Olympic Theatre Arts is serving up a hearty dose of Christmas warmth this December.
“The Rented Christmas” runs Dec. 6-22 with shows at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays with no intermissions. Tickets are $15 for students and $20 for adults and can be purchased at the door or at olympictheatrearts.org.
“It’s a fun, family piece; good for all ages,” said director Christy Holy.
The play was reworked from a short story by J. Lillian Vandervere into a play by Norman C. Ahern Jr. and Yvonne Ahern in the 1970s.
Sean Stone stars as John Dale, a lonely business man who, according to Holy, “hasn’t had a real Christmas since his parents died years ago.”
Rebecca Maberry co-stars as the rent shop owner Anne Weston who John hires to create a Christmas for him. She is assisted in creating a family by five young actors playing orphans: Roan Curran as Jean, Trinity Devlin as Cynthia, Sasha Larson as Lettie, Liam Patterson as Willie and Sean McDaniel as Jimmy.
Katy Bowman plays Mrs. Lindsey, head of the orphanage where Anne draws the children to become John’s Christmas family, while Cathy Dodd (as Martha) and Joodie Klinke (as Bridget) play sisters who are John’s two servants and the closest thing he has to family when the play begins.
Klinke said “’The Rented Christmas’ is very much akin to a Hallmark movie.”
“In fact, if you Google what a Hallmark movie is, like I did, you could just as well be reading a description of this short play (with) family values, a focus on love, kindness, and generosity (and) a conflict that’s resolved with the protagonist and love interest working together,” she said.
Family
Klinke said she’s having a ball developing her “sister act” with Dodd while trying to infuse their comedy into the show.
She’s worked several time with Rebecca Maberry (playing Anne Weston) and Sean and Bill Stone (playing John Dale and Fred), too, and finds “they are all wonderful to be on stage with.”
Bill Stone said that he is enjoying a turn on stage as colleagues with his son Sean.
The youngest member of the cast, 7-year-old Liam Patterson, appears completely comfortable on stage, and his mother, Madisun Patterson, said it’s his first play and “he’s taken to it. He gravitated towards it naturally.”
Patterson saw OTA’s building from the bus regularly and asked his mother to take him there, and she brought him just in time for auditions.
Sets and Singers
The set, designed by Carol Willis, with Christmas tree decorator Rosie Engel, is strikingly beautiful, just right for a trip from the 1970’s back to the 1930’s as director Holy said, “when the children put on the play of Christmas, they are dressed as John would remember his boyhood, in the 1930’s. This has been a fun addition to the set, props, and costume design. Also, the OTA Singers open the show with some pre-show music, and then they come back in as carolers throughout the show. They are a wonderful addition to the story.’
The OTA singers, under direction by Ron Adler and music director Morgan Bartholick sounded wonderful at a recent practice.
Bartholick said that the pre-show of 15-20 minutes will feature the OTA singers with four or five songs on their own and a few with the audience as a singalong.
The “carolers throughout the show,” said Klinke, “will not only engage the audience with their beautiful singing, but also serve as scene change helpers.
“I hope audiences find this production to be a happy little holiday respite,” she said.
“It’s a very sweet story,” said Holy. “It has a happy ending, but it’s also poignant because it reminds us that Christmas brings light in the darkness.”
“The Rented Christmas”
Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Dec. 6-22, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
No intermission
Tickets: $15 students, $20 adults at show door or olympictheatrearts.org
