A Christmas Memory at Alabama Shakespeare Festival

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2. A Christmas Memory

Authors

• Carol Hall
• Duane Poole
• Larry Grossman

Based on the classic short story by Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory is the tale of a friendship for the ages. A joyous, emotional holiday musical that reminds us what Christmas, family, and friendship are all about.
In rural Alabama, 1933, young BUDDY is being raised by three eccentric cousins. He is closest to his COUSIN SOOK, still a child herself in many ways -- and as Christmas nears, she and Buddy gather ingredients to bake holiday gifts for those who've had a memorable impact on their lives in the past year. Sook's sister JENNIE is concerned these fanciful outings will cause young Buddy to grow up soft. Enlisting the aid of their bachelor-brother SEABON, she plots to separate the best friends for their own good.
From the vantage point of time, ADULT BUDDY, now a successful writer, leads us through a series of adventures, hilarious and touching, fondly remembering the onetime soulmates' efforts to both celebrate the holiday and find a way to thwart Jennie's plans.
They obtain Prohibition whiskey for their cakes at a nightclub run by the notorious HAHA JONES; Buddy makes a surprising friend in NELLE HARPER, his tomboy neighbor, leading her on a wonderful adventure of their own; and Buddy and Sook accidentally get tipsy on leftover whiskey, happily planning their lives together as best friends forever.
Despite best efforts to the contrary, Buddy's gift from Jennie and Seabon is a military school uniform and a train ticket. This is to be their last Christmas together. Flying handmade kites one final time that morning, Buddy and Sook vow never to lose touch -- to keep their hearts close as the kites in the sky.
Now, on his return to this place of memory, Adult Buddy renews his friendship with ANNA STABLER, the family's onetime housekeeper who is now the last, living tie to his past. With her help, he makes an emotional reconnection, a catharsis in which he embraces the past and realizes that the next story he has to tell...is this one.