A Christmas Story at Old Cary Elementary

The Cary News - Dec. 9, 2004

A Christmas Story Preview
by Lisa Coston

A holiday movie classic about a boy and a Red Ryder BB gun is being produced as a play for the first time in the Triangle area.

"A Christmas Story," an adaptation of the 1983 Jean Shepherd movie, opens Friday night, Dec. 10, at the old Cary Elementary School downtown.

The production is a joint effort between the Cary Players adult community theater group and Applause! Cary Youth Theatre.

"If this is successful, we'd like to repeat it again next year, and perhaps see it become a Cary tradition," said co-producer Dan Martschenko, a 30-year Cary resident who co-founded Cary Players in 2001.

Many audience members will remember the humorous story of Ralphie Parker, who pines one Christmas for a Red Ryder BB gun. But the adults in his life --his mother, his teacher, even Santa Claus -- have the same response: "You'll shoot your eye out!"

The movie, which was not a box office hit but became popular through video release, was adapted for the stage by Philip Grecian. Cary Players had to purchase the rights from Dramatic Publishing in Woodstock, Ill., to produce the play, Martschenko said.

Producers say some of the more memorable moments from the movie have been translated to the script: the "double dog dare" that ends with a fire department rescue, the exploding furnace and the gaudy leg lamp -- complete with stiletto heel -- all make it to the stage.

"The lamp is one of the most easily recognized symbols of the movie and also an important part of the play," said Debra Grannan, a town employee, who plays Ralphie's mother.

This is the first Cary Players production since the spring 2003 presentation of "Twelfth Night." Martschenko said the lull has not been due to lack of interest.

"I get e-mails all the time asking when our next auditions will be," he said.

Martschenko, a busy father of five, said he has been working to recruit a board of directors for the group who are "willing to push the Cary Players' vision and make it successful without my day-to-day involvement. ... this production is our first test," he said.

He added that he has lost touch with co-founder Herman LeVern Jones, who directed the previous shows, since the company's last production.

Directing the 23-member cast are school teachers Nan Stephenson and Sue Scarborough.

Lyman Collins, Town of Cary cultural arts manager, said audiences will see a familiar story, but their theater-going experience will be quite different from watching the movie version of "A Christmas Story."

"Audience members may actually have to shift in their seats" to see some of the action, Collins said.

That is due partly to the venue, and partly to the co-directors' vision, he said. The former school media center, which "is not currently equipped to be set up as an auditorium," became a creative way to engage the audience in the action by seating them in the middle of the room.

"It's one way to really distinguish the play from the movie," Collins said.

Grannan, whose character is the "quintessential 1938 mother whose goal is to make sure her family is well fed and dressed warmly," said she has enjoyed working with the children.

Mick Williams, a sixth-grader at Lufkin Road Middle School, who plays Ralphie, "has been a delight to work with," Grannan said. "One of the wonderful things about working with kids, it's not just their energy and exuberance. Their parents help out with costumes and help build the sets."

Grannan said parents need not worry about some of the unsavory language from the movie. The script writer made the warmth and humor shine through in a "G-rated" productions.

"It's about families rallying around each other in tough times," Grannan said. "Every family's got a few problems. As long as you have each other, it overcomes all of that."

Check it out

"A Christmas Story," Philip Grecian's stage adaptation of the Jean Shepherd movie, runs Dec. 10-12 and Dec. 17-19 in the media center of the old Cary Elementary School at the end of South Academy Street in downtown Cary. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m.

Tickets are on sale at Town of Cary Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Administrative Offices, 111 James Jackson Ave., and the Herb Young Community Center, 101 Wilkinson Ave. in Cary. Tickets are $14 for adults and $8 for children 12 and younger