EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE
Now Playing: Holiday Memories
December 2009
John HaynesDear Friends,
The holidays are a time for memories – for shiny memories from our past and for the storing up of new ones for the future. I think that for most people, each Thanksgiving, or Hanukah, or Christmas is really a collage of holidays past that gets richer year by year, as the memories stack up and become the fabric of what we mean when we say "Happy Holidays."
For many of us, a darkened theatre and a bright stage frame at least a few of those wonderful memories. My personal holiday collage includes many great performances, of course. But just as rich are the memories of my kids performing in pageants and choirs and my own star turn as a seven-year-old, gift-bearing Wise Man (I carried the myrrh). As a young boy, I spent many a Christmas Eve under the cold, crystalline night sky at Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico, joining the procession as it left the chapel of San Geronimo and wound its way between massive bonfires, following a statue of the Virgin Mary carried aloft by men singing in Spanish and Tiwa – with Matachines dancers and their drummers following after – and flinching as the old men fired their rifles into the sky in celebration, the air dense with smoke, and sparks, and excitement. This was my memorable introduction to theatre.
For a few months every year – as the days get shorter and the nights get longer – there is music, pageantry, and dancing in our schools, parading in the streets, in churches, even in our shopping centers. Stages everywhere light up in celebration of the season, of our traditions, and of our wonderful diversity. Holiday performances create memories that burn brightly through the years and become part of both our personal and our communal stories. It's a season of plenty for arts audiences.
As a performing arts professional, I've had the joy of presenting holiday shows for several decades, and that's a special well of memories all its own. I once attended eight performances of The Nutcracker in six days, and it took a month to get "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" out of my head! During my years as Executive Director of the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, we commissioned and produced the musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It became our signature holiday piece, went on to Broadway – where it out-grossed Wicked – and is playing right now at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. I hope that one day The Grinch will become a holiday tradition at PACE and a cherished memory for Eastside audiences.
In the meantime, and since our stage isn't quite ready yet, I want to encourage you to enjoy yourselves at a performance somewhere else during the holidays. The organizations that will perform at PACE – and those that continue to support and encourage us – deserve your support and encouragement now. Let them help create your holiday memories with an unforgettable performance, a family event, or a night out with friends.
Pacific Northwest Ballet presents its legendary production of a legendary ballet, the Kent Stowell/Maurice Sendak Nutcracker, onstage at McCaw Hall. Closer to home, our friends at International Ballet Theatre perform their Nutcracker at Meydenbauer Center, with soloists, sets, and costumes straight from Russia, with love. The Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra and Bellevue Chamber Chorus join forces for Handel's "Messiah" at Westminster Chapel on December 20. Seattle Symphony offers several holiday delights, including Beethoven's monumental "Ninth Symphony" on New Year's Eve. Since I always wanted to be Peter Pan (and once commissioned a Christmas-themed, musical adaptation of the play), I'm especially attracted to the Seattle Children's Theatre production running now through January 10th. Maybe my daughter will take me!! And, of course, Scrooge is back for another epic struggle with past, present, and future in ACT's wonderful production of A Christmas Carol.
These are just a few of the treats available during the holidays. I hope you will give yourselves the gift of performance this year. I look forward more eagerly than you can imagine to the day when PACE can give that gift to you. In the meantime, bless you all for the many gifts you have given us as we continue the campaign to build a world-class performing arts center on the Eastside.
Warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year,
