For those residing in the USA, this week is Thanksgiving week. This is the time where people gather together to socialize, catch up on various things and events that were not posted through social media platforms, and of course, eat like there is no tomorrow!
This season as celebrated in the USA and its territories has been the focused upon within the media for longer that one may realize. In many TV shows and feature films, the depiction of this holiday has been projected between as sweet and charming, to a source of major comic relief–mostly focusing upon the latter!
For many folks, the fiction part tends to reflect upon the reality toward such a gathering. A lot of these same folks tend to use family as a basis for getting together. (“Family” in this case, means people that are related to one another through birth, marriage, or other forms of relations based upon current legal standings!) Many family member do get along, always pleased to see one another in person when such face-to-face meetings are not necessarily possible. Others just tolerate each other, holding some kind of dispute that was never settled in some form of methods. The rest can’t stand one another, latching on to a medium that will never be resolved through reasons only know to one another. These grudges could have lasted for longer that expected from weeks to decades!
But this article isn’t about how family at a Thanksgiving get together tends to duke it out with one another. Those scenes can be viewed in a number of feature films (Home For The Holidays, The Ice House, etc.) as well as isolated episodes found in a number of sitcoms. (Waaay too many titles to list here!) But the whole process of this holiday kicks of the last six weeks of the calendar years where Thanksgiving is one of three holidays (maybe four or five) that occur between later November through January 6th.
Before we continue, this article stresses upon what is commerated within the USA boundaries. In Canada, Thanksgiving Day occurred last October 14th, the same day that that holiday referred to as Columbus Day and/or Indigenous Peoples Day lands on. (Now you know!!)
Anyway, let’s get back to the story. There are many methods to celebrate this time of giving thanks! For a number of seasons, many of the lifestyle magazines that catered toward home making and home keeping would offer tips on staging such a Thanksgiving based gathering through the use of decor, table setting placement, and of course, how to prepare the meal. Titles ranging from Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, and Family Circle would have their November issues chock full of pictures and descriptions of how to pull off these stunts. And the November issue of Family Circle will become its last hurrah for Thanksgiving ideas as its parent company, Meredith Corporation, announced that the December Christmas/Holiday edition of FC will be its last as it ends its print run after 87 years!
Thanks to the online world that is known to anyone over the age of two, one can find plenty of those same ideas and suggestions throughout cyberspace. Some of these ideas are traditional, while others ranges from unique to totally off kilter. But this is the early 21st century, so some of those classic and traditional rules don’t necessarly apply!
And even how people gather has taken a change over the recent years. Because of the chance (threat?) of possible family fights and disputes that take place around the dinner table (assuming that there is a dinner table to gather around), many folks have “adapted” family members to meet for Thanksgiving. These people are personal friends that are not necessarily related to one another. They can be friends that are actually pleased to be with one another! These form of holiday gatherings have been dubbed “Frendsgiving” where they mimic a traditional family Thanksgiving session, except those meeting are there by personal choice and suggestion. These same gatherings are also treaded as potlucks, where attendees bring a dish (main and/or side) that are designed to be shared by everyone in attendance. And such Friendsgiving events are popular to the Millennials and Gen-Z aged crowd. Those are folks younger that 40, are not necessarily legally married, and stress their food options in more of a serious and accepted matter. The turkey main dish may not even be a “real” turkey! It could be a vegan-style food. And even the side dishes may cater to certain food-based lifestyles. (Vegan, gluten free, etc.) This way, everyone attending would be satisfied since those same folks are present because they want to be together, rather than being there through circumstance.
Of course, this writer can continue upon other Thanksgiving based traditions, from having the TV device on all that day so those football fans and view three games back-to-back. (Check your local listings for game times and channel!) Or to the notion of folks taking pictures with their phone devices to later post throughout the usual social media platforms for all to view and admire. Whatever the case, Thanksgiving is a time where one should pause to give thanks for those elements that make up part of a domestic life and style.
So here’s to you dear readers! We do wish our thanks to you for all of the events and happenings that occurred since the last time we paused to give our thanks, or “thanx” using a bit of creative license!
PS..we do know about the Black Friday thing. However, Black Friday started last July, when the folks at Amazon offered free shipping day(s)! It may not have been “Black Friday” per se, but it sure placed the biggest invisible retailer “in the black”!
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NEWS AND REVIEWS
Continuing its run at the Antaeus Theatre Company of Glendale is the world premier of Jennifer Maisel’s EIGHT NIGHTS, a drama about one woman’s journey of an existence from her darker past and she moves towards a present state of being, all taking place during a festive seasonal eight day celebration.
