Raleigh
A Christmas Memory
Theatre in the ParkIn the early 1990s, my parents dragged me to Ira David Wood’s one-man show of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory. Given that I was in my early teens, wasting a weekend evening spending time with my parents seeing a Christmas play was my vision of Dante’s Inferno.
Anyway, I was perhaps the worst possible audience as Wood began walking about the set, talking about cousins and fruitcakes and kites and Mr. Haha Jones. And he gets to the end, the last line, and damned if I don’t realize that streams of hot tears are flowing down my cheeks. He had pulled me in, and he had gotten me. It was the greatest moment of emotional manipulation I have ever experienced, and it was enough to cement his performance as legendary for me. Well played, Wood. Well played.
For more information, visit www.theatreinthepark.com. This show opens Friday, Dec. 19, and continues Saturday and today. Zack Smith
