Holiday with complexities
Hammond Community Theatre closes 2022 with the comedy ‘A Nice Family Christmas’
It is one thing to gather with family members during the holiday season, but it is another thing when one is assigned to write about such a celebration.
That is the premise of Hammond Community Theatre’s production of “A Nice Family Christmas” from Dec. 9 to 18 at Beatniks on Conkey.
“The show is about the family getting together on Christmas Eve at Mom’s house for dinner. It’s all her grown children coming home for this Christmas Eve dinner and as we meet each person we start to learn what problems they’re dealing with,” said Phil Myers, director of “A Nice Family Christmas.”
“One of the characters, one of the sons is a newspaper journalist and they give him an assignment to write a story about a nice family Christmas, so that’s where the title comes from. He’s coming home to write about a nice family Christmas. In reality there’s all these things going on.
“He’s secretly trying to write this article while he’s listening to everybody’s life stories. At some point that becomes an explosion in the show too where the whole family finds out what he’s doing.”
The show in Hammond features Joycie Brantley of Hammond; Merrillville residents Kristin Duncan and Laura Toops; Munster residents Pat Pohrte and Myers’ wife, Sandy Stotts; Wayne Puchkors of St. John; and Jim McGrady of Lansing, Illinois.
“They’re a great cast. They’ve all got a lot of different experience in other shows and they just really bring each character to life in their own special way,” said Myers, who also is working on “A Nice Family Christmas” with assistant director Valerie Wotkun, of Griffith.
“At times they’ll have you laughing and the next moment you just feel emotionally connected to what’s going on with them.”
Myers — who began acting as a Bloom Trail High School student in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and returned to the stage later in life — added that “A Nice Family Christmas” offers more than the play’s name might imply.
“Earlier in the year we were reviewing scripts for different possibilities for the Christmas show. I saw the title ‘A Nice Family Christmas.’ I was expecting this real nice story of a family getting together at the holidays,” said Myers, a Hammond Community Theatre board member for at least five years.
“Once you start reading into the story, it was much more complex than just a typical story but right at the beginning you’re laughing the whole time. There’s so many funny lines in the show.
“The show really gets into all these different life issues that people are dealing with all the time whether it’s relationship issues, loneliness or addiction. There’s just all these relatable things that are going on that people have to deal with.”
Despite the challenges that the people in “A Nice Family Christmas” face, there is a heartwarming core to the story.
“It gives people the opportunity to realize we all may have some struggles,” said Myers, who credited Beatniks on Conkey co-creators and Dyer residents Bonnie and Rip Johnson, who are also Hammond Community Theatre board members, with encouraging him to act again in 2014’s “Chemical Imbalance.”
“At some point in our life we deal with something but in the end we can all find the hope that’s out there. Even though sometimes families may not be connected at all times, hopefully in the end family can find and support each other to get through any problem.”
Myers has been involved with Hammond Community Theatre both behind the scenes and onstage since being cast in 2015’s “Farce of Nature.”
“At Hammond Community Theatre we’re just trying to bring theater here locally for people to experience and give the opportunity for local actors to stay involved and have fun doing something,” he said.
“For me, it’s just really been a great hobby that I love doing. It’s been something that me and my wife really enjoy doing together and it connects us in that. It’s that sense of community around the theater.”