TUTA Theatre has announced it will stage the infrequently produced Thornton Wilder drama THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER for the 2024 holiday season. It was written in 1931 when Wilder was 34 years old and dividing his time between writing and teaching at the University of Chicago. In one long act and continuous action, THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER chronicles the lives of several generations of an American family by representing the Christmas dinners they celebrated over 90 years. The characters age in front of the audience's eyes as we witness births, deaths, and the welcoming of new family members.

TUTA Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone will direct the production, one of the first productions to be fully staged at the Bramble Arts Loft, Beatrice Theatre. The brand new theatre, at 5545 North Clark Street, boasts a comfortable lobby, lounge area and bar. Previews are Tuesday, November 26 and Friday, November 29. The press opening on Saturday, November 30 at 7:30 pm will be a benefit for TUTA. The ticket price range for that evening will be $60-$100 and will include an opening night reception with festive drink and food, in addition to the performance.The run will continue through Sunday, December 29.
 
Joan Merlo (of TUTA's HEDDA GABLER) will play Mother Bayard and Cousin Ermengarde. Matt Miles (of Paramount's PETER AND THE STARCATCHER and BILLY ELLIOT) will be Roderick and Roderick II. Huy Nguyen (ROMEO AND JULIET at Oak Park Festival) and Charlie Irving (The Artistic Home's upcoming BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK) will play the siblings Charles and Genevieve. Wain Parham (TUTA's HEDDA GABLER) has been cast as Cousin Brandon and Sam. Seoyoung Park (of TUTA's ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE)  will play Charles' wife Leonora and Alexis Primus will play Lucia and Lucia II. Understudies are Nicholas Bryan Carter, Jinyue Yuna Hu, and Julia Stemper.

The artistic team, in addition to Stone as Director, includes Keith Parham (Scenic and Lighting Design), who was responsible for the lighting design of BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY on Broadway); Willow James (Sound Design), whose recent credits include sound design for Writers Theatre's THE HOT WING KINGS; Jeff Award winner and six-time nominee Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design); Wain Parham (Music Direction), who provided music direction and original composition for ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE and many other previous TUTA productions; and longtime TUTA company member Helen Lattyak (Properties Design). The production team also includes Becky Warner (Stage Manager), Austin Ryan Hunt (Assistant Director), Sharon Ammen (Dramaturg), and Jamal Howard (Casting Director).
 
THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER, in its first published form, was included in the volume THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER AND OTHER PLAYS IN ONE ACT and first performed jointly by the Yale Dramatic Association and the Vassar Philaletheis Society. It was produced on Broadway in 1993 as one of three one-act plays in the program WILDER, WILDER, WILDER. An operatic adaptation of the play, with music by Paul Hindemith, premiered at the Juilliard School of Music in 1963. The play and opera were performed together as a double-header at Lincoln Center in 2014. The opera was performed by the Chicago Fringe Opera in 2018.
 
The SUNDAY TIMES of Dublin, Ireland, in its four-star review of a 2022 production by the vaunted Abbey Theatre, said that the play is 'a gently paced reflection on the idea that every present moment comes from the past." The EUGENE SCENE said of a 2018 production in Eugene, Oregon, that the play "is unabashedly serious and does not hide from the dark side of Christmas as a method of reminding us what the light of Christmas is."
 
Seats for all performances of THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER can be reserved by purchasing in advance. Prices for all performances (excluding opening night) are $20,  $45 and $60 (plus a $3.00 per ticket fee). Any seating not reserved in advance will be available the day of the performance for in person, pay-what-you-choose tickets at the door 30 minutes before curtain time. Additional information on TUTA Theatre's ticketing is available at https://www.tutatheatre.org/the-long-christmas-dinner-tickets. There is no late seating. Tickets are on sale now at www.tutatheatre.org.
 

LISTING INFORMATION
 
THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER
by Thornton Wilder
Directed by TUTA Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone
November 26 - December 29, 2024
Previews Tuesday, November 26 and Friday, November 29 at 7:30 pm each evening
Press opening Saturday, November 30 at 7:30 pm is a benefit for TUTA.
Opening night tickets, from $60-$100, will additionally include an opening night reception, with festive food and drink
Regular run Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm. Sundays at 3 pm, with additional holiday week performances on Thursday, December 19, Monday, December 23, and Thursday, December 26 – all at 7:30 pm
Ticket prices $20, $45, $60 (plus a $3.00 ticket fee)
Performances at Bramble Arts Loft, The Beatrice Theatre, 5545 North Clark Street, Chicago.
Audience advisory: Rated PG.
Info and tickets at https://www.tutatheatre.org/the-long-christmas-dinner-tickets.

THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER - nine decades long in just one 75-minute 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. Join TUTA for this lively and musical holiday production, and reflect on life, death, and the family traditions we celebrate and endure with TUTA's ensemble.

BIOS

Jacqueline Stone (Director, Co-Artistic Director) Jacqueline Stone is honored to be Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of TUTA. Her TUTA directing credits include the world premiere of HEDDA GABLER (as well as adaptor), Chicago and New York premieres (59E59 Theaters) of Adam Rapp's THE EDGE OF OUR BODIES, world premiere of THE ANYWAY CABARET (AN ANIMAL CABARET), and U.S. premiere OF THE SILENT LANGUAGE.  Her TUTA performance credits include FULTON STREET SESSIONS, BAAL, THE WEDDING (1996, 2010, 2011), UNCLE VANYA (2008, 2009), A STILL LIFE IN COLOR, THE BIRDS, THE SWEET LITTLE PRINCE, ALICE, and THE HOUR.  
 
In addition to TUTA, Stone currently serves as Producing Artistic Director of Breckenridge Backstage Theatre in Breckenridge, CO. BBT directing credits include the Colorado premiere of Jim DeVita and Josh Schmidt's musical adaptation of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, MT Cozzola's A LADY'S GUIDE TO MOUNTAINS (Denver Fringe), and A CHRISTMAS STORY. This spring she will direct EVERY BRILLIANT THING.
 
From 2016 - 2020, Stone served as Artistic Director of Emerald City Theatre Company, Chicago's largest professional theatre serving young audiences.  ECT directing credits include the Chicago premiere of FANTASTIC MR. FOX, the Chicago premiere of KEN LUDWIG'S 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Broadway Playhouse), the Chicago premiere of THE SNOWY DAY & OTHER STORIES, the world premiere of MOTHER GOOSE'S GARDEN, world premiere of PETER RABBIT (also adapter), JUNIE B. JONES, RAMONA QUIMBY, and the world premiere of Mo Willems' DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS.  
 
Select Chicago directing credits include Strawdog Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Immersive, Broadway in Chicago, Piven Theatre, The Second City, Mudlark Theater, Akvavit Theatre, Step Up Productions, 20% Theatre Company, You & Me Productions, and DCASE. Jacqueline is co-founder of Sirens, the longest running all-female improv group in the country.  She has appeared and created over 200 original shows with them.
 
Stone taught acting and improvisation at The Second City for ten years and Columbia College Chicago for five years.  She spent twelve years as Emerald City Theatre's Education Director, building and fostering new acting programs for young people ages 3.5 - 13 years old.  Other select teaching credits include The Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Belgrade, Serbia), Chicago Improv Festival, Miami Improv Festival, Duke University's FUQUA School of Business, UCLA, and University of Chicago.
 
Thornton Wilder (Playwright) Born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at Yale and Princeton, Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works explore the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY, one of his seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and his next-to-last novel, THE EIGHTH DAY, received the National Book Award (1968). Two of his four major plays garnered Pulitzer Prizes, OUR TOWN (1938) and THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (1943). His play THE MATCHMAKER ran on Broadway for 486 performances (1955-1957), Wilder's Broadway record, and was later adapted into the record-breaking musical HELLO, DOLLY! Wilder also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them translation, acting, opera librettos, lecturing, teaching, and film (his screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's 1943 psycho-thriller, SHADOW OF A DOUBT remains a classic to this day). OUR TOWN will be revived on Broadway in the 2024-25 season in a production directed by Kenny Leon and starring Jim Parsons and Richard Thomas.

ABOUT TUTA THEATRE
 
TUTA Theatre was established in 1995 in Washington, DC by co-founders Zeljko and Natasha Djukic, who brought a unique sense of artistic expression from their European homeland. In 2002, they relocated the company to Chicago. In the ensuing 23 years, TUTA has presented numerous US premieres of foreign plays from France, Russia, Austria, and Serbia. TUTA has produced seven world premieres, eight US premieres, four Midwest premieres and many modern re-imaginings of classics.  In 2012, longtime company member Jacqueline Stone stepped into the role of Artistic Director, and TUTA added productions for youth with the US premiere of THE SILENT LANGUAGE. TUTA's productions have been listed on Chicago critics' 'best of the year' list eight times in the past 10 years and have been produced nationally (in NYC and LA) and internationally (in Serbia with the National Theatre in Belgrade).In 2023, TUTA named a new leadership structure with Co-Artistic Directors Aileen Wen McGroddy, Aziza Macklin, and Jacqueline Stone. Brad Gunter is Managing Director.