A Christmas Memory
by Alchemy Theatre Company

Jun. 24 - Jul. 28 (2023)

Originally published in 1956, this poignant, heart-felt, modern day classic gently captures Mr. Capote’s richly detailed memories of his Depression-era, rural Alabama boyhood with his best friend – an eccentric, 60-something distant cousin with whom he baked fruitcakes each Christmas. 
 
A Christmas Memory’s affecting simplicity speaks even louder today, making us realize just how chaotic our lives can be if we don’t hold on to some tether of family, love and tradition. A Christmas Memory, adapted by Luke Hill, is presented by The Alchemy Theatre with permission of The Truman Capote Literary Trust.

TRUMAN CAPOTE’S A CHRISTMAS MEMORY

Presented by The Alchemy Theatre

Written by Truman Capote

Directed by Michael Cooper

Produced by Christopher Shea

 

(via Alchemy Theatre)Performance Dates: December 1 to December 16, 2023

Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 6 PM and 8 PM

[Performance time approximately 75 minutes]

 

AUDITIONS VIA ONLINE SUBMISSION; deadline July 28, 2023.

REHEARSALS:  

Begin October 29 through opening on December 1, 2023. (Exact days/times TBD depending upon actors' availability)

PAY: Some pay

 

PERFORMANCE STYLE:

The tone of the show encompasses both gentle and character-driven comedy as well as genuine/truthful heartfelt emotion. As with all Alchemy productions, emphasis will be placed on truth and believability in the storytelling.

 

CASTING FOR:

NARRATOR. (to play age 28-30). Young writer from the South looking back at his boyhood. Nostalgic, quiet, sensitive, imaginative – sometimes sad and always absolutely truthful. He is at the pivotal age where the literary public is just beginning to thrill to his stories of his tragic and beautiful friends.

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PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ROLES AND DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

 

ONLINE SUBMISSIONS:

If you are interested in this role, please let us know by submitting the following:

Please send to the attention of Michael Cooper, Director at: mcooper@thealchemytheatre.org and we will be happy to review and consider your request. Both your headshot and resume should be in PDF format and as attachments along with your video. Requests should be sent to the above address with a valid email address included for the purpose of return correspondence.

 

THE ALCHEMY THEATRE:

The Alchemy Theatre is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment. It is the policy of The Alchemy Theatre to provide full and equal employment opportunities to all artists without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, marital status, veteran status, age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability or any other legally protected status. We are committed to building a creative and dynamic workplace that celebrates individual differences and diversity, treating everyone with fairness and respect.

 

NARRATOR SIDES FOR TRUMAN CAPOTE’S A CHRISTMAS MEMORY

 

NARRATOR – SIDE #1

The hat is found, a straw cartwheel corsaged with velvet roses out-of-doors has faded: it once belonged to a more fashionable relative. Our buggy is a dilapidated old baby carriage. We take it to the woods and fill it with flowers, herbs, wild fern for our porch pots; in the summer, we pile it with picnic paraphernalia and sugar-cane fishing poles and roll it down to the edge of a creek; it has its winter uses, too: as a truck for hauling firewood from the yard to the kitchen, as a warm bed for Queenie, our tough little orange and white rat terrier who has survived distemper and two rattlesnake bites. Queenie joins us, trotting just beside our feet as we guide our buggy out to the garden and into a grove of pecan trees.

 

NARRATOR – SIDE #2

Three hours later we are back in the kitchen hulling a heaping buggyload of windfall pecans. Crack! A cheery crunch, scraps of miniature thunder sound as the shells collapse and the golden mound of sweet oily ivory meat mounts in the milk-glass bowl. Queenie begs to taste, and now and again my friend sneaks her a mite, though insisting we deprive ourselves.

The kitchen is growing dark. Dusk turns the window into a mirror: our reflections mingle with the rising moon as we work by the fireside in the firelight. At last, when the moon is quite high, we toss the final hull into the fire and, with joined sighs, watch it catch flame. The buggy is empty, the bowl is brimful.

 

NARRATOR – SIDE #3

With the wind blowing, nothing will do till we've run to a pasture below the house where Queenie has scooted to bury her bone (and where, a winter hence, Queenie will be buried, too). Plunging through the healthy waist-high grass, we unreel our kites, feel them twitching at the string like sky fish as they swim into the wind. Satisfied, sun-warmed, we sprawl in the grass and peel Satsumas and watch our kites cavort. Soon I forget the socks and hand-me-down sweater. I'm as happy as if we'd already won the fifty-thousand-dollar Grand Prize in that coffee-naming contest.