The Purple Rose Theatre Company Runs Two Holiday Shows This Holiday Season

The Purple Rose Theatre Company will be running two shows for two weeks this holiday season. From Tuesday, December 22, 2009 through Sunday, January 3, 2010, the World Premiere of Escanaba by Jeff Daniels will run in tandem with Jeff Daniels Onstage & Unplugged for a total of sixteen performances over thirteen days. The highlight of this schedule will be Sunday, January 3, 2010, when audiences can take in both shows in one day: a matinee performance of Escanaba and
Onstage & Unplugged in the evening. (Editors' Note: Please find a full performance / pricing schedule below). All performances are at The Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park Street, Chelsea, MI 48118.

The annual one-man holiday concert Onstage & Unplugged is now in its ninth year on the PRTC stage. With Escanaba recently extended due to popular demand through January 23, 2010, Onstage & Unplugged performances either had to be shelved this year or fit into the existing schedule. It was important to PRTC executive director and founder Jeff Daniels to keep the tradition going. "For me, it just isn't Christmas unless I'm walking out onto the stage at the Purple
Rose and playing for people," he says. "I want the show to make everyone laugh harder than they have in a long time. Every year, it's like I'm out to host the Christmas party to beat all Christmas
parties."

Daniels tours nationally with his Onstage & Unplugged concert, but most intensively in Michigan, his home state. Recently returned from his appearance on Broadway in the smash hit God of Carnage, Daniels seems glad to be back. "The first couple weeks of December, I jumped into my Recreational Vehicle and toured the show in the Upper Peninsula. Despite getting hit by the worst snow storm up there in ten years, I not only survived, but I had a ball. Lots of new experiences, many of which have found their way into the show. I've [already] added some new songs to this year's show. One in particular, ‘The Michigan In Me,' got quite a response on the U. P. tour. I wrote it a couple years ago in a rest area near Naubinway. Sat on the shore of Lake Michigan, watching a beautiful sunset, and I got hit by this overwhelming sense of what it meant to be home."

With the continuing success of his tour, many are surprised that Daniels continues to perform on the PRTC stage each year. For Daniels, the answer is simple. "I want people to feel as if I'm sitting on their living room couch and playing for them. The intimacy of the Purple Rose's 168 seats really lends itself to that kind of feeling. Because I interact with the audience so much ? joking with them, singing with them, and yes, sometimes even dancing with them ? playing the Purple Rose over the holidays has become extra special."

The new songs featured in this year's line-up appear on the second Jeff Daniels Live at the Purple Rose, now available for download at JeffDaniels.com; the CD is scheduled for release after the first of the year. The first Jeff Daniels Live at the Purple Rose album was recorded in 2001 during the original concert that sparked both the tradition and the tour.

Sales from these and Daniels' other critically acclaimed albums - Grandfather's Hat and Together Again with Jonathan Hogan - benefit The Purple Rose Theatre Company and are available at JeffDaniels.com or at the PRTC Box Office. Information about Daniels' national tour schedule is also available at JeffDaniels.com.

Founded in 1991, The Purple Rose Theatre Company is a leading American theatre dedicated to producing the new American play and creating opportunities for Midwest theatre professionals. The PRTC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit theatre operating under an Small Professional Theatre agreement with the Actors' Equity Association. The PRTC promotes the development of new American theatre and its practitioners, provides valuable educational opportunities for young artists, and, through consistently high quality production values, has earned the respect of both local and National Theatre communities.

Ticket reservations can be made by calling the PRTC Box Office at 734.433.7673; Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Tickets and more information are also available at www.purplerosetheatre.org.

Photo credit: Walter McBride