Now that director/choreographer Barbara Cullen is staging her third consecutive show at The Encore Theatre — Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical “Oklahoma!” — the Louisville, Kentucky resident feels as though she’s putting down roots in Dexter.

“It’s funny,” said Cullen, after making the trip from the bluegrass state once again by car. “Every time I get close to the Dexter exit now, I feel like I’m coming back home.”

The Encore, founded by Michigan native and Broadway veteran performer Dan Cooney (now performing in “9 to 5: The Musical”), stages musicals in an intimate space and drafts seasoned, professional performers for the lead roles while filling out the ensemble with local amateurs.

“Oklahoma!,” which premiered on Broadway in 1943, marked the first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Based on the 1931 Lynn Riggs play “Green Grow the Lilacs,” the musical depicted life among farmers and cowboys in 1906 Oklahoma, and it became a record-breaking, watershed standard of American musical theater.

Marquee names featured in The Encore’s “Oklahoma!” include U-M musical theater grad Liz Griffith (Laurey), who recently made her Carnegie Hall debut; Sarah Litzsinger (Ado Annie), Broadway’s longest-running Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” who played Audrey in Encore’s last production, “Little Shop of Horrors”; and Rusty Mewha (Curly), a local actor who’s previously performed at Performance Network, the Purple Rose Theatre and others.

Thus, patrons may, for various reasons, recognize the show’s lead performers — but Cullen hopes that that’s where previous associations end. Her vision for “Oklahoma!” involves grounding the story and setting in reality, instead of dressing it up in brightly-colored costumes and backdrops.

“I wanted the audience to really feel what it might have been like,” said Cullen. “Life was tough for these two women, who are running a farm by themselves with just a hired hand. So in the beginning, I have Laurey in work clothes, not a pretty little dress.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at jennmckee@annarbor.com.

PREVIEW “Oklahoma!” Who: The Encore Musical Theatre Company. What: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic show about farmers and cowboys and the women they love, in 1906 Oklahoma. Where: 3126 Broad St., Suite A, in Dexter. When: 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday, August 6-23. How much: $28 ($25 for seniors and young people under 17). Info: 734-268-6200, or The Encore Theatre's web site.