Folks will be seeing double this summer when the Pembroke Pines Theater of the Performing Arts puts on two productions.

The plays, both being staged in July, mark the first time the 12-year-old troupe will have overlapping performances. The intent of having two shows in the same month is to promote the group’s new theater space in Cooper City, said James Cichewicz, president of PPTOPA.

“We feel one show will draw attention to the other,” said Cichewicz, who will be starring in Same Time, Next Year.

The two-person comedy, which also features his wife, Janine Cichewicz, will be the first production at the troupe’s PPTOPA@City Theatre, in Cooper City. Shows will be July 15 to July 31. About the same time, a larger cast will perform Broadway Bound, from July 8 to July 24 at the Jim Davidson Theatre, inside the Walter C. Young Resource Center in Pembroke Pines.

PPTOPA moved to its new quarters in Cooper City because the group wanted to stage plays in a more intimate setting, James Cichewicz said. The City Theatre can hold up to 96 people, compared to the 450-seat Jim Davidson Theatre. The troupe also performs at the River of Grass Arts Park in Pembroke Pines, which has seats for 430 patrons, he said.

“We wanted another avenue to produce some smaller shows,” James Cichewicz said. “The space in Cooper City had been previously used for theater productions. We’re never held productions outside of Pembroke Pines, but we felt this was a good fit. It’s important that we remain in the Southwestern Broward area.” For future productions, board members intend to keep PPTOPA primarily a community theater troupe, using a mix of nonprofessionals and professionals who stage productions at the Walter C. Young Resource Center and the River of Grass Arts Park, he said.

PPTOPA@City Theatre will be a professional company, with salaries paid to its actors, he said. The troupe intends to produce five shows a year at the 2,700-square-foot theater in Cooper City. Theater classes for children and adults are also being offered there, said Cichweicz, a West Palm Beach resident who took over as PPTOPA’s director in February.

Cichweicz was previously manager at a Publix supermarket. His wife is a social worker.

Same Time, Next Year was selected as the debut performance for City Theatre because it is a very touching story, Cichweicz said. The play is about a man and a woman who are married to other people. The two lead characters begin a 25-year love affair, meeting once a year in the same place, he said. As Cichweicz is staging Same Time, Next Year, another group of actors is busy rehearsing Broadway Bound. The production marks the end of the trilogy of plays written by Neil Simon that PPTOPA began performing two summers ago.

The three plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound, focus on the life of Eugene Jerome, a character Simon based on himself. Broadway Bound takes place in 1949, when Jerome is in his 20s. He is living in Brighton Beach with his family and getting started in his career as a comedy writer. Jay Maxwell, the show’s assistant director, said Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues were well received by audiences. “Everyone likes Neil Simon,” said Maxwell, a Pembroke Pines resident who works as a housing specialist for the city of Miami Beach.

Jeff Streitfeld of Plantation, a Broward Circuit Court judge, plays Eugene Jerome’s father, Jack. Broadway Bound is Streitfeld’s second production with PPTOPA. This past winter, he played Daddy Warbucks in Annie. Streitfeld described the group as dedicated and creative. “There is a special chemistry,” he said.

Marlene Scott, a retired flight attendant from Pembroke Pines, plays Jerome’s mother. It is her first time on stage with the troupe. “I signed up for adult theater classes, and I was asked to read,” Scott said. “It’s a challenge, playing somebody else. I’m from Chicago, and I have to talk in the play with a New York accent. I practice it everywhere.”

Jack Sigman, who works as director of membership services at homeguides.com in Hollywood, said he is enjoying his role as the grandfather. “I get to yell a lot,” he said. Sigman, of Lauderdale Lakes, played Jerome’s father two summers ago in PPTOPA’s production of Brighton Beach Memoirs.

“Now I’m his grandfather,” he said. “In two years, I’ve aged 37 years. It’s a miracle.

COMING UP ONSTAGE

What: Broadway Bound

When: July 8 to July 24

Where: Jim Davidson Theatre, inside the Walter C. Young Resource Center at 901 NW 129th Ave. in Pembroke Pines.

Cost: Tickets are $16 for adults and $13 for seniors and students, ages 24 and younger. Seats for age 10 and younger cost $6.

What: Same Time, Next Year

When: July 15 to July 31

Where: PPTOPA@City Theatre, at 12233 SE 55th St. in Cooper City.

Cost: Tickets for Friday evening and Saturday matinee performances are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors, $12 for students and $10 for children. Performances on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors, $12 for students and $10 for children.

Show times for both plays: 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays. Discounts will be offered to people purchasing tickets for both plays. Group discounts are available. For more information call 954-437-4884, or log on to