We often get the question “Are Harry (Kurt Kleinmann) and the Lady in Red (Barb Weinberger) married?” The short answer is “Yes, they are and have been for 22 blissful years!”
Here’s how it came about: In summer of 1986, Barb was looking for ways to get more involved with area theatres. She signed up as a volunteer at several of them, only to discover that volunteers generally got to pour Cokes or usher, in exchange for being able to see the show for free. That felt somewhat unfulfilling (although she did get to see a lot of awesome theatre for free!) She wanted more involvement.
Pegasus Theatre was different. Yes, volunteers poured Cokes, but they also helped with set construction, set strike, the annual New Year’s Eve bash, and other more engaging pursuits. Then she saw her first show at Pegasus Theatre, and she was hooked.
Even back in the mid-80s, Pegasus used curtain speeches before the show to communicate directly with the audience. Often these speeches were comical and served as a sort of warm-up for the audience. At the time either Kurt or his father (affectionately known as Mr K) would do the curtain speech. On the night that Barb attended her first Pegasus show, Kurt did the speech.
I’m sure many of you will scoff at the notion of “love at first sight”. But it’s hard to find any other explanation for Barb’s reaction to seeing Kurt for the first time. She swears to a definite fluttering in the area of her heart and a definite sense that she had a future with this man.
And so began a year of intense volunteer work at Pegasus, combined with efforts to be around Kurt as much as possible. He was a little clueless at first, so it was 8 months until their first kiss and another 6 months until they were a full-fledged couple. Five years later they were married.
Why the different last names? Kurt jokingly explains, “I considered changing my name to Kurt Weinberger but it just didn’t have the same alliterative appeal as Kurt Kleinmann.”
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