ALTON - Two years ago Alton Little Theater audiences had the opportunity to spend a little pre-holiday celebration with a zany Minnesota family in Phil Olson's A Nice Family Thanksgiving. Now, the showplace stages an even more hilarious holiday tale with A Nice Family Christmas, playing for nine performances December 1st through 10th.
Lee Cox (who returns as "mom" in the popular sequel received a copy of playwright Olson's work before it was even published and shared it with some trepidation, not being a big fan of sequels), but she says " both Kevin Frakes and I laughed out loud (many times) when we read it and knew that was a very good sign!"
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The premise of the play is simple : It's Christmas Eve and a young newspaper reporter, on the brink of being fired, has been assigned a last chance story about a typical family Christmas - his family.
He goes home to his recently widowed mother, his zany uncle and eccentric grandmother as well as battling siblings and neurotic spouses with no shortage of material. One by one, we learn of each family member's secrets, problems and dysfunctions, and when they learn that he's writing an article with some very personal family information, the fruitcake hits the fan.
The question is, will the magic of Christmas bring this family back together?
"Of course it will!" says Director Kevin Frakes. "That's the thing about family- they drive you crazy but you really can't do well without them!"
Both Frakes and Cox enjoy the very entertaining new family members Olson added and Cox admits that she initially coveted the role of the grandmother because "she is so outrageous and has the best lines," Cox added. "Pat Kulish will be wonderful and I love once again being "mom" to Andrew Richards, Nick Trapp and Hannah Coughtry-Trapp."
"I've become so attached to our younger generation of performers and we've all done several shows together now." Frakes said "Brant McCance (Uncle Bob) and Pat Kulish (Grandma) are a big part of ALT's Theater family - and that the core family of six warmly welcomed newcomer Mary Crank to the clan as the oldest son's wife."
Mary heads from southern California and saw an ALT production when she was 15 and "got bitten by the theater bug"! Frakes and Cox agree - "that's what community theater is all about, entertaining folks and making a few dreams come true! They love to think of their little show as an early Christmas gift - tied up with laughter and love!"
Call 618-462-3205 for tickets; 618-462-6562 for reservation (ticket changes) and go online (altonlittletheater.org) 24-hours a day for a Holiday treat of a show!
Evening performances are 7:30 p.m. with two Sunday Matinees at 2 p.m.
Advertisers and Angel patrons are being asked to come and enjoy a pre-Show Curtain Party on Wednesday, December 6th from 6 - 6:45 p.m. , with a chance to meet the cast and have the first opportunity to hear the announcement of the 85th Season at the Alton Little Theater Showplace.
