SONG, STORYTELLING … AND EVEN A LITTLE POETRY
Annual tradition a loose, improvised celebration of the holidays
Pacific Theatre’s Christmas Presence has become an annual tradition. But the celebration has its origins in a time when there almost was no Pacific Theatre.
“We cancelled our season and we were without programming,” Pacific Theatre artistic director Ron Reed said recently. “So I asked a friend who runs a bookstore if I could do an evening of Christmas readings.
“I invited some of the musicians involved with our company. I read things from previous Christmas shows because we’d done one every year. And it was amazing.”
Twenty-five years after facing homelessness, Pacific Theatre has settled in at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. And what was known as First Christmas has become Christmas Presence.
The evening retains a loose format of music and storytelling, with a rotating lineup of musicians and actors. Singers, songwriters, musicians and storytellers sing traditional (and not so traditional) songs and improvise together to create something different each night.
“It’s not decided before the day of the performance which pieces I will read, or what the musicians will play,” Reed said. “It’s like inviting friends over for an evening and saying, ‘Who’s got a song? Who wants to read something?’ “
Folk-pop act The Kwerks, singersongwriter Zaac Pick and British fiddle player/singer Rachel Button are among the many musicians expected to drop by. And veteran Christmas Presence presences Michael Hart, Garth Bowen, Carolyn Arrends and Allen Desnoyers are among those returning.
“One thing that happens among the musicians is that they have
to listen really hard,” Reed said. “They run through the songs one time, but that’s not really enough to work a piece through. So when they play it during the performance, everyone’s listening. I think if it was rehearsed more it wouldn’t be as good. You take advantage of the fact that people have to lean in and find their place in the music.”
Reed does most of the readings. “It usually goes song, reading, song, reading. The sources are anything I find. We’ve got everything from a piece by (American theologian) Frederick Buechner to a bit of a Charlie Brown Christmas to Dickens.”
In addition, a performance might include some Beat poetry, some Garrison Keillor and a piece or two by British actor David Kossoff. “He’s written some extraordinary Christmas monologues,” Reed said.
There’ll also be a piece by Lucia Frangione. Pacific Theatre has produced plays by the local writer, including Holy Mo! A Christmas Show! last year.
“I have the same impulse putting together Christmas Presence as I do a season,” Reed said. “I’m always aiming for the widest possible range.
“If somebody’s doing a song about the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem and someone else is doing Here Comes Santa Claus, I probably won’t put them back-toback. But we aim to hit the whole range. Christmas contains multitudes. It evokes every kind of feeling. It goes from darkest to brightest. Try to fit that into one evening!”
He must be doing something right. “People tend to attend Christmas Presence once and keep coming back,” Reed said.
You take advantage of the fact that people have to lean in and find their place in the music.”