A CHRISTMAS MEMORY Opens at Centre Stage, 12/3

Centre Stage presents Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, paired each evening with another Capote classic, The Thanksgiving Visitor, as well as carols of the season and complimentary hot apple cider! Don't miss this warm, immersive and delicately directed feast for the heart and the senses featuring Amy Stryker Mathena, whose screen credits include starring roles opposite such notables as Carol Burnette, Hume Cronyn, Meg Tilly and Tim Matheson. Rounding out director Benjamin P. Robinson's cast are Christopher M. Evans, JeanE Bartlett and Mary Sparks Gray.

Holiday Family Packages available!
$60 for a family of four, plus $10 per additional family member up to a total of nine. (Regularly ticket price $25)

First published in 1956, this much sought-after autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic. Experience our warm and delicately directed chamber theater presentation of A Christmas Memory--"a tiny gem of a holiday story".?Seven-year-old Buddy's Christmas season begins with the cry, "It's fruitcake season!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls … oNe Young and one old … and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals.

A Christmas Memory will be paired with a second presentation of The Thanksgiving Visitor, as well as carols of the season and complimentary hot apple cider. Don't miss this feast for the heart and the senses!???Amy Stryker Mathena (Sook) grew up in Greenville and performed here prior to attending UNC School of Arts in Winston-Salem where she earned a BFA in acting. During nine years in New York and Los Angeles, Amy worked extensively in film and television. In the 20th Century Fox film A Wedding, directed by Robert Altman, she starred with Mia Farrow and Carol Burnette as Desi Arnez Jr.'s wife. In Long Riders, she married Randy Quaid, starring in that film with Keith Carradine and Stacy Keach. In Impulse, she starred as Margo with Meg Tilly and Hume Cronyn. Her network television appearances include the long-running series "Charlie's Angels" and "Gaucho," an ABC Afternoon Special. In 1983, Amy returned to raise a family.

Christopher M. Evans (Buddy) last appeared as Richard of Gloucester, one of Shakespeare's most cunning and memorable villains, in the Upstate Shakespeare Festival's production of Richard III.  His other credits include The Dining Room at Centre Stage, Garry LeJeune in Noises Off, Kent in King Lear, Austin Tichenor in The Complete History of America (abridged), and Greetings!, in which he played Mickey/Lucius.

JeanE Bartlett (Aunt 1, Ann (Jumbo) Finchburg, Mary Taylor Wheelwright, Mill Owners Wife) has been working behind the scenes at Centre Stage recently, running crew and and stage managing our productions of Mauritius, The Dining Room and Country Queens.  JeanE's last stage appearance at Centre Stage was in The Buddy Holly Story and prior to that she appeared in Sordid Lives, The World Goes 'Round, Quilting the Sun and The Laramie Project.

Beau Phillips (Odd, Mr. Morrison, Mr. Haha) last appeared at Centre Stage as announcer Bob Hale in Clear Lake: The Rock N Roll Reunion.  His other credits include Carl the Bus Driver in Bus Stop, Teddy Roosevelt in The Edith Whartons, and Dwayne Hightower in John Culbertson's Messiah on the Frigidaire.  Beau has worked as an actor at GLT and The Warehouse Theatre and admits to a particular fondness for character roles.  He holds an MFA in performance from UGA.

Mary Sparks Gray (Aunt 2, Miss Armstrong, Annabel, Town Lady) hails from Chicago, Il, where she got her first acting gig at the age of four.  Armed with a BFA in Theatre and an MA in Communication, she did acting and directorial stints around the Midwest and South, eventually arriving in Spartanburg in the early 90s as Artistic Director of The Youth Theatre.  In 2001, she moved to Ellijay, Georgia, to helm the Gilmer Arts and Heritage Association and to serve as the director of the community theatre.

Holiday Family Package: $60 for family of four, plus $10 per additional family member up to family of nine!??PERFORMANCES THURSDAY-SUNDAY ONLY. Tickets are $25 for adults, with discounts for students and seniors.All seats reserved. The box office can be reached at 864.233.6733, 2-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and 2 hours before performances. The theater is located at 501 River Street inside the Citi Smith-Barney building just one block off Main Street in downtown Greenville.

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