Back around 2000, Philadelphia playwright Richard LaMonte Pierce took a good look at the Philadelphia theater scene in December and noticed the obvious – “A Christmas Carol” or “Nutcracker” on every stage.
All classic audience builders — but, Pierce thought, something was missing.
“We need one,” he told his colleagues at the Bushfire Theatre of Performing Arts in West Philadelphia. “That’s why I wrote ’Ordinary People, Extraordinary People’, because I wanted to have that same Christmas feeling, but I wanted to view it from how Black people saw Christmas.”
“Ordinary People, Extraordinary People” joins a December Philly theater lineup just the way Pierce described it 25 years ago – Christmas Carols aplenty, with a Nutcracker, or two, or three, on area stages.
The play is being presented by Theatre in the X, a theater company that puts on summer plays in West Philadelphia’s Malcolm X Park just blocks away from the Bushfire theater building. In a twist, it will stage “Ordinary People,” which is set in North Philadelphia, in a South Philly theater.
Pierce’s play asks a very Christmas-y question: If Jesus showed up today, not accompanied by angels or trumpets, but as an ordinary man, maybe even a homeless man, would we accept him or dismiss him?
(Courtesy of Theatre in the X)
In the play, good things begin to happen to a family that invites J.C., a homeless man wandering the cold streets of North Philadelphia in winter, into their apartment for a cup of hot chocolate. Are they miracles or are they coincidences?
Pierce lives in North Philadelphia now, near Temple, and grew up blocks away on a street just like the one where the play is set in 1952. His aunt, who lived down the block, ran two kinds of salons in her house – one styled the hair of singers Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey and Sarah Vaughan.
“It’s kind of semi-autobiographical,” he said.
For example, Pierce said his grandfather worked for a construction company owned by Angelo Bruno, the onetime Mafia kingpin in Philadelphia. Bruno, Pierce said, set his grandfather up in the numbers-running business. In the play, someone wants to set Freddy, the father, up in business, “but he doesn’t want to get involved with the Mob.”
In the play, times were tough – so much so that buying a Christmas tree was out of the question. Then, one day, when Freddy was outside, a truck carrying Christmas trees hit a pothole and a tree fell off. Miracle or coincidence?
Pierce, now 73, didn’t ask himself that question when it happened to him and his friends when they were young men. One of his friends had money his mother had given him to buy a tree, “but we drank and smoked up the money,” Pierce said.
Worried, they were walking to the friend’s house to face the consequences, when, lo and behold, a truck carrying Christmas trees hit a pothole and a tree fell off. “It was a coincidence,” Pierce said.
As we get older, Pierce said, we become cynical, like the grownups in his play. “In a way, writing was like therapy for me, bringing me back to my childhood. I channeled that.”
“Ordinary People/Extraordinary People,” Dec. 12-21,Theatre in the X atTheatre Exile, 1340 S. 13th St., Phila. Pay what you can.
Here are some other holiday shows on stage in the city this year.
“Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol” — As charming as the Dickens classic is, some of the underlying themes of death and ghosts might be scary for little ones. But the Walnut Street Theatre For Kids presents an hour-long musical adaptation geared for children that uses traditional songs to tell the story. Dec. 6-21, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila. 215-574-3550.
“One Man Nutcracker” — Most productions of “The Nutcracker” ballet require dozens of dancers, but Chris Davis is tutu efficient for that. He dances every part, from the daughter, Marie, to the creepy Uncle Drosselmeyer and, of course, both the mice and the Sugar Plum Fairy. It keeps him on his toes. Dec. 9-Jan. 5, Proscenium Theatre at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St., Phila. Tickets via Eventbrite.
“Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol” — Inspired by a radio production he heard as a child, actor Anthony Lawton presents a riveting one-man adaptation of this annual favorite. The stage set is simple, but the drama is anything but. Dec. 13-28, Lantern Theater Co. at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St., Phila. 215-829-0395.
“Cirque Dreams Holidaze” is in town Dec. 23-28 at the Miller Theater.
“Cirque Dreams Holidaze” — The Cirque du Soleil group uses its acrobats, aerialists, jugglers and circus artists to create a fantastical holiday world for a young girl. Dec. 23-28, from The Shubert Organization and Ensemble Arts Philly, Miller Theater, 250 S. Broad St., Phila. 215-893-1999.
“A Christmas Story The Musical” — Ralphie wants a Red Ryder BB gun, but somehow a kooky leg lamp, pink bunny pajamas and a cranky department store Santa interfere. The cast includes mischievous dogs. Through Jan. 4, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila. 215-574-3550.
Outside the city:
“The Nice List”, Dec. 9-28, Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol. 215-785-0100.
“Elf: The Musical”, through Jan. 4, Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, 215-862-2121.
“A Christmas Carol”, through Jan. 4, People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. 610-644-3500.
“Meredith Willson’s Miracle on 34th Street”, Dec. 20-21, The Playhouse on Rodney Square, located in the Hotel du Pont, 1007 N. Market St., Wilmington.