ANGELS IN DISGUISE
“Be not inhospitable to strangers ‘lest they be angels in disguise. ”
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
Tony Sutera, Ava Haines and Michael Rulon in Angels In Disguise performed at Theatrikos. Photo by Larry Hendricks.
Synopsis
It’s Christmas Eve, and the Freckletons are about to celebrate their thirteenth Christmas in Southern California. A relatively routine holiday celebration turns into utter chaos in this modern, comedic, and family-friendly spin on “the Christmas play,” weaving in Hanukkah, the solstice, Transcendentalism, social media, romance, hip-hop, and the need to put our differences aside to fully appreciate the gift of the holiday season.
Virginia Brown, Warren Doody, Linda Sutera and cast and crew of Angels In Disguise performed at Theatrikos. Photo by Larry Hendricks.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
The “germ of an idea” for this play, to borrow from Henry James, was three-fold. In 2008, Richard Burt, a Theatrikos actor of some repute, suggested that I write a Hanukkah play, so I filed that potential project away in the part of my brain that stores ideas. The second “germ” arrived, a few years later, when my friend, Matt Hall, who celebrated the “coming back to the light,” every year, on December 21, invited me to a “solstice party” in Kachina Village. So, I filed that one away, too. The third “germ,” which was closer to a mandate, came from my friend and the co-director of this production, Linda Sutera, who stated that Theatrikos, along with every other theater in the country, relies almost exclusively on a rotation of the five most popular scripts. She thought there was room for one more, and she not only encouraged me to write one, but rattled off a list of “rules” that govern a successful Christmas show: a large ensemble, kids in the cast, upbeat and family friendly, and, most importantly, a show that leaves audience members feeling better about Christmas, then when they walked in. It took a few years and a lot of drafts, notes and readings to mix these three “germs” and one set of rules into a coherent play, but the result is Angels in Disguise, a play that not only aims to re-ignite the joy of the holiday season, but one designed to help us celebrate our many and wonderful differences. In the words of Proust, we hope this show will inspire you to re-enter the holiday season “not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”