PORT TOWNSEND — “The Year of Magical Thinking,” inspired by Joan Didion’s book of the same name, will become Vickie Daignault’s one-woman show at the playhouse twice on New Year’s Eve: at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Tickets are available now for $20, while those who buy First Night passes will have free admission to the evening show.
For details about “Magical” as well as “Spirit of the Yule” and “Every Christmas Story Ever Told,” Key City’s other winter shows, see keycitypublictheatre.org/, call 360-385-5278 or stop by the playhouse at 419 Washington St.
“The Year of Magical Thinking” is a new thing for Port Townsend.
Daignault, who plays the lead in “Spirit of the Yule,” Key City’s localized version of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” through Sunday, first performed “Magical” at Stageworks Theatre in Tampa, Fla., a year ago in November, winning Theatre Tampa Bay’s Best Actress Award.
A Facebook post following the prize piqued her friend and collaborator Linda Dowdell’s interest; Dowdell, who lives in Sequim and is musical director of many Key City shows, invited Daignault out West.
After she landed her role in “Spirit,” Daignault and Key City artistic director Denise Winter began talking New Year’s Eve. which led to the “The Year of Magical Thinking.”
The book, “The Year of Magial Thinking,” is Didion’s memoir of the year following the death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, on Dec. 30, 2003. The theatrical version bridges this with “Blue Nights,” Didion’s book about their late daughter, Quintana.
In the snug 66-seat Key City Playhouse, Daignault has audience members as her fellow travelers. And New Year’s Eve, she said, is an opportune time for “Magical,” and for reflection and making space for deep thoughts.
