[NEohioPAL] Mrs. Bob Cratchit starts Dec. 3

[Jan Harcar]

Nuttier than a fruitcake and with fewer calories too!
Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge
Christopher Durang's irreverent parody
at Weathervane Playhouse in Akron

 
 

Christopher Durang's hilariously silly and irreverent parody, Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge takes the Weathervane stage from December 3 through 19 for eight performances in repertory with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. December 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13 and 19 and at 10:15 p.m. December 18. Tickets are $21. Not suitable for children under the age of 13.



Note: Performance on Dec. 19 at 10:15 p.m.

Ask us about holiday parties!

 

 

About the Play
 

The Catholic Church, urban living, psychotherapy, the American family and tabloid TV - these are just a couple of the cultural touchstones that playwright Christopher Durang targets in his comic attempts to remove all traces of sweetness from the sacred.

 

For his 2002 play, Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, Durang aimed his lampooning lancet at the beloved Charles Dickens novella, A Christmas Carol. 

 

When Tracy Brigden, artistic director of City Theatre in Pittsburgh, invited Durang to write a comic "alternative" Christmas play, the playwright immersed himself in yuletide literature and movies. What emerged for him was the dominance of two works: A Christmas Carol and Frank Capra's 1946 film, It's a Wonderful Life.

 

In the afterword to his play, Durang explains that "somewhere in the midst of relooking at the Dickens story, I suddenly wondered what would happen if Mrs. Bob Cratchit - who is barely in the story or in the movies, but merely exists as a stoic, "good" mother and wife, who bears all the family's suffering with never a complaint - just hated her life and wanted out."

 

And thus was born Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge. The play introduces us to Gladys Cratchit - a Victorian-era Desperate Housewife, perhaps? - who cuts a mean profile as a hard-drinking, slightly suicidal, stressed-out woman of 21 children. Between her multiple attempts to drown herself by jumping from the London Bridge, the play introduces (and re-imagines!) the other fabled Christmas Carol characters, including Scrooge, the Fezziwigs, and a sassy three-in-one Ghost of Christmas Past/Present/Future. For a loony mix of loopy fun, Durang also sprinkles in references to other Dickens novels, O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi and even the sappy TV drama Touched by an Angel.

 

A hilariously silly and irreverent parody - this was Durang's aim with Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge rather than creating a caustic satire. "Parody is friendlier, less pointed," he writes in his play's afterword, "and doesn't really have any purpose beyond entertaining - and entertaining partially by playing free and fast with what we know about certain works."

 

Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge was commissioned by City Theatre in Pittsburgh, where it premiered in November 2002. 

 

About the Playwright
 

CHRISTOPHER DURANG's plays have been produced on and off-Broadway as well as at numerous regional theaters. His 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, Hull Warriner Award), Laughing Wild, Betty's Summer Vacation (OBIE Award), Miss Witherspoon and Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them. His musical, Adrift in Macao, with book and lyrics by Durang and music by Peter Melnick, received its New York City premiere at Primary Stages following a run at Philadelphia Theatre Company. As an actor, he has appeared in movies (The Out-of-Towners, The Butcher's Wife and Beyond Therapy) and on stage in his own plays (Laughing Wild and The Marriage of Bette and Boo). He appeared with Sigourney Weaver in their co-authored Das Lusitania Songspiel (Drama Desk nominations for both of them) and with Julie Andrews in the Stephen Sondheim revue Putting It Together at Manhattan Theatre Club. With John Augustine and Sherry Anderson he performed his "crackpot cabaret," Chris Durang and Dawne (Bistro Award). With Marsha Norman, he's co-chair of the Playwriting Program at Juilliard, where they have jointly won the Margo Jones Award for their work with developing playwrights. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council.

 

about The Director

 

Eileen Moushey (Kent) is a freelance writer/director. Her company, Mysteries by Moushey, performs throughout Northeast Ohio and her mystery scripts have been produced by more than 1,000 theatres and schools all over the world. Eileen also writes video scripts and is a two-time regional Emmy winner. She ha been active at Weathervane for more than 25 years as a volunteer and has received several of the Playhouse's Chanticleer Awards for sound, lights and properties designs as well as a "Best Actress" honor. She directed our Dietz production of Mitch Albom's And the winner Is and her co-direction of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum earned a Best-Production Chanticleer. Eileen has also served on Weathervane's Board of Trustees including a stint as president and her leadership during the last two capital campaigns has been invaluable. She lives in Kent with her husband, Stephen.

 

The Cast and Backstage Team

 

Emily Haase                             Mrs. Bob Cratchit                     Akron

Most recently, she has appeared at Coach House Theatre in Tonight at 8:30 and Drowning Sorrows. She has also been slaying audiences across the region as one of the members of the Mysteries by Moushey troupe for twelve years.

 

Ron Cuirle                                Bob Cratchit                             Akron

Ron was last on these boards dying numerous times in Bloody Murder.  You may have also seen him wrangling his troops as George Custer in Custer at Coach House Theater.

 

Tina Thompkins                         The Ghost                                 Dover

Tina was last seen at WCP as Mayme in Intimate Apparel on our Dietz stage and in Ragtime in June 2008.

 

Gavin Van Winkle-Bright           Tiny Tim                                   Tallmadge

Gavin is a fifth-grade student at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts.  During the past year he has enjoyed being on stage with the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, at Miller South School and at Weathervane!

 

Barry T. Wakser                       Scrooge                                    Canton

By day, Barry is a criminal defense attorney with the Stark County Public Defender and has appeared in more than 40 local theatrical productions. This is his third show at Weathervane.

 

Ensemble:

Jeff Bixby (Akron)

Morgan Csejtey (Akron)

Harriet DeVeto (Akron)

Mike Groom (Barberton)

Andy Moledor (Peninsula)

Elyse Noelle Ramirez (Canton)

Shane M. Stahl (Munroe Falls)

 

Janis Harcar ~ Music Director (Kent) Director of Advancement for Weathervane Playhouse

Elyse Noelle Ramirez ~ Choreographer/Ensemble (Canton)

Mary Kate Clancy ~ Stage Manager (Cuyahoga Falls)

John S. Catlos ~Costume Designer (Akron)

Stephen Moushey ~ Sound Co-Designer (Kent)

Karen Burridge ~ Properties Designer (Brimfield)

Alan Scott Ferrall ~ Scenic/Lighting Designer (Cuyahoga Falls)

 

Be sure to see Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge at Weathervane Playhouse December 3 - 19. Call 330-836-2626 for tickets (Mondays 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Tuesdays - Fridays 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.).

 

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

 

Additional 2009-2010 season sponsors:

1590 WAKR-AM

89.7 WSKU-FM

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company


Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
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