'ON HIS OWN TERMS' - SEMO TIMES

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‘Cabaret’ curtain rises Friday
Joe Clark and Laura Isaacs
SEMO TIMES
The Stage Company heats up an
already near-sweltering June with their
latest production, ‘Cabaret.’ The show
is set to open Friday night, June 11, at
7:30 p.m. at the Rodger’s Theatre in
downtown Poplar Bluff.
The play was written by Joe Masteroff
with music by John Kander and
lyrics by Fred Ebb, and revolves around
political and social events taking place
in 1931 Germany before the outbreak of
World War II. Set at a time when Nazis
are rising to power, it converges on
nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Club. The
play revolves around the young-butwordly
cabaret performer Sally Bowles
page 4
(portrayed by Megan Keathley) and
her relationship with Cliff Bradshaw
(portrayed by newcomer Eric Starbes),
a young writer. Other events unfold, and
the Kit Kat Club prevails as a strong
metaphor for the national state of affairs
in Germany.
“The message of the show asks how
did the good people of Germany let this
evil arise? What were they doing and
thinking while this was coming to the
surface in their country? Cabaret is the
story of people doing what we do today,
making a living, people falling in love,
and basically living life for themselves
– preoccupied with their own lives,”
Please see PLAY, page 6
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI’S NEWS-MAGAZINE OF POLITICS AND CULTURE
M I K E B R O O K R E S O N
‘ON HIS OWN TERMS’
Laura Isaacs
SEMO TIMES
After 12 years of nearly-perfect law
practice in Poplar Bluff, Mike
Brookreson is stepping down amid a
flurry of controversy. But he’s doing so on
his own terms.
“I was the architect
of my own
early retirement,”
Brookreson said
from a table at a
local watering hole
Monday afternoon.
And with his trademark eloquent
speech, boyish charm, easy-going smile
and cowboy boots, Brookreson seemed
anything but uncomfortable discussing his
decision.
The cataclysmic chain of events leading
to Brookreson’s decision to step down
began nearly six months ago. According
to reports, the Office of Chief Disciplinary
Counsel began investigating Brookreson
in early 2010 after a trust account
overdraft notification. The OCDC, an
agency of the Missouri Supreme Court,
is responsible for examining allegations
of misconduct among the state’s lawyers
and, according to the organization’s
The OCDC report was
compiled by Carl Schaeperkoetter,
who Brookreson has never met or
talked to personally.
website, prosecuting cases in which Missouri
attorneys’ conduct “poses a threat to
the public or to the integrity of the legal
profession.”
According to reports, Brookreson’s
staff unknowingly broke recently-passed
regulations regarding how client trust ac-
counts are appropriated
and how the
funds were handled.
He said he “didn’t
know the law until
I was stung by it.”
The OCDC report
was compiled by Carl Schaeperkoetter,
who Brookreson has never met or talked
to personally.
“My issue comes from my failure to
supervise staff,” Brookreson said. “And
for that, I was given a kick in the teeth
when most people in the legal community
felt I deserved a slap on the wrist.”
And while no formal charges were
filed against Brookreson, he chose to step
down amid the violations and accusations
rather than negotiate the terms of
disciplinary actions recommended by the
Counsel. He said the recommended
Please see TERMS, page 6
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