The story focuses upon Rebecca Blum. She is a German Jewish woman who becomes a refugee extracted from the tensions in her native homeland during World War II. The story opens during the period of Hanukkah, 1949. Rebecca arrives to a humble apartment located in New York City’s lower east side at age 19 resided by her father Erich (Arye Gross). She was once inside of a death camp run by the Nazis, yet she survived. Her siblings and mother were not as lucky. The story moves forward through a number of decades. As Rebecca matures, she experiences a domestic life living within her Jewish community, from her marriage with Arron (Josh Zukerman), the birth of her daughter Amy (Zoe Yale), her daughter’s marriage to son-in-law Steve (Devin Kawaoka), the birth of her granddaughter Nina (Zoe Yale), and those that became “adapted” family: Benjamin (Christopher Watson), and his wife Arlene (Karen Malina White). Through the many years from one Hanukkah season to another, Rebecca attempts to recall her past life as she still struggles to live for the time of the present, long after those in her life have come and gone through many trials and tribulations.
This is a play that gives emphasis to a sole woman that has seen more personal visions and exposers in her many years through being a devoted spirit of the Jewish persuasion, and how those visions were linked to those around her as to the period of the eight nights of Hanukkah. Two performers appear as Rebecca during the stages of her life. Zoe Yale plays the lead as a younger woman. Tessa Auberjonois is Rebecca as a more mature being. Each episode in her timeline shows how she escapes what she went through while living in Germany and how the people that were not blood family holds a common bond to what she had faced. The drama shown during the performance can become tense at times, yet it never loses the grip of the sense of hope and forgiveness, even if that hope becomes positioned within an apprehensive state of consciousness.
The cast of the six other players, some appearing in multiple roles, work well with one another that do reflect for the life and times of Rebecca, thanks to Emily Chase’s stage direction. It tells these episodes as a single act play. Unlike other single acts that can wrap up a story line within a hour’s time, this performance holds a length of one hour, forty minutes. And unlike other stage sets that present itself without an intermission, this play keeps its pacing without the break of any continuity whatsoever. With such passing, an intermission isn’t necessary and rightly so.
Edward E. Haynes Jr’s scenic design shows the apartment where the entire play takes place. Unlike a so-called basic dwelling unit that existed throughout Manhattan’s lower east side, it’s a place that is well kept for what it is. Alex Jaeger’s costuming reflects the era of each period installment with a touch of staying modern for its time frame.
EIGHT NIGHTS is a play that stretches through its eight nights over a near seventy year prolonged time frame. It may be a long journey of space, but it’s a virtual trip that looks back with remembrance as it peaks forward with better intentions.
EIGHT NIGHTS, presented by the Antaeus Theatre Company, and performs at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 East Broadway (at Brand Blvd.), Glendale, until December 16th. Showtimes are Friday, Saturday, and Monday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 PM. No performance on November 25th.
For ticket reservations or for more information, call (818) 506-1983, or via online at http://www.Antaeus.org
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Angel City Chorale will present their annual holiday concert STARRY STARRY NIGHT, a seasonal celebration that will include its standard concert performance & an audience participation sing-a-long.
Founded and lead by Sue Fink serving as artistic director, this concert will feature a selection of cherished songs that speak for the festive occasions that fall within the month of December. The diverse playlist will offer musical offerings ranging from classical, traditional, contemporary popular, rhythm & blues, gospel, and all points in between.
Traditional selections presented consist of Vivaldi’s Domine Fili Unigenite, the Jewish hymn Hine Ma Tov, the Spanish carol/villancicos Los Peces en el Rio
and the west coast premier of the Swahili seasonal number Njooni Waaminifu, an original piece composed by ACC favorite Christopher Tin.
For those that desire seasonal tunes extracted from big screen favorites, The Home Alone Suite composed by John Williams will be featured, along with the soulful Joy With Joy to the World from The Preacher’s Wife, When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt, and a melody of songs taken from such films as Meet Me in St. Louis and White Christmas.
The chorale consists of an ensemble of 180+ voices that as just as diverse as to what the season speaks for. Male and female voices blend with those that are from all faiths, backgrounds and lifestyles. Along with the voices is a full orchestral company that will provide the musical interludes that make this chorale group a time-tested audience favorite
STARRY STARRY NIGHT, will perform at the acoustically perfect Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles (Koreatown) 90010 for two performance: Saturday, December 7st, and Sunday, December 8th. Both performances take place at 7:30 PM.
For tickets and for more information on all concerts, as well as for the Angel City Chorale, visit ACC’s presence on the web at https://angelcitychorale.org
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On behalf of the staff and management of Accessibly Live Off-Line, we wish each and everyone one of our readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.
We’ll see you for our next edition coming in the next week!
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