A CHRISTMAS CAROL TIMES TWO REEDSPORT OR 1860

Media Contact:
Al LePage, Actor/Producer, Great Stories Alive! / 503-335-3876 / Al.LePage@SpireTech.com

Star of one-man Christmas Carol radio show teams up
with local musician for special benefit performance
"Englishman Thomas Hutchinson invites you to A Christmas Carol Times Two!

"Englishman Thomas Hutchinson invites you to A Christmas Carol Times Two!

Photo Credit: David Krapes

"Victorian Englishman from 1860" shares Dickens classic holiday story with
modern day pianist playing traditional English carols to help the hungry

"A Christmas Carol Times Two!", a dramatic reading performance of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" combined with traditional 19th century English Christmas carols will happen on Sunday, Dec. 2 at 2PM at the United Presbyterian Church, 2360 Longwood Drive, Reedsport, Oregon. Actor Al LePage, star of the one-man, one-hour "A Christmas Carol with Al LePage" program produced and aired annually by Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio since 2010, will become "Englishman Thomas Hutchinson, Traveling Thespian" complete with English accent, clothing of the period and other accoutrements for the dramatic reading part. Pianist Terry K. Moore will weave piano music between various scenes to set the tone for what's to come and entertain. This is a benefit performance sponsored and hosted by the United Presbyterian Church with all proceeds to benefit Project Blessing, a local area food pantry supported by and serving the community. Admission is $10 per person and the performance is best appreciated both by adults and children 8 years of age and older. Tickets may be purchased in Reedsport during regular business hours at Umpqua Bank or the Reedsport Winchester Bay Chamber of Commerce, and if still available, at the door the day of the performance. Doors open at 1:30PM, the fun begins at 1:45PM, and seating is general admission.

Photo Credit: David Krapes

"Englishman Thomas Hutchinson" will sing and dance his way into your heart!

"It's a double feature," begins LePage," since you not only get to experience a dramatic reading of "A Christmas Carol," but also enjoy traditional English Christmas Carol music, too! That's what makes it a Christmas Carol times two, you see. But wait, since it's Christmas 1860, there's been a lot of national developments since Oregon had been just become a state in 1859, and there's county and other history to bring alive, too! I guess that really makes the whole thing a kind of triple feature, doesn't it?"

LePage entertains appreciative audiences with his one-man "solo" of Dickens' Christmas Carol as Victorian-era "Englishman Thomas Hutchinson." His abbreviated performance is not only based upon Dickens own historic public reading version, but are also done just like Dickens did simply by using his voice, facial expressions, gestures and movement to create all 18 characters -- accents and all -- plus sound effects, too! From Scrooge to Tiny Tim, from Marley's Ghost to Mrs. Cratchit, there's howls and growls, bangs and bongs, a dance with a song, lively laughter and heartfelt tears. Since he's playful, likes to experiment and believes in seizing the moment, even he doesn't always know what's going to happen next. And, before each reading, he's definitely got what could aptly be called “his stories” to tell both in “the year” and the place he's performing to connect, interpret, and share history with the audience. He loves to play to -- and with -- audience members to bring history alive, which will quickly become evident when you first encounter him. He's sure to bring you lively laughter, and hopefully some tears, during his dramatic reading of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

"Al's been doing these one-man shows for charity," begins Joe Coyne, Coastal Douglas Arts & Business Alliance board member, "and never takes a penny for them. He's performed from Astoria to Boston, and last year for the first time in England! What makes this show so special is that it's the only live public performance he's going to give in Oregon this year using the same script of his Christmas Carol radio show. So come join us to help the hungry in our community and see and hear live what will be aired Christmas eve on OPB radio stations across the state!"

And hunger is a serious issue across Oregon. According to Oregon Food Bank's 2012 Hunger Assessment Survey nearly half of recipients of emergency food boxes in the state cite high food cost as a reason for seeking food assistance. Oregon’s economy is producing jobs, but many of these jobs pay too little to support a family and keep up with the rising cost of living. The survey also notes that about a fifth (18%) said they needed help because their wages are too low, and nearly two-thirds of respondents (61%) reported a drop in monthly income during the past two years. And a third (34%) of recipient household members were children 17 years and under, so given the current state population estimate for that age range this means that just over 1 in every 5 kids in the state is at risk for being hungry.

"Unfortunately, requests for emergency food stubbornly continue to climb," noted interim CEO of Oregon Food Bank Janeen Wadsworth in the 2012 survey. "Unemployment isn’t the only driver of this unprecedented need. Underemployment and limited benefits have forced people with jobs to seek emergency food. And the high cost of food, gas, utilities and rent makes it even more difficult for fami-lies to cover basic expenses.”

Local resident Terry Moore looks forward to the upcoming performance and generously donates her time and talents to help keep hunger away from the doorsteps of people in her community plus adding the beauty of piano music to the show.

But Terry is more than a professional pianist, she's someone whose relationship with music has been an integral part of her creative life. She began exploring the piano at 3 years old, started formal training at 6 and spent the next 13 years studying it. She gave concerts, joined ensembles, and even learned the violin, which she played in an orchestra. At 18 she rebelled at having spent so much time on music in her youth and majored in other fields of study. But to earn some cash and for recreation she still played the piano throughout college.

A graduate of UC Berkeley, Terry eventually went back to music in a very real sense with her work in post production as a film and television editor having worked for such entities as CBS, National Geographic, Columbia Pictures, PBS, and Disney. In fact, this Emmy Award winner attributes her intuitive creative ability to edit so well based on her musical experience, since being able to mix picture with sound and music, and collaborate with composers, is crucial.

Though her style and training is as a classical pianist, she cherishes and plays all kinds of music, from Beethovan to Broadway tunes to jazz favorites. She's currently the pianist with the United Presbyterian Church in Reedsport, where she enjoys collaborating with the music director and working with the choir.

Terry and her husband Rodney live in the home they designed and built overlooking Scholfield Creek in the Reedsport area, where they grow their own vegetables and cultivate their land. She continues to experience the magical growth of her 18-year-old son, Jonathan, a jazz musician, and "through triumph and tragedy finds life far too short but always a gift!"

"I'll always be a pianist," she says.

LePage got his start bringing history to life through improvised portrayals of real people from the past and has been seen by thousands during the eight years he appeared at events with the National Park Service, historic sites, museums, and other venues in the Pacific Northwest. He's appeared on the PBS TV History Detectives series as everything from a bartender to Robert E. Lee! He's also written and produced his own one-man historical dramas, and recorded his “short” performance version of Dickens' classic holiday story as a one man radio show, an Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio production that's aired on Christmas Eve since 2010. LePage has even given “historical performances” on location in Boston, MA where, and once when (same calendar date), Dickens himself did in 1867! “Englishman Thomas Hutchinson” was first created to share history as an “average guy” but who somehow always seemed to turn up when and where historic events happened! He now lives on as a Victorian-era “Traveling Thespian” giving performances of Dickens' Christmas Carol to benefit charity, having done so since 2006 in the US, Canada and England. LePage loves to improvise and believes all the world's a stage, and every audience member a potential player, so watch out!