Performer Al LePage presents two shows, “A Dramatic Dickens' Christmas
Carol!”
on Friday, Dec. 4 at 8 PM, and "A Christmas Carol Times Two!" on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2PM,
in the historic Martha-Mary Chapel at Longfellow's Wayside Inn, 72 Wayside Inn Rd, Sudbury, MA. Performed
as Charles Dickens did, as a
dramatic reading one-man show using only voice, facial
expressions and gestures
to create from 18 to 26 characters, both shows are based on
Dickens' very own public reading script. The Friday evening show is
presented using the famed author's full historic script with 26 characters. The Saturday
matinee is a shorter version of the story with 18 characters, and combined with live
traditional Christmas Carol music by organist Dianne Carpenter, who
will weave organ music between various scenes to set the tone for
what's to come and entertain.
The ticket price for each shows is $15/person both
for children and
adults and proceeds will go to benefit Longfellow's Wayside Inn's and their new Historic Site Preservation Fund. Some baked treats from the kitchen of the Wayside Inn itself
are also included during each show's intermission. Tickets reservations are required, call (978) 443-1776 in advance.
Dickens perforances were meant for adult audiences, but
mature children age 10 and older should also be able to appreciate the
Friday evening show, younger children for the Saturday matinee.
Doors open 30 minutes before each performance and seating is general admission.
Al LePage as Scrooge! Photo
Credit: David Krapes
"Call me Scrooge, I love it, "says performer Al LePage," the reformed and giving Scrooge that is! Dickens' Christmas Carol
is about a lot of things, but one of the big ideas for me is about
genorisity. So it simply makes sense to use my time and talents
to benefit Longfellow's Wayside Inn. And, since I
grew
up in Framingham, I had many occassions both from my childhood and as a
young man, to visit and enjoy the Wayside Inn over many years, and
supporting its preservation is a great way to give
back. In fact, everyone involved to make this event happen, from the organist to those who buy tickets, we all
become the story of Dickens' Christmas Carol. In essence, everyone's contribution, whether of time, talent or funds brings the message of generosity alive."
Longfellow's
Wayside Inn is dedicated to the preservation of its 125-acre historic
campus and outbuildings, which include the old Howe Tavern, the Martha
Mary Chapel, the Redstone School, and the world famous water-powered
Wayside Inn Grist Mill. The site has been, and continues to be, funded with revenue generated from its restaurant and overnight
guest rooms, fundraising initiatives, corporate and public donations,
and through historic preservation grants. The Historic Site Preservation Fund was recently established to specifcially meet the current and future preservation needs of the Inn. It will also fund projects consistent with the Inn’s mission such as the protection, collection, and display of archival material, and other special events and programs.
“Contrary to popular opinion, the Wayside Inn receives no state or town funding and has no major endowment or other significant fund,” explains innkeeper Steve Pickford.
“It's difficult for us to support the preservation, maintenance and
improvements both of the nine buildings and the 125 acres of our
land solely from the Inn’s business revenues. Many people don’t realize that despite operating a full service restaurant, the Inn
is a not-for-profit corporation with an enormous and old infrastructure
to support. We hope everyone appreciates just how special this
place is, the precious memories that are made here, and how important
it is to preserve this place for future generations.”
From
Scrooge to Tiny Tim, from Marley's Ghost to Mrs. Cratchit, each show
has howls and growls, bangs and bongs, a
dance with a song, lively laughter and heartfelt tears. And
when LePage performs he loves to improvise on the spot. Maybe
just
a conversation with someone in the audience, but of course, with
everyone
listening. He
could even ask you to join him on the stage at some part, too. He
also believes in seizing the moment, and even he doesn't always know
what's going to happen next. This year he'll also briefly
share some history about the Carol itself, when Charles Dickens himself arrived in Boston, and also talk about his performances in America during 1867-68. All
this will make this year's show
unique once again,
keeping it fresh and exciting, and as usual spontaneous with full of
surprises,
too!
Photo
Credit: David Krapes A dramatic moment as Scrooge!
