[NEohioPAL]CPT goes on a Hungarian Holiday Binge!

[Dan Kilbane]

Saturday, December 20:  Hungarian Holiday Binge! @ Cleveland Public Theatre

In conjunction with its holiday production of Christopher Durang’s new
comedy, MRS. BOB CRATCHIT'S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE, executive director James
Levin and artistic director Randy Rollison are proud to present the
Hungarian Holiday Binge, December 20, 2003, in CPT’s new rehearsal
hall.  This special evening includes dinner at 6:00 p.m., followed by the
8:00 p.m. performance of MRS. BOB CRATCHIT'S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE next door
in the Gordon Square Theatre.  Dinner includes a homestyle Hungarian feast
created by chef Attila Salka of the Schnitzel Company. This dinner and
theatre package is $55.

“It’s the season to get together with family and friends to celebrate, and
we thought it would be fun to take our holiday production one step further
by offering a special dinner package,” says Rollison.

Indeed, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge pokes fun at holiday meals
as only Obie award winner Durang can do.  The Cratchit family has only one
good meal a year, but this Christmas meal does not turn out as expected,
thanks to their family chef and Ebeenezer Scrooge.  However, with the
Hungarian Holiday Binge, patrons can expect a delicious menu of weiner
schnitzel, mashed potatoes, green peas, house salad, cherry strudel, beer
and Hungarian wine.

Chef Attila Salka, no stranger to delicious Hungarian cooking, was born in
Transylvania, and grew up around the restaurant business. Salka assisted his
mother, who ran a restaurant in their native Hungary for 21 years.  He
attended culinary school in Debreceu, Hungary, focusing on the culinary arts
as well as restaurant and hotel management.  Salka also has a degree in
German, and speaks four languages fluently.  He currently runs the catering
at St. Helena’s Church on W. 65th, a neighbor to CPT.  Salka is working on
opening his own catering business, the Schnitzel Company.  The business will
specialize in catering, focusing on Hungarian home-style cooking as well as
fresh and frozen foods for purchase in stores.

With Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Obie Award winner Durang
takes on some of the holiday season’s sacred cows.  Gladys Cratchit has had
it.  There are 21 foundlings in the basement and that whiney Tiny Tim just
won’t shut up.  One day she flips, takes to drink and tries to throw herself
off a bridge.  Sound familiar?  Meanwhile, Ebenezzer Scrooge gets a visit
from the Ghost of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, and a life lesson
is not far around the corner.  However, it seems something is wrong with the
Ghost’s abilities to do her job, and she and Scrooge go on a humorous ride
that lets several classic holiday tales have it.  Although this play with
music is based on A Christmas Carol, it quickly spins out of control,
colliding with It’s a Wonderful Life and The Gift of the Magi.

Christopher Durang is a playwright whose plays include A History of the
American Film (Tony nomination), Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For
You (Obie award), Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater, The Marriage of
Bette and Boo (Obie award), Laughing Wild, Durang/Durang, and Betty’s Summer
Vacation (1999 Obie award).  He’s acted in his own plays, in movies, and
performed in the Sondheim revue Putting It Together at the Manhattan Theatre
Club starring Julie Andrews.  In the early 80s he and Sigourney Weaver
performed in and co-wrote Das Lusitania Songspiel, a Brecht-Weill parody;
and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson he has performed his crackpot
cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne various places, winning a Bistro Award.  Most
recent work: a musical Adrift in Macao, optioned for off-Bway; and a new
play, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge at City Theatre in
Pittsburgh.  Since 1994 he and Marsha Norman have been co-chairs of the
Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School.  He’s a member of the
Dramatists Guild Council.

MRS. BOB CRATCHIT'S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE was commissioned and originally
produced by City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh, PA.

The Free Times and Union Station Video Cafe are proud to sponsor CPT's
production of MRS. BOB CRATCHIT'S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE.

The mission of Cleveland Public Theatre is to inspire, nurture, challenge,
amaze, educate, and empower artists and audiences, in order to make the
Cleveland public a more conscious and compassionate community.

MRS. BOB C extended...now through December 28!!!!



Dan Kilbane
Publicist
Cleveland Public Theatre
6415 Detroit Ave.
Cleveland, OH  44102
tel:  216/631-2727 ext. 203
fax:  216/631-2575
www.cptonline.org
dkilbane at cptonline.org

a delicious holiday romp!
MRS. BOB CRATCHIT'S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE
EXTENDED through December 28, 2003