The Long Christmas Dinner

Written by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone

November 26 - December 29, 2024

All performances at Bramble Arts Loft, The Beatrice Theatre
5545 North Clark Street, Chicago

The Long Christmas Dinner - nine decades long in just One Act - showcases the lives of several generations of the Bayard family. Wilder breaks the boundaries of time as we measure it, and invites us to partake in “one long, happy Christmas dinner” - past, present and future. As generations appear, have children, wither, and depart, only the audience sees what changes and what remains the same.

”Every last twig is wrapped around with ice. You almost never see that,” young Genevieve marvels, not realizing her mother made this same observation years earlier, and that one day her daughter-in-law will do the same.

Join TUTA for this fully produced holiday production, and reflect on family, tradition, and music with TUTA’s ensemble.

FEATURING

Charlie Irving: Genevieve
Joan Merlo: Mother Bayard/Ermengarde
Matt Miles: Roderick/Roderick II
Huy Nguyen: Charles
Wain Parham: Cousin Brandon/Sam
Seoyoung Park: Leonora
Alexis Primus: Lucia/Lucia II
Bryan Nicholas Carter: Male Understudy
Jinyue Yuna Hu: Genevive/Leonora Understudy
Julia Stemper: Lucia/Mother Bayard/Ermengarde Understudy

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Music Direction: Wain Parham
Scenic & Lighting Design: Keith Parham
Costume Design: Rachel Sypniewski
Sound Design: Willow James
Property Design: Helen Lattyak
Stage Manager: Becky Warner
Assistant Director: Austin Ryan Hunt
Dramaturg: Sharon Ammen
Casting Director: Jamal Howard
Creative Producer: Helen Lattyak
Co-Artistic Director: Aziza Macklin
Co-Artistic Director: Aileen Wen McGroddy
Co-Artistic Director: Jacqueline Stone
Managing Director: Brad Gunter

 

TUTA acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, The Light A City Fund, and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.