PURE Theatre Presents WAFFLE HAUS CHRISTMAS, 12/10-12/18

WHAT:
PURE Theatre's production of Waffle Haus Christmas by Rodney Lee Rogers

WHEN: December 10, 11, 16, 17, 18

WHERE:
PURE Theatre at Charleston Ballet Theatre, 477 King Street, Charleston, SC 29403

TICKETS:
Sliding Scale Ticket Pricing- Pay What You Can between $15 - $30

Available at puretheatre.org or by phone at 866.811.4111. Tickets can also be purchased the night of the show at the PURE Theatre Box Office opens half an hour before the show begins at Charleston Ballet Theatre, 477 King Street, Downtown Charleston. Seating is limited, and advance ticket purchases are strongly encouraged.

PURE Theatre offers a world premiere family affair for this Holiday Season. Come get scattered, smothered, and covered with Waffle Haus Christmas written by PURE's in-house playwright Rodney Lee Rogers and directed by Artistic Director Sharon Graci. The show runs December 10th through the 18th, and will feature Sharon Graci, Rodney Lee Rogers, Tripp Hamilton, and Sullivan Graci Hamilton.

Stuck working on Christmas eve, a diner waitress burnout, her ex-husband line cook and their "special" teenage daughter are visited by the ghosts of Waffle Haus Christmas past, present and future in this irreverent comedy which lampoons our most precious Holiday traditions.

"Stereotypes are an interesting deal. They allow us to distill people and events down to a simple, non-complex idea, with which the tiny portions of our brain can process, understand and alas, pass judgment. When I was a senior and going to private school in North Carolina, one of the great joys, was escaping school for the blessed one hour lunch break. The event consisted of the "dirtiest
food" one could find in a thirty-mile radius sandwiched between a death-defying round trip car race to beat the fourth period bell. Having the general moronic disposition which is require of this age, we were seldom, if ever, well-behaved."

Rogers explains. "I had one friend who took prep-school insolence to an artistic level, and on this particular day, in this particular dinner, he said something to which our ancient waitress took great exception. Now, I won't say she was a stereotype, but I will say we had stereotyped her. To be fair, she had also stereotyped us. I also have no doubt, despite any moral indignation you may
muster; you probably would have done the same yourself, to both parties. Well, this woman, old enough to be my grandmother, didn't miss a beat. She looked him right in the eye and said, "Son, I got three things on my list; cold coffee, wet toilet paper, and assholes... which one or you." That stuck. For in the action, the statement, and the performance you could see her entire life. And it was beautiful. In that moment she both reveled in and transcended her stereotype. It is in this seed where WAFFLE HAUS CHRISTMAS was born. The hope is to poke fun at, revel in and transcend the labels and greeting card holiday expectations we saddle ourselves with at this time of year. After all is that what Christmas is: one big stereotype in need of some mistletoe?"

PURE Theatre has garnered a reputation for artistic excellence, risk taking, and thinking outside of the box. The company's intrepid approach to the art and craft of theatre has garnered them numerous critics and audience awards, as well as a loyal following of patrons. PURE has been the recipient of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Play, Best One-Person Play, Most Diverse Theatre Company critic and audience awards, and Winners of the 2010 South Carolina Arts Commission's Fellowships in the Playwrighting & Acting.

PURE's Sliding Scale Ticket Pricing

We will be continuing our Sliding Scale Ticketing for Waffle Haus Christmas. It is Pay What You Can, sliding ticket scale between $15 and $30 for all tickets.

"We are experimenting with a flexible pricing strategy to determine whether or not we see a significant increase in single ticket buyers, as well as to create a means of capturing data regarding mean ticket price," says Sharon Graci, PURE Theatre's Artistic Director.

Part of what makes the experiment possible is the company's recent move to Charleston Ballet Theatre where they have almost tripled their seating capacity. "In a smaller venue, it just wasn't possible to adjust the cost of our tickets, it wasn't prudent," continues Graci, "We were consistently at or close to capacity, so there was no room to determine just how broad our audience could be if we removed a potential barrier to participation, in the form of ticket prices that don't fit in everyone's budget."