"A very special place and a very intimate setting to hear Dickens' Christmas Carol," says LePage, "is the quintessential New England Martha-Mary Chapel at the Wayside Inn. Please join me -- and join with me -- as I bring a great story alive to help keep a great historic site alive, too."
Dianne
Carpenter, the organist for the Saturday matinee, started playing piano
at age 6, took up the violin a few years later, and by the time she was
a junior in high school landed her first job as a church
organist! She pursued her music education degree from Lowell
State College, went on to teach music in area schools, but always
remained a church organist or choir director as that "teachers second
job" to make ends meet. She eventually decided to get even more
serious about her life in "music ministry," went back to school to
receive a Masters of Sacred Music from Boston University, but continued
to teach school. A few years later, though, the economic
situation for funding education statewide in Massachusetts took a turn
for the worse and teaching jobs were threatened. All this forced
her to do some soul-searching, and in the end she decided her journey
was now to be the path of pastoral ministry. She sold her house,
went back to school yet again, and eventually earned both a Masters of
Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School and a PhD in Christian
Social Ethics from Boston University Graduate School. She's been
a minister in the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church
for nearly two decades, serving in Natick, Spencer, Belmont, Hamilton
and Brewster Massachussetts. She currrently serves as minister of
the United Methodist Church in Franklin, MA, and continues to publicly
perform both on organ and piano, typically now only playing the violin
for her own enjoyment.
LePage,
a native of Framingham, began bringing history to
life through
improvised portrayals of real people from the past for over seven years
at historic sites, museums, and other venues throughout the Pacific
Northwest. He's written and produced his own historical dramas as
one-man shows, appeared on the nationally televised PBS “History
Detectives” series
in roles ranging from a bartender to Robert
E.
Lee. Oregon Public
Broadcasting Radio produced
and premiered LePage's own shortened
version of Dickens' Christmas
Carol
as his own one man one-hour radio program, annually aired since 2010. He's
been
giving performances of the Carol
to benefit
charity in the United States, Canada and England since 2006.
In 2011 he
traveled to England to perform for
the first
time and began in the same place and for the same charity that Dickens in 1853
himself did his first public reading of the Carol,
in Birmingham. LePage's last 2011 performance in England was at the historic
16th-century
coaching inn in Framlingham, England itself, the very same town after
which Framingham,
MA was so named.
This 2015 season he will be giving
his 7th year of performances at Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury.
LePage has not only researched Dickens and the famed
author's own performances, but also when he traveled to England in
2011, he not only
visited
the only surviving home of Dickens in London, but also went to the very
locations in the city where various
scenes took
place in the Christmas
Carol
story itself! This way he could soak up the sights and sounds and whatever else he could, not
only to better transport himself, but also audience members, back in
time and tell the Carol in the very best way possible.
#####
Longfellow's
Wayside Inn
is a
Massachusetts Historic Landmark and the oldest Inn in the United
States, continuing to provide food and lodging along-side the old
Boston Post Road since 1716. As a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, the
Wayside Inn is dedicated to the preservation of its 125-acre historic
campus and outbuildings, which include the old Howe Tavern, the Martha
Mary Chapel, the Redstone School, and the world famous water-powered
Wayside Inn Grist Mill. Countless individuals, school groups and civic
organizations take advantage of the property's educational programs
each year, which focus on the site's colonial past as well as its more
recent history as the country's first living history museum while under
the ownership of industrialist Henry Ford from 1923 to 1945. The site
is funded with revenue generated from its restaurant and overnight
guest rooms, fundraising initiatives, corporate and public
donations, through historic preservation grants, and their own
Historic Site Preservation Fund. The Wayside Inn Historic Site
is on the National Register of Historic Places. For further
information, visit www.wayside.org or phone
978-443-1776.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
NOTE
TO MEDIA:
Embedded
images are high
resolution and offered for free use by the print media
for
stories related to these performances and may be cropped and
color-balanced as needed. Please credit the
photographers as
follows:
“David Krapes”
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Performer Al LePage is sure to bring
lots of laughter, and hopefully some tears, during his
upcoming
dramatic reading performances of Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol.
Great
Stories Alive
!