There was a little handwritten note, a P.S. Random House was the agency I had to go through to get the rights.
When I first applied for the rights to do it professionally, it was right after finishing “Cotton Patch Gospel” on Broadway. It’s an extreme workout for the imagination.
It uses our imagination more than any other kind of theater. That is really, that is all that is needed. I do believe the art of being read to is theater distilled to its essential elements-the text, the actor and the audience. I wanted to do it specifically in reader’s theater form because a lot of people are not necessarily familiar with it. It’s tended to appeal to very young children who identify with Buddy, those 60 or older and everyone in between. If you boil it down to a plot, it’s questionable if that can sustain a film or musical or play. I think what makes this so special is the narration is so strong. What makes this so special for you and audiences? I’ve done it here, the Alliance, around the country. One way or another, I have wound up reading it every year since. I tried it and the response was so strong. When I came across this, I thought it was a powerful story and so moving and so funny. And it was very difficult to find something that wasn’t grossly sentimental and yet at the same time inclusive and real about the nature of this time of year. I thought it would be easy to find something to read for Christmas. The first time I ever did it, I volunteered to do something for the downtown YMCA. Ever since graduate school at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. It’s a show that I find a way to do annually. We caught up with Key recently to ask about the piece. Capote, the gay writer behind “In Cold Blood” and more, grew up in the South, and his autobiographical short story deals with a lonely young boy named Buddy and the friendship he has with his much older, eccentric cousin Sook.
Tom Key, artistic director of Theatrical Outfit, has been performing Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” as a one-man show for as long as he can remember. During the holiday season, almost all local theaters present some sort of Yuletide offering.
0 kommentar(er)
