Great Stories Alive !
      "Performance with Passion & Purpose"

PO Box 11045 - Portland, OR 97211 - (503) 335-3876 - GreatStoriesAlive.com

NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE ON:  Friday, November 19, 2011

Media Contacts:
Al LePage, Actor/Producer, Great Stories Alive! / 503-335-3876 / Al.LePage@SpireTech.com
Michael Allen Harrision, Pianist/Producer, MAH Productions / 503-255-0747 (office) / 503-412-9339 (cell) / MAH@TelePort.com

Local star of "A Christmas Carol with Al LePage" radio show teams up
 with musician Michael Allen Harrison for special benefit performance

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Photo Credit: David Krapes

"Victorian Englishman from 1879" shares Dickens classic holiday story with
 modern day pianist playing traditional English carols all to benefit students

"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. 4 at 2PM in the Royal Durst Theater at the Vancouver School of Arts & Academics, 3101 Main Street, Vancouver, Washington.  Actor Al LePage, star of the one-man, one-hour Christmas Carol special produced and aired by OPB Radio last year who has also portrayed various characters of Pacific Northwest history in years past at Fort Vancouver, will become "Englishman Thomas Hutchinson, Traveling Thespian" complete with English accent, clothing of the period and other accoutrements for the dramatic reading part.  Northwest pianist and composer Michael Allen Harrison will weave piano music between various scenes to set the tone for what's to come and entertain.  This is a benefit performance sponsored by the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics Parent Teacher Student Association (VSAA PTSA) with all proceeds to equally benefit both the VSAA PTSA and The Snowman Foundation.  Admission is $10 per person and the performance is best appreciated both by adults and children 7 years of age and older. Call 1-800-838-3006 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com to reserve tickets, and if available, may be purchased at the door.   Doors open at 1:30PM, the fun begins at 1:45PM, and seating is general admission.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Photo Credit: David Krapes

"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 1879, there's been a lot of local developments since the "City of Vancouver" had been incorporated in 1857, 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?"

   Photo Credit: MAH Records
NW composer and pianist Michael Allen Harrison's musical talents began at age 6 when his parents decided to enroll him in piano lessons to help him come out of his shell. In college he was recognized for his ability to play and compose music, began writing music for theater programs, and branched out as a company pianist for the Pacific Ballet Theater, Ballet Oregon, and Oregon Ballet Theater. He's performed nationally and internationally, and for people such as President Clinton and the Dalai Lama!  “Cutting edge, classical contemporary” best describes his style, and he's been in the music scene for over two decades. Michael has released over 40 CD's, launched MAH Records in 1984, and is nationally recognized for writing film scores for motion pictures, short films and documentaries.  Michael also began the Snowman Foundation in 2000 to help support school programs where music has been eliminated, providing things such as instruments and scholarships for kids who can't afford it.  A classical musician at heart, one of his favorite pastimes is performing with the Oregon Symphony, and he plans to launch his own musical, Prometheus.  Sometimes solemn, sometimes wild, but always Michael, he'll be dancing his nimble and quick fingers across the keyboard for a musical feast of English Christmas Carols to fill the holiday spirit.

 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 premiered last year on Christmas Eve.  LePage has even given “historical performances” on location in Boston where, and once when (same calendar date), Dickens did in 1867!  "Performance with passion and purpose" is the mission of his Great Stories Alive! theater company shows.  “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.  This year he'll travel to England to perform the Carol for the very first time.  LePage loves to improvise and believes all the world's a stage, and every audience member a potential player, so watch out!