The Long Christmas Ride Home

Paula Vogel

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9781559367141
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

* The Signature Theatre Company (New York, NY), will dedicate its entre 2004-05 season to producing Vogel's work. “When theatregoers talk about a play as a religious experience, they usually just mean that it had charismatic performances or some exciting dance numbers. It’s like fashion editors using divine to describe a nice sweater. But in The Long Christmas Ride Home...Paula Vogel is not indulging in such hyperbole. She means her play to be a religious experience in the way that a Christmas Mass might be for committed Roman Catholics: an exalted communal ritual of redemption and solace…It’s enough to make even die-hard agnostics believe, at least for an instant, in the mystical powers of drama.”—Ben Brantley, The New York Times

the long christmas ride home

production history

The Long Christmas Ride Home received its world premiere in a co-production by Long Wharf Theatre (Gordon Edelstein, Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Managing Director) in New Haven, Connecticut, and Trinity Repertory Company (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Edgar Dobie, Managing Director) in Providence, Rhode Island, where it opened on May 16, 2003. It was directed by Oskar Eustis; the set design was by Loy Arcenas, the lighting design was by Pat Collins; the sound design was by Darron L. West, the choreography was by Donna Uchizono, the puppet design was by Basil Twist, the costume design was by William Lane and the stage manager was Jennifer Sturch. The cast was as follows:

STEPHEN	Stephen Thorne
MAN	Timothy Crowe
WOMAN	Anne Scurria
REBECCA	Rachael Warren
CLAIRE	Angela Brazil
MINISTER/DANCER	Seán Martin Hingston
PUPPETEERS	Joshua Boggioni, Joanna Cole,
	Virginia Eckert, Andy Gaukel,
	Maya Parra, Paul Ricciardi,
MUSICIAN	Sumie Kaneko

It was produced at Long Wharf Theatre on January 21, 2004, with the following changes:

REBECCA	Chelsea Altman
MINISTER/DANCER	Julio Monge
PUPPETEERS	Kate Artibee, Candice Burridge,
	Oliver Dalzell, Andy Gaukel,
	Megan LaChance, Jessica Scott

The Long Christmas Ride Home was produced by Vineyard Theatre (Douglas Aibel, Artistic Director; Bardo S. Ramírez, Managing Director; Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell, Executive Director) in New York City, on November 4, 2003. It was directed by Mark Brokaw; the set design was by Neil Patel, the lighting design was by Mark McCullough; the original music and sound design were by David Van Tieghem, the puppet design was by Basil Twist, the costume design was by Jess Goldstein, the projection design was by Jan Hartley and the stage manager was Michael McGoff. The cast was as follows:

STEPHEN	Will McCormack
MAN	Mark Blum
WOMAN	Randy Graff
REBECCA	Catherine Kellner
CLAIRE	Enid Graham
MINISTER/DANCER	Sean Palmer
PUPPETEERS	Matthew Acheson, Oliver Dalzell,
	Erin K. Orr, Mark Petrosino,
	Sarah Provost, Lake Simons,
MUSICIAN	Luke Notary

notes on the play

This play is a fusion of a one-act play and Bunraku puppet theatre techniques—or more importantly, of one Westerner’s misunderstanding of Bunraku. The misunderstanding is key.

In terms of production style, I’d appreciate it if directors would read the one-act plays of Thornton Wilder for guidance: The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, Pullman Car Hiawatha and The Long Christmas Dinner. The set for this play, in homage to these works, should be simple, elegant, bare. One could use short stools or chairs to one side of the stage for the two narrators; one could use an elevated bench, let’s say, for the backseat of the car, so that we can see the puppe...