Hampton Theatre Company Presents JOY TO THE WORLD Holiday Readings

The Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue, now in its 32nd year, has added an additional production to the 2016-2017 season. For one weekend only, December 9 to 11, the HTC will present two festive evenings and one matinee performance of holiday stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Isaac Bashevis Singer, O. Henry and other celebrated writers, read by members of the company.

Holiday music will be played for the half hour before the readings begin, and in transitions between selections from the different authors. Performances will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 9, at 8 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 11.

Theatergoers are also invited to visit the Quogue Triangle of shops and the Quogue Gallery down the block from the theater at 44 Quogue Street for some "Holiday Cheese and Cheer" offered in the spirit of the season prior to each performance.

Beyond the holiday spirit, the pieces to be read and dramatized by members of the company capture the humor and the warmth, the joys and sorrows of our common humanity, however different our holiday traditions may be. From Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have the holiday season as a backdrop for "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." The fortunes of Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Zlateh the Goat" take a turn in the days leading up to Hanukkah.

The evening also includes the surreal firsthand story of the Christmas Truce in the trenches of World War I; O. Henry's classic, "The Gift of the Magi"; and, from the pages of The New York Sun in 1897, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus."

Reading the "Joy to the World" stories will be HTC veterans Matthew Conlon, James Ewing, Terrance Fiore, Amanda Griemsmann, Sarah Hunnewell, Diana Marbury, Joe Pallister, Ben Schnickel and Tristan Vaughan. Sarah Hunnewell and James Ewing direct.

Tickets to "Joy to the World" are free for HTC subscribers, $15 for all adults, and $5 for students 21 and under and are available at www.hamptontheatre.org or by calling 1-866- 811-4111.

For information about gift subscriptions and other packages, visit www.hamptontheatre.org, email info@hamptontheatre.org, or call 631-653- 8955.

Photo credit: Tom Kochie