Because a live holiday show wasn’t feasible this year, Little Lake Theatre Company invited patrons to share the season in another very personal way.
Organizers of the Canonsburg theater solicited holiday stories and photos that became part of “A Very Little Lake Holiday,” a video that will be available for viewing beginning Friday.
“Our holiday shows are always so special. We have people who have been coming for 40 years or longer,” said artistic director Jena Oberg. “It won’t be quite the same this year, but we wanted to give our patrons something to enjoy during the holidays.”
Running about an hour, the video includes 16 reminiscences from company members and patrons, along with two montages of submitted holiday photos set to music.
The stories will elicit both tears and laughter, Oberg said.
Personal care homes are the setting for some of the former.
In one, Canonsburg teen Ashley Mullens is seen on an iPad, singing to her grandmother as an attendant holds the device.
In another, a woman sings carols with her aunt, a nursing home resident. Suddenly, the aunt’s roommate — who has been nonverbal following a stroke — joins in.
Oberg said she contributed a story about her brother, who lost his wedding ring amidst the revelry of First Night Pittsburgh. As he retraced his steps, an apparently homeless man reached out his hand and said, “Are you looking for this.”
After finding the ring, Oberg said, “He waited on the street corner all night, waiting for (my brother) to come back.”
On the lighter side, there are stories more in the vein of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” Oberg said.
One involves three college buddies traveling home for Christmas over snowy Iowa roads in a VW Beetle with no brakes or heat — with the trunk filled with a semester’s worth of dirty laundry.
“You can imagine how that turned out,” Oberg said.
One of the photo montages is accompanied by instrumental music. Kathy Hawk, a music director and performer for Little Lake, provides vocals for the other.
The video will launch at 7 p.m. Friday, and will be available through the end of December. A $20 donation is suggested.
“We wanted not to put a ticket price on it, because we know how hard this year has been for people,” Oberg said. “The donation is suggested if you’re able, but if not, we still wanted people to be able to enjoy it.
“One of the things people say about Little Lake is that it’s like home, and we work hard to make that true,” she said. “This is the best way we have to make it feel like home this year.”
Details: littlelake.org
