Michael Disher, the director of Center Stage at the Southampton Arts Center, has been directing holiday shows for some 15 years, among them live radio plays of such classics as "Miracle on 34th Street," "It's a Wonderful Life," and "A Christmas Carol."
"I love doing holiday shows," he said during a phone conversation. "I have enjoyed going through the perfunctory canon of holiday shows, but I have no interest in doing them any longer. Personally, as a director, I don't feel I can bring anything new to them, nor do I think anyone else can either."
So this year he turned away from those familiar titles and the radio play format. "Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I remembered the Truman Capote story 'A Christmas Memory.' I found a copy of it, started rereading it, and I felt this could be something very different, specific to the area because he did live here, and something I would enjoy because I've never done it before."
That ultimately led Mr. Disher to undertake the production of staged readings of three of Capote's holiday stories, the first ever produced on Long Island. Performances of "The Thanksgiving Visitor" will take place Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7, and Sunday at 2.
"A Christmas Memory" and "One Christmas" will be staged on Nov. 29 at 2 p.m., Nov. 30 at 2 and 7, and Dec. 1 at 2.
A lot happened between his rereading of "A Christmas Memory" and now. "I had to try and figure out how I could access the rights to it." He discovered a musical version had been produced years ago by Irish Rep, and eventually got in touch with the director, who explained that Mr. Disher would have to approach the Truman Capote Literary Trust. "And he said to me, 'Good luck with that.' "
Based in Los Angeles, the trust at first said the story would not be available to license. "I guess sentimentality and honesty did work," said Mr. Disher, "because I wrote them back and said thank you for your time but it's quite a shame that these tales, which are so beautiful, just haven't been given really any stage time at all."
The trust refused to license a musical version but agreed to open a conversation about staged readings. "The Thanksgiving Visitor" and "One Christmas" were added to the proposal, and an agreement was reached with the trust, which insisted on specific guidelines, "the most adamant of which was, you will not alter, cut, delete, rewrite, bastardize in any way, shape, or form, one word of these stories."
Mr. Disher said it was one of the most difficult and one of the most fulfilling projects he has ever undertaken, "because basically I had to take short stories' prose and turn them into theatrical pieces without altering a word. To make it stageworthy is the responsibility of the director. In my opinion, there is nothing more boring than a few people reading scripts. I wanted something a little more special than the equivalent of sitting and listening to an audio book."
Because the stories are set in the Depression, there will be costumes and furniture from that period, as well as rear-screen projections of images from those years. In addition, while the actors will have the scripts in their hands, they have memorized much of the text, "in order to facilitate eye contact and character interaction."
All three stories are largely autobiographical, set in the 1930s, and narrated by a child. "A Christmas Memory," published in Mademoiselle magazine in 1956, is about the relationship between the 7-year-old narrator and his older, unnamed female cousin, to whom he refers throughout only as "my friend." The same cousin appears in the other two stories as "Miss Sook."
Published in 1967 in McCall's magazine, "The Thanksgiving Visitor" is about Buddy, a 9-year-old boy who is being bullied every day while on the way to school, and Ms. Sook, who was based on Capote's older cousin Nanny Rumbley Faulk.
In "One Christmas," published by Random House in 1983, the child is sent from his childhood home and his beloved cousin to New Orleans, to a father he has never met. The child learns painful truths about his father, and Santa Claus, and love lost and found.
The productions are sponsored in part by Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. In addition to Mr. Disher, who directs, stage management and set design are by Joey Giovingo, projections and music by Jack Seabury. Production photography is by Dane DuPuis, graphics and posters by Tracy Alia.
The cast includes Patrick Abillama, Daniel Becker, Susan Cincotta, Rori Finazzo, Tom Gregory, Vincenzo Harty, Franco Pistritto, Jack Seabury, Michaal Lyn Schepps, Richard Schindler, and Mary Sabo Scopinich.
Tickets are $20, $15 for arts center members.
