ELTC Presents ‘Christmas with Harte and O. Henry’

CAPE MAY – “There are three cousins, a half-uncle, a kind of brother-in-law – that is, the brother of my sister-in-law’s second husband – and a niece. That’s six. They’ve written to me for money, seeing my name in the paper ez hevin’ made a strike. But I’ve never met ’em, and I want to give them a Christmas party, and I’d like you to run it for me,” explained Dick Spindler to the widow Huldy Price.
“Run it for you! Man alive! What are you thinking of?” responded the widow.
How this Christmas party comes together in the town of Rough and Ready, who ends up coming, and how they all behave, is all part of the fun in “Dick Spindler’s Family Christmas” by Bret Harte.
Meanwhile, another miner, Cherokee, wants to share his new-found fortune with old friends and all the children in Yellowhammer – a town whose youngest citizen uses a safety razor. How the townsfolk try to make Cherokee’s Christmas plans come true is at the core of O. Henry’s humorous and insightful story, “Christmas by Injunction.”
For eight performances only, both Western Christmas tales come to life when the award-winning Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company presents ““Christmas with Harte and O. Henry.” The dates are Friday and Saturday, Nov. 29 and 30; Sunday, Dec. 8; Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 12, 13 and 14 at 8:00p.m., with special Saturday matinees at 2:00p.m. on Nov. 30 and Dec. 14.
Francis Bret Harte (1839-1902) became editor of “The Overland Monthly” in California in 1868, where his stories “The Luck of Roaring Camp” and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” were first published. In 1871, he signed a contract with “The Atlantic Monthly” to write twelve stories in one year for $10,000, the most that had ever been offered an American writer up to that time.
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910) was charged with embezzling while working at a bank in Texas. In prison, he adopted his pseudonym and wrote “A Retrieved Reformation” which was an immediate success. He was released in 1901 after having served only three years of his prison term, and moved to Manhattan where most of his stories are set. When he died at age 47, he had 23 cents in his pocket. To this day, he is honored by having the most renowned annual collection of American short stories named after him.
“Christmas by Injunction” and “Dick Spindler’s Family Christmas” were adapted by ELTC’s artistic director Gayle Stahlhuth who began performing her own one-person plays in 1981 at venues including The Smithsonian, with “Lou: The Remarkable Miss Alcott.” She spent three seasons performing and teaching on The Chautauqua circuit: one of the few to do so who doesn’t have a doctorate. For the last six years, she has performed Christmas stories in Cape May based on works by L. Frank Baum, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Mark Twain, Edward Everett Hale, Louisa May Alcott, Bret Harte and O. Henry, much to the delight of local residents and visitors. In each show, Stahlhuth interprets over thirty-some characters in which the shrug of a shoulder, the flick of a wrist, and a change in her voice, brings a character to life. For many patrons, these original performances are part of their holiday tradition.
Stahlhuth is finishing up her fifteenth year as ELTC’s Artistic Director. Since the board of trustees asked her take this position in 1999, she has produced 70 different shows (some returned for another season), including 17 world premieres and 9 New Jersey premieres, and directed 43 of them. As a published and produced playwright, she is an Active Member of the Dramatists Guild, and for her work in film, television, and radio, a member of SAG-AFTRA. She joined Actors’ Equity, the union for professional actors, forty-one years ago, and has worked steadily in the entertainment industry ever since.
Performances of “Christmas with Harte and O. Henry” are at The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes St., where the company is in residence. As usual with ELTC’s Christmas shows, the regular ticket price is reduced as an early holiday gift to its audience. Tickets are $25 for general admission; $15 for full-time students, and as always with ELTC productions, those ages twelve and under are free. For information and reservations, call 609-884-5898 or go online to www.eastlynnetheater.org. Dinner/show packages are still available at The Washington Inn and Aleathea’s.