A KLINGON CHRISTMAS CAROL Opens Today at Greenhouse Theater Center
Commedia Beauregard, has announced that their unique holiday production, A Klingon Christmas Carol, returns to the Greenhouse Theater Center on November 25 and run through December 31, 2011.
The first full-length play ever to be produced entirely in the Klingon language, A Klingon Christmas Carol made a splash on the local, national, and international theatre scene last year.
Scrooge has neither honor nor courage in this uproarious twist on the classic holiday tale. Can the visits of three spirits help him to become a true warrior in time to save Tiny Tim from a horrible fate? Find out in Commedia Beauregard's melding of Charles Dickens' morality tale with the language and culture of the Star Trek warrior race. Performed "in the original Klingon" with English subtitles provided for the benefit of audience members who don't speak the language. Come and see why this huge hit has earned itself a following of the proud and fearless.
"Klingons wouldn't care if Scrooge was not charitable or nice," explained Commedia Beauregard Artistic Director Christopher O. Kidder. "The spirits that visit our Scrooge are trying to help him become honorable and courageous, the two highest virtues of Klingon society."
tlhIngan Hol (Klingon) is a fully functional language, invented for the Star Trek television series by philologist Marc Okrand. The producers of the Star Trek franchise tasked him with creating a complete language that could be used by the alien race that had become a major part of their science fiction universe. As with any translation, working English into Klingon is not a precise process. Translating "A Christmas Carol" into the guttural warrior tongue was especially problematic for Commedia Beauregard because the Klingons have no gods and no Christ, hence no Christmas. The title of the play translates roughly as "Feast of the Long Night Song" and could most closely be understood to be more of a winter solstice carol.
So why Klingon?
"We wanted to put together a show that people outside the theatre world could appreciate," said Kidder, "but we also wanted to put together a show that fit with our mission of producing translating works." A Klingon Christmas Carol is a co-production of Commedia Beauregard Chicago NFP. Written by Christopher O. Kidder and Sasha Walloch. Directed by Christopher O. Kidder. Translated by: Laura Thurston, Bill Hedrick, and Christopher O. Kidder. Additional Content and Translation by Chris Lipscombe. Lyrics to qu'wI' by Terrence Donnelly.
Opening Black Friday, November 25, 2011.
Running Thursdays @ 7:30pm, Fridays @ 7:30pm, Saturdays @ 7:30pm, and Sundays @ 2:30pm through Sunday, December 31, 2011.
Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N Lincoln Ave (2 blocks south of Fullerton Ave), Chicago, IL 60614.
$32 tickets are available at 773.404.7336 or GreenhouseTheater.org.
For more information, visit CBTheatre.org.
***Special Performance Monday, November 29 @ 7:30pm - "Pay-With-Your-Can" Night
Pay-With-Your-Can night is a food Drive that benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository. A person bringing in one nonperishable food item gets $10 off their ticket price. With three non-perishable food items, a person gets in free on that night. Pre-sale tickets for Pay-With-You-Can night may be made at full admission rate. In order to take advantage of this offer, customers must bring cans on night of performance on a first-come-first served basis.
***New Year's Toast With Klingons, December 31 @ 10:30pm - Second Show on New Year's Eve includes Champagne toast after the show, Gift Bag, Auld Lang Syne sung in Klingon, and Klingon Karaoke with the cast! $50 admission.
About Commedia Beauregard
Commedia Beauregard Chicago NFP is a Chicago-based theater company dedicated to translating the universal human experience to the stage; to expand our horizons and share knowledge of all cultures, translating between languages and between arts to create theater that is beautiful in expression. Other shows of the 2011-2012 season at the Greenhouse Theater Center include "Bard Fiction" (a Shakespearean retelling of "Pulp Fiction") and "Corleone: The Shakespearean Godfather". For more information visit CBTheatre.org.
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