A CHRISTMAS CAROL FOR KIDS! EUGENE 2011

Media Contacts: Al LePage, Actor/Producer, Great Stories Alive! / 503-335-3876 / Al.LePage@SpireTech.com

"A Christmas Carol For Kids" premiers in
Eugene by star of Christmas Carol radio show!

Photo Credit: David Krapes

"Englishman Thomas Hutchinson" (Al LePage) welcomes young children to "A Christmas Carol for KIDS!"

“A Christmas Carol for Kids!” West Coast premier with actor Al LePage, star of the one-man, one-hour Christmas Carol special produced and aired by OPB Radio last year, happens on Saturday, December 3rd, 10:30AM to benefit the Lane County Historical Society and Museum in Eugene. As Victorian era "Englishman Thomas Hutchinson, Traveling Thespian," LePage, in costume, with accent and all else, will give a dramatic reading performance as Charles Dickens did when he shared his classic holiday story with audiences, too. Using only his voice, facial expressions and gestures the actor brings the story and all the different characters to life in his specially created show for young children age 5 and older. Tickets are $2 per child, $3 per adult, and reservations are recommended by calling the museum at (541) 682-4242. Doors open at 10:15AM, if available, tickets will also be offered at the door, and children must be accompanied by an adult during the performance. The museum address is 740 West 13th Ave located towards the south end of the Lane County Fairgrounds complex with plenty of free parking, and 100% of all ticket sales directly benefit the museum.

“Young kids are often left out,” begins actor Al LePage, “when Christmas Carol productions stick closely to Dickens' original script. You see, a good chunk of all that content can really only hold the attention and be understood by older children and adults. Ticket information for such productions will sometimes even specify an actual age limit like, 'No one under age 10 admitted.' So, a couple of years ago, when I wanted to perform for elementary kids at the school I myself attended as a child, I created a new version. My challenge was to edit the famed author's story, keeping the storyline intact, for really young children, ages 5-10, so they could both understand and enjoy most all of it. I focused on the very dramatic, the concrete versus the abstract, sticking to scenes involving sights, sounds, smells and tastes, and to what young kids can relate to in their life. The result was, 'A Christmas Carol for Kids!'"
Photo Credit: David Krapes
"Thomas Hutchinson" wants to share the Carol with you!

"Thomas Hutchinson" wants to share the Carol with you!

From Scrooge to Tiny Tim, from Marley's Ghost to Mrs. Cratchit, there's howls and growls, bangs and bongs, some dancing with a song, lively laughter and heartfelt tears. LePage's love of improvisation combined with a highly interactive style means that he may not only engage both kids and adults in conversation, but also may actually encourage some audience members to join him on stage at some point! In fact, watch out! Since he's playful, likes to experiment and believes in seizing the moment, even he doesn't always know what's going to happen next. And, before each reading, he's definitely got what could aptly be called “his stories” to share with the audience. This not only makes each performance unique, but also keeps them fresh and exciting, spontaneous and full of surprises, too!

"The first time I ever did my new kid's version I was told that I had to perform in front of students ages 5 to 12 years old at the same time! Since I had been a former preschool and elementary teacher I knew that age mix in one audience was going to be quite a challenge. So, I set the stage by telling the very young kids to watch my funny faces, listen to my funny voices, and watch what I did with my hands. The more sophisticated older children, ages 10 to 12, were told to listen carefully to some of the strange words I would use and try to figure out what they meant. As the show went on, since I really use my hands, sometimes actually using "words" from American Sign Language to paint pictures in the air, I noticed that many of the really young kids were actually imitating me! Realizing the teachers looking on might try to stop them I interupted the performance for a moment to encourage them to have fun and keep doing it. I said sosmething like, 'Yes, children that's it! Keep on doing what I'm doing.' and they really had a great time with it. This really helped to engage the very young children, so they too could actively participate in the performance. The older kids and adults now had a 'double show' to watch, too, both me and the younger kids seated on the floor joining in with me. And all that's an important part of the show whenever I do my 'Christmas Carol for Kids.'"

LePage got into acting through the back door, connecting it with his former teaching experience, by bringing history to life through improvised portrayals of real people from the past for over seven years at historic sites, museums, and other venues throughout the Pacific Northwest. He's written and produced his own historical dramas as one-man shows, and appeared on the nationally televised PBS “History Detectives” series in roles ranging from a bartender to Robert E. Lee! Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio produced and premiered another of his own shortened versions of Dickens' Christmas Carol, also performed by LePage as his own one man show in a one-hour radio program broadcast throughout Oregon just last year on both Christmas eve and day. During the Oregon Sesquicentennial he and Bob Hart, director of the Lane County Historical Society and Museum, gave their own two-man show at various venues, highlighting the lives and contributions of two pioneers of early Oregon history. He's been gving performances of the Carol to benefit charity in the United States and Canada since 2006, and will perform the Carol in England for the very first time this December.

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The Lane County Historical Society is a non-profit organization encouraging the preservation of Lane County history by operating the Lane County Historical Museum to collect, preserve and interpret Lane County's rich heritage. The Society also publishes the Lane County Historian, a quarterly newsletter and other publications and houses an archives section as a regional repository relating to Lane County's settlement and growth since the early 1800's. Collections include photographs, manuscripts, original records, books, maps, studies, reports, and newspaper clippings. Throughout the year the Society hosts special events, new exhibits, general meetings featuring presentations, and participates in projects such as historic preservation and the collection of oral histories and offers books and other items for sale at their gift shop. For further information, contact the Lane County Historical Society by phone at (541) 682-4242 or visit their website www.lanecountyhistoricalsociety.org.

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NOTE TO MEDIA: Embedded images are high resolution and offered for free use by the print media for stories related to these performances and may be cropped, color-balanced and adjusted as needed. Please credit the photographer as follows: “David Krapes” Thank you.

CAPTION SUGGESTION for IMAGES without captions: "Englishman Thomas Hutchinson," portrayed by Al LePage is sure to bring lots of laughter, and hopefully some tears, during his upcoming dramatic reading performance of his version of Dickens classic as A Christmas Carol for Kids!