PORT ANGELES — Leah feels like she hasn’t seen her handsome young husband in weeks. Mark works 12-hour days and spends nights writing his book.
Suddenly, it’s Christmas Eve. Mark appears at their apartment on Seattle’s Capitol Hill; a surprise unfolds.
On this very same night before Christmas, Patrick, the neighbor, comes over to Mark and Leah’s. Mark’s mother Helen is there; Patrick is exquisitely sweet on her.
During their conversation, she discovers he’s been lying to her about his life. Bravely, he explains his reasons. Then he confesses his deep feelings for her.
Wait — we’re just getting warmed up. Elise, waitress and cake decorator, arrives on the scene. She’s just taken a fateful cab ride with Serge, a refugee from Bosnia.
So begins “This Christmas,” the play making its Olympic Peninsula premiere tonight at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse. The cast, an ensemble of well-known thespians and new faces, will unwrap this unusual holiday package during a three-week run.
“Normally, with Christmas shows, you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But this is different,” said Pat Owens, who portrays Patrick.
Love, family struggles and hope are all here and so, he added, are the best-laid holiday plans. They go wildly astray, and the characters receive entirely unexpected gifts.
Jim Dries of Sequim is the director of “This Christmas,” and he has the touch when it comes to assembling a good cast, said Owens, himself an actor and director for some 50 years now.
The pair who play Leah and Mark just might be the most felicitous casting of the year. Tia Stephens and Edwin J. Anderson are newlyweds in real life.
When they dance in their living room, the way they look into each other’s eyes — well, there’s a feeling of authenticity.
A spark flashes too between Elise (Jessica McKenzie) and Serge (Michael Jay Sickles). He wraps her in a blanket, and she likens him to Bigfoot — in a good way.
Portraying Helen is Kathleen Balducci, a grand dame of the Port Angeles Community Playhouse. She’s been in more than 60 productions since 1969. With her velvety voice and regal bearing, it’s no wonder Patrick is smitten.
“This Christmas” is a modern romantic comedy by Anne Kennedy Brady, an actor and playwright Dries worked with a few years back in “The Sound of Music” at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle.
Dries, in his desire to bring new plays to local stages, arranged this one with Brady, who’s now based in Chicago.
She’ll come to the Port Angeles Community Playhouse for a talkback after the 7:30 p.m. show Friday, Nov. 30. Another talkback with cast and crew is set for Tuesday evening, Dec. 4.
Stephens, for her part, said “This Christmas” is flavored with bitter and sweet. She plays a young woman who’s moved to a new city and has yet to make any friends; a new era of her life begins this Christmas Eve.
The play is “all about everyone’s connection to each other,” Stephens said.
The daughter of Port Angeles actor, director and costumer Richard Stephens, she’s also a director, at the helm of A.R. Gurney’s “Sylvia” at Olympic Theatre Arts earlier this fall. Husband Anderson was in that show’s cast too.
“This Christmas” comes to the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, 1235 E Lauridsen Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays, and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 9.
Reserved seats are $15 for adults and $8 for students at all shows; while Tuesday nights only, any remaining tickets are sold as general admission at the door for $8.
To purchase in advance, visit Brocante Antiques, 105 W. First St. in Port Angeles, call 360-452-6651 or see www.PACommunity Players.com.
That site also has information about the show to follow on the heels of this one.
That production running Dec. 14-16, is made by and for youngsters: the Children’s Theater Christmas Spectacular.
‘This Christmas’ hits the stage
“This Christmas” comes to the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays, and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 9.
Reserved seats are $15 for adults and $8 for students at all shows; while Tuesday nights only any remaining tickets are sold as general admission at the door for $8.
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Diane Urbani de la Paz, a former features editor for the Peninsula Daily News, is a freelance writer living in Port Townsend.
In “This Christmas” at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, Tia Stephens and Edwin J. Anderson portray a couple living on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/for Peninsula Daily News)
Kathleen Balducci portrays Helen, a mother-in-law facing an unexpected turn of events on Christmas Eve. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/for Peninsula Daily News)
