[NEohioPAL] The Hudson Players & Largely Literary Theater Group Dish Up "Christmas Pudding"

Dana Herro danaherro at gmail.com
Wed Dec 11 08:36:44 PST 2013


*The Hudson Players presenting a Yuletide feast with The Christmas Pudding:
A Largely Literary Christmas*

The Largely Literary Theater Company has recruited an all-star team of
writers to celebrate Christmas with the Hudson Players. A Yuletide feast
being staged one weekend only at the Barlow Community Center, *The
Christmas Pudding: A Largely Literary Christmas *features selections by
Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Hans
Christian Andersen and others.

Selected and adapted by Largely Literary Theater Company co-founders Mark
Dawidziak and Sara Showman, these poems, songs and stories run the holiday
gamut from the sweet and sentimental to the sarcastic and silly.

There are poems by Shakespeare, Poe, Washington Irving, Robert Louis
Stevenson, G.K. Chesterton and Ogden Nash. There are stories by Twain,
Andersen, J.M. Barrie and Frank Stockton. There’s even a “spirited”
encounter between Dickens and his most famous character, miserly Ebenezer
Scrooge.

Serving up the Christmas goodies with Showman and Dawidziak are Largely
Literary company members Alex J. Nine, Emma Picht and Tom Stephan.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13 and 14, at the
Barlow Community Center, 41 South Oviatt Street in Hudson.

Tickets are $14, with group, senior and student discounts available. For
more information and tickets, please visit www.hudsonplayers.com or call
330-655-8522.

Although all of the selections in *The Christmas Pudding *are family
friendly fare, the show will be most enjoyed by older children and adults
of all ages.

“Our sources of inspiration range from Shakespeare to the Three Stooges,”
said Dawidziak, who portrays Twain and Dickens in *The Christmas Pudding. *“The
more sentimental pieces include adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen’s
‘The Little Match Girl’ and Frank Stockton’s ‘Captain Eli’s Best Ear.’ The
twisted side of the holiday street is best represented by Twain’s story of
a good boy and Ogden Nash’s poem about a bad boy.”

There’s also a Christmas “ghost story” by Barrie, author of *Peter Pan, *and
whimsically offbeat versions of America’s two oldest secular
Christmassongs, “Jingle Bells” and “Up on the House Top.”

Specializing in faithful adaptations of great literary works, the Largely
Literary Theater Company was founded n 2001 to promote literary, literature
and live theater. Its very first production was a holiday play, an
acclaimed three-person version of *A Christmas Carol *starring Dawidziak as
Dickens, Stephan as Scrooge and Showman as just about everyone else.

The troupe also is known for *Twain By Three, *a two-act adaptation of
humorous sketches by Twain, and *The Tell-Tale Play, *a two-act collection
of poems and stories by Edgar Allan Poe*.*



The company’s managing director, Showman performs several storytelling
programs, including *Animal Tales, Earth Tales *and *Holiday Stories with
Mrs. Santa Claus, *at area schools and libraries. She performs “Eve’s
Diary” and portrays other characters in *Twain By Three. * She plays 15
roles in *A Christmas Carol, *and performs “The Masque of the Red Death,”
“The Bells” and “Alone” in *The Tell-Tale Play*



The company’s artistic director, Dawidziak also plays Twain and Dickens in
one-man Largely Literary sows. He has been the television critic at
the *Cleveland
Plain Dealer* since July 1999. During his fifteen years at the *Akron
Beacon Journal*, he held such posts as TV columnist, movie critic and
critic-at-large.

Cuyahoga Falls residents Showman and Dawidziak co-star in the company’s
popular Halloween season shows, *Ghosts by the Tale *and *Shades of Blue
and Gray: Ghosts of the Civil War.*

In addition to playing Scrooge in *A Christmas Carol, *Stephan performs
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” “El Dorado” and “The Raven” in *The Tell-Tale Play. *The
Stow resident has been seen in more than 80 major productions in the grater
Akron-Canton area, including plays at Weathervane Playhouse, Coach House
Theater and the Ohio Shakespeare Festival.

Nine has acted or directed at most of the theaters in the greater Akron
area. He performs “Annabel Lee,” “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Alone” in *The
Tell-Tale Play, *and, like Stephan, was featured in the Largely Literary
production *The Mystery of Dashiell Hammett. *The Akron native also appears
in the company’s touring show *Under the Skull and Cross Bones: A Pirate’s
Life for Me.*

 Picht, a Hudson resident, has appeared with such area theaters as Actors
Summit, Weathervane Playhouse and Magical Theatre Company. Last year, she
appeared in the Largely Literary production *She Stories.*

For information about bookings and other Largely Literary shows, call
330-923-8350 or go to largelyliterary.com*.  *To purchase tickets for the
show, please call
330-655-8522.
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