Cloverdale Playhouse offers a lifetime of Christmas roles in one play

Shannon Heupel, Montgomery Advertiser
·2 min read

If you were to go see every performance of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!), you'd come away with a little different experience each time.

"We built the play through as a lot of improvisation," said director J. Scott Grinstead. "It is a play. It exists. But the play allows us to do a lot of work in creating new moments and creating new styles of stories"

It opens Thursday and runs through Dec. 19 at Cloverdale Playhouse, 960 Cloverdale Road, Montgomery.

Sarah Housley, John Selden and Hunter Stewart in a scene from "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.
Sarah Housley, John Selden and Hunter Stewart in a scene from "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.

"In the play, three actors (John Selden, Sarah Housley, and Hunter Stewart) are supposed to be doing a version of 'A Christmas Carol.' Two of them decide that that's been overdone," Grinstead said. "They decide that they want to do as many Christmas stories as they can in 90 minutes."

The actors will take suggestions from the audience about what stories to tell.

"They do some really quick versions of a lot of the famous stories, and there are a lot of movie references," Grinstead said. "They'll do a lot of the big Christmas stories that we're aware of in a very quick fashion... There's references to everything from 'Elf' to 'Home Alone,' to 'It's a Wonderful Life.' It's a lot of fun, and it's very fast paced."

Selden, Housley and Stewart play around 50 roles, and with that comes a massive amount of quick costume changes.

From left, Sarah Housley, John Selden and Hunter Stewart in a scene from "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.
From left, Sarah Housley, John Selden and Hunter Stewart in a scene from "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.

"They're constantly changing jackets and hats, and little costume pieces," Grinstead said. "All sorts of little things to quickly make themselves into someone else. It's very fast, very quick and very funny."

Grinstead said the actors have been preparing themselves for a bunch of different contingencies for things audience members might request.

"They know it inside and out, which is good. They have to," Grinstead said. "They're very prepared, and they're really at this point very ready to have an audience, because that's the fourth member of the show."

From left, Hunter Stewart, John Selden and Sarah Housley in a scene from "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.
From left, Hunter Stewart, John Selden and Sarah Housley in a scene from "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.

The audience interaction is why the show is a little different each time.

"We've never done this show, and we've never really done a show like this," Grinstead said. "We had some improv workshops last year. Some of our people from those classes are in the show. Some from the workshop are on the crew, stage management and backstage. We've never really attempted a show that is this free with the structure of it. But I think it's going to be a ton of fun, and it's family friendly. There are jokes in there for all ages."

The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Tickets range from $10 to $20, and are available online at cloverdaleplayhouse.org or by calling 334-262-1530.

The cast of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) rehearses at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.
The cast of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) rehearses at Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. Three actors play multiple roles to tell many stories of Christmas in one performance.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at sheupel@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Cloverdale Playhouse offers a lifetime of Christmas roles in one play