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Holiday Memories by North Coast Repertory Theatre  If you want to get that warm, wholesome holiday spirit in your heart, you might want to consider a drive up to North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. Holiday Memories combines two of Truman Capote's most touching classics into one feel-good and entertaining play. The author, perhaps best known for Breakfast at Tiffany's, had a fairly difficult childhood raised in a cold, unloving family environment. He moved around between extended family households a few times, some of those summers spent in a small town in Alabama where he became good friends with his next door neighbor, a girl named Nell Harper Lee. She went on to write a fairly popular book herself, To Kill a Mockingbird, in which she based the character "Scout" on herself and their neighbor friend "Dill" on Truman Capote.
Like Harper Lee's classic, these stories are written from the point of view of the young child featured in the stories. As it is based on his own life, the narrator is Truman Capote. He tells the tale of the days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas in his seventh year. A loner in his own house and at school, he has only one friend in the world, his elderly Aunt Sook (Pat DiMeo). The childlike Sook also feels estranged from the other members of the household, and she and the young Capote (who goes by "Buddy") are fast friends, a friendship rather frowned upon by other members of the household who think Buddy should stop playing with Sook and take up friendships with kids his own age. Sook decides to help in this endeavor, and invites Buddy's mortal enemy, the biggest bully in town, to join the family for Thanksgiving dinner. An idea that Buddy is not particularly fond of! Will the wise Miss Sook prove to have made a masterful stroke that will make Buddy and his bully friends, or will Buddy's fears be realized, turning this Thanksgiving into one in which he'd prefer to be the dead turkey on the table! Pat DiMeo is darling as the lovable Miss Sook who has never been to a restaurant, never been to a theater, never been five miles out of town, but likes to walk in the rain, tell ghost stories, and once killed a huge rattlesnake with a hoe. Lance Rogers looks a little big for seven years old, but by the end you almost don't notice as his squirming, fidgeting, childish mannerisms fit the role nicely. Sean Robert Cox, as the elder Truman and narrator of the show, talks with a gentle, wistful ease that captures the spirit of the poetic writing. Melissa Supera turns in an outstanding performance in the guise of many memorable characters: the young, flirtatious, piano playing Annabel, the elderly Mary Wheelwright, and the always-barking dog named Queenie just to name a few. John Garcia also plays many roles including a terrific turn as the bully who gets a surprise invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. The story, the cast, and Sean Murray's sensitive direction, all done in the comfy and intimate confines of the small North Coast Repertory Theatre, combine to make for a most pleasant night of theatre. And for good measure the cast comes out during intermission to lead a little Christmas sing-a-long around the piano played by David McBean. It's just the thing to put you in the true holiday spirit. Rob Hopper San Diego Playbill ~ Cast ~
Buddy: Lance Rogers Truman: Sean Robert Cox Sook: Pat DiMeo Man: John Garcia Woman: Melissa Supera Piano Man: David McBean Director: Sean Murray Set Design: Marty Burnett Costume Design: Shulamit Nelson Sound Design: Craig Everett Lighting Design: Karin Filijan Stage Manager: Nino Rodriguez Dramaturg: Dick Emmet |