Graci is also quick to point out that PURE Theatre supports a strong base of loyal patrons who make the pricing experiment possible. "We're incredibly grateful to our strong base of regular supporters, our PURE ORG members, contributors, and benefactors, who stay with us through
our growing pains. They are our strongest champions, and our loudest

advocates. PURE's continued success and growth is important to them. They want to see us thrive."

With the new ticket strategy, ticket buyers can go online, or show up atthe door, and name any whole dollar price between $15 and $30 for their tickets. According to Graci, "It's just the right thing to do in the name of advocacy, which is one of PURE Theatre's core values. As a company
of artists in service to our community, we are committed to diversifying our audience and reaching as may people as we can through our art from. Offering pricing structures that enable greater numbers of patrons to be served is a crucial step in ensuring that the professional performing arts
remain relevant to the totality of the communities they serve. This is just one, small, beginning step, but we think it's an important one. The message we're working to promote is that all are welcome, and that PURE Theatre is for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic condition."

Waffle Haus Christmas Creatives 

Sharon Graci (Co-Director & playing Sally Anne) is the artistic director and co-founder of PURE Theatre. Directing credits include Yankee Tavern, Up, Speech & Debate, Sheep's Clothing, The Last Five Years, The Seafarer, Underneath the Lintel, and Eurydice. She is an alumnus of the 2007 Lincoln Center Director's Lab. Recent acting credits include Stage: Mara Stockman Kelly in Hogs, Elizabeth in Faith, Hope & Charity, Becca in Rabbit Hole, Celestina in Cloud Tectonics at PURE. Television: Army Wives (Lifetime), One Tree Hill (WB), Surface (NBC). She studied acting at Point Park University and the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Theatre and received a BA in theatre from Augusta State University. She has performed with numerous regional theatre companies throughout the Southeast and was voted Best Local Actress by Charleston City Paper readers in 2007, 2008, and 2009. She also received a Best Actor award for her work in Montague, winner Best Film, Stopwatch Cinema.

Rodney Lee Rogers (Playwright/Co-Director & playing Jimmy) is an actor, writer, and co-founder of PURE Theatre. His plays and one-acts include The Trial of the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet, The Tragedian, Killing Chickens, Fairgrounds, What Comes Around, Tell, Cowboys, and A Waf?e House
Christmas. His plays have been produced in New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, and Charleston. His feature ?lm Steaming Milk won runner-up Best Actor and Best Director awards at the 1997 Seattle International Film Festival and was chosen as a "best of the fest" of both The Seattle Times and The Seattle Post- Intelligencer. Directing credits include Tell, Jesus Hopped the "A" Train, and The
Beauty Queen of Leenane. Acting credits for the stage include The Trial of the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet, It's a Wonderful Life, Up, The Pillowman, The Lonesome West, Cloud Tectonics, Underneath the Lintel, Eurydice, and The Tragedian. Television: One Tree Hill, Medicine Ball, and Army Wives.

Tripp Hamilton (Roberts, Ghafir and the Three Santas of X-mas past, present and future) joins the long and illustrious family career of acting. According to Tripp's parents, "Many children happily follow in the footsteps of their parents, we just wish ours wouldn't. Though we guess he is pretty good, and who are we to talk." Tripp's acting credits include Tybalt in Romeo & Juliette. Tripp has studied acting in Bulgaria at the Rhodophi InterNational Theatre Institute, and the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles. This is Tripp's first production at PURE.

Sullivan Graci Hamilton (Bella) attends the Charleston County's School of the Arts. This is her fifth production with PURE. Previous productions have included Circle Mirror Transformation, Ginger: A Hansel & Gretel Tale, Wafflehouse Christmas, HOGS, and Speech & Debate.