Talk about your literary horn o’ plenty: The roster of Oak Park Festival Theatre’s upcoming holiday shows are a feast of words and music. Works by Helen Keller, Anne Lamott, Anne Frank, Kahil Gibran, Rachel Carson, Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman are included in a one-day program, “Midwinter’s Tales: O, Wonder,” on Dec. 11 that celebrates the advent of winter.
Oak Park’s Belinda Bremner has been curating “O, Wonder” for the past year. Her collage of poetry, play scenes, music and essays performed at Grace Episcopal Church if Oak Park will also feature the Unity Temple Choir.
But “O, Wonder” isn’t the only holiday celebration on tap from Oak Park Festival Theatre in December. On Dec. 10 at Connelly’s Public House, acclaimed Chicago author/director/actor Tom Mula will perform a reading of his novella, “Jacob’s Marley’s Christmas Carol.”
Published in 1995, the neo-classic is every bit as moving and enthralling as the Dickens story that inspired it. Have you ever pondered why Scrooge got a shot at redemption while Marley doomed to an eternity dragging ledger boxes in hell? Mula provides answers in a story that follows Scrooge’s late business partner into the inferno and on a ghostly Yuletide voyage toward eternal compassion.
“It’s kind of a perfect storm of a Christmas story,” Mula says. “If nothing else, it reminds us that we’re all fellow passengers toward the grave. Even if we only think about that for five minutes, I see that reminder as good thing.”
“Jacob Marley” might be squarely set at Christmastime, but Bremner designed “O, Wonder” to encompass a wide range of traditions. Wicca and Pagan Solstice rituals are celebrated alongside works about New- and Old-Testament inspired holy days. “The whole show is part inspired by the ‘Midnight Special,’ part by ‘Prairie Home Companion,'” Bremner says. “There’s poetry and reminisces and songs.”
The pieces in “O, Wonder” veer from the reverent to the profoundly irreverent.
“I do love ‘Who Put the Acid in the Egg Nog,'” Bremner says of the little-known musical ode.
Lest you think Bremner isn’t taking the holidays seriously, rest assured she has some more traditional snippets In the show as well. There are poems celebrating Kwanza, two Hanukkah songs and a straight-up paean to God’s eternal grandeur in a poem penned by Gerald Manley Hopkins.
The show has been a year in the making. “I keep my ear to the ground all year long,” says Bremner. “I’m always listening for things we can use.”
Throughout “O, Wonder,” the Unity Temple Choir will punctuate the readings with music from an array of religious and non-religious traditions.
“I think ‘healing’ is an overused word,” says Bremner, “but I know that many of us are hurting right now. What I’m hoping this show does is allow people just to sit in a beautiful, safe space, listening to beautiful words and music. And sharing a sense of community, no matter what they believe.”
‘Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol’
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 10
Where: Connelly’s Public House, 1109 South Blvd., Oak Park
Tickets: $10, includes one complimentary drink ticket
Contact: www.oakparkfestival.com
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‘Midwinter’s Tales: O, Wonder’
When: 3 p.m. Dec. 11
Where: Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake St., Oak Park
Tickets: $30, $25 seniors, $15 students in advance; $35, $30 and $20 at the door
Contact: www.oakparkfestival.com