Musical (1992); When Pigs Fly (1992); Nuptials (1992); Rockers (1993); Tart! (1995); Revenance (1995); The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1997); Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story (2001); Jim's Garage (2002); Starstruck (2003); Dear Santa (2003); Taking A Chance on Love (2007); Billy, Goat, Gruff (2008); Princess Reform School (2009); and Romance of the Christmas Card (2009).