PORT TOWNSEND — A drama about two suffragists, short daily videos and Zoom meetings with Santa Claus are the latest offerings from Key City Public Theatre, Port Townsend’s nonprofit theater company.
“May’s Vote,” Toni Douglass’ play about a pair of Pacific Northwesterners who agitated for women’s suffrage more than a century ago, is set for three online performances: 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. The tickets, free thanks to a Washington State Historical Society grant, can be reserved at keycitypublictheatre.org.
“This is a show about two fascinating women who are not very well-known in Washington’s history, and had a great influence on women winning the vote,” said Seattle actor Barbara Callander, who appears in “May’s Vote” with KCPT artistic director and actor Denise Winter. Both will host live online discussions from their own studios after each performance.
Winter, who normally would be staging holiday productions at her downtown playhouse, is instead orchestrating Santa’s Zoom conferences with his young patrons next Saturday, Dec. 19.
Children in preschool up to sixth grade, aided by their parents or guardians, can sign up for an afternoon one-on-one with St. Nick via Key City Public Theatre’s website.
Online platforms — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram — also are called into service for KCPT’s other project: Vlogmas. It’s a video log, Winter said, featuring local artists such as Christa Holbrook, Linda Dowdell, Brendan Chambers and Maggie Jo Bulkley. They’re not performing in the yuletide musicals or heartwarming plays of yesteryear, but they’re decorating, Christmas-tree shopping — and making the short videos to run each day through Dec. 24. The KCPT website has links to them all.
“It’s your daily cup of good cheer,” Winter said, adding the clips are decidedly family-friendly.
KCPT’s Bulkley, an actor and choreographer, is the Vlogmas project leader editing the videos for broadcast.
She’s already begun working on what she and Winter believe will be the pinnacle of holiday spirit: the last Vlogmas episode before Christmas.
That clip will premiere Dec. 24, Bulkley said, and “it’s going to be huge.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
