Manchester
Community Theatre Players presents Christmas Stories
Manchester Community
Theatre Players will present Christmas Stories by award-winning
playwright, national best-selling author, and Daniel Webster College
professor Tom Anastasi. Christmas Stories won the New
Hampshire Theatre Award for best original community play for 2004 and is
billed as the “feel good play you’ll never forget.” This year’s show
will be a benefit for the Bridges family. Peter Bridges, who wrote the
music, died earlier this year leaving his wife, Heather, and two
year-old son, James.
Playwright Tom
Anastasi said “This is the fourth time the show’s been produced. It’s
incredible standing in the back of the theater watching the audience
during the productions. My goal was to write a brand new Christmas
play that was funny, entertaining, that had a few touching moments, and
it worked! Peter’s music is incredible. And to have this year’s
production be dedicated to Peter really brings the true meaning of
Christmas into perspective.”
Heather Bridges and
Scott Katrycz will direct this year’s show and have a stand-out cast
that includes Lynn Boyer, Jeff Caron, Betty Fortin, Dan Merriman, Judi
Mitchell, Dan Barth, Elizabeth Kotelly, Katie Anastasi, Katherine Barth,
Ryan Kangas, Pat Sawicki, and Ian Chase.
There are three plot
lines in Christmas Stories going on at the same time and in the
same town. Act I is called “The Christmas Prayer,” Act II, “Just What
I Always Wanted”, and Act III is “The Bell Ringer.” The lives of the
characters intersect, and by the end all will be tied together. There
are a lot of twists and surprises as each piece evolves. The
characters are ones that we can all relate to – a stressed out couple
with three children, a couple struggling to make ends meet; all during
pre-Christmas shopping mayhem.
The show will run
Thur-Sun December 14-17. Shows on the 14th-16 are at 7:00
PM and December 17th at 3:00. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5
for students/seniors. All performances will be at Daniel Webster
College Collings Auditorium. For tickets and information call
577-6293. Christmas Stories is appropriate for all ages, but
this is not a “kids' show.”
