LOGAN – A preview of Christmas in Montpelier was offered to a by-invitation-only crowd at the Caine Lyric Theatre in downtown Logan on Nov. 19.
That audience – a mixture of the Utah Public Radio Producers’ Circle, patrons of the Lyric Repertory Company and donors to the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University – responded enthusiastically to the advance peek at the upcoming holiday show.
Christmas in Montpelier will be based on USU celebrity historian F. Ross Peterson’s holiday recollections from his Idaho childhood published in 2020.
That production, adapted from the original text by former teacher, community activist and UPR producer Mary Heers, will be performed as a one-man show by Richie Call, the artistic director of the Lyric company and chairman of the USU Theatre Arts Department.
Speaking candidly to the Lyric audience, the author confessed that he was “damn nervous” about the upcoming production.
Peterson explained that his earliest recollections are of Christmas in 1945, when he was only four years old. Aided by that phenomenal memory, he has been collecting holiday stories and memories since his teen years, but did not begin the process of writing them down until 1999.
At USU, Peterson is recognized as among the most beloved American history teachers ever to step inside a university classroom. Several generations of students have voted him their favorite instructor and a fair number became teachers themselves, thanks to his influence.
In its published form, “Christmas in Montpelier” offers a beguiling look into Peterson’s early life, where his wry humor, work ethic and kindness were honed.
The book focuses on 12 Christmases that come to life as he grows from a small boy in a hardscrabble farmhouse with no running water to one of the nation’s most honored educators.
With exactly zero experience adapting a book for the stage, Ms. Heers borrowed from the wit and wisdom on actor Hal Holbrook, who built an acting career on his marvelous one-man show about humorist Mark Twain.
“Holbrook’s formula for a one-man show was to first make the audience laugh, then offer some social commentary and finally to just tell a story,” Ms. Heers explained at the preview. “I thought I could do that.”
But her most important objective in adapting “Christmas in Montpelier” for the stage was to preserve the integrity of Peterson’s voice in the text of the script.
An alumna of Stanford University who has wholeheartedly transferred her alliance to USU since moving to Cache Valley, Ms. Heers has had a big impact since arriving here.
After adding a degree in theatre arts and a teaching certificate from USU to her BS in Psychology from Stanford, Mary Heers served as a beloved teacher and drama coach at Preston High School; a thespian; a philanthropist; and the keeper of a small animal menagerie in Mendon that includes three water buffaloes.
Ms. Heers also worked as a creative arts instructor at USU for six years; volunteered as a docent for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City; and is currently a part-time producer for Utah Public Radio.
Finally, Call took the stage to offer a sample of Ms. Heers’ work and Peterson’s recollections.
In a section of the script entitled “Friends and Misdeeds,” Call recaptured a witty misadventure from 1956 where a 15-year-old Peterson was the culprit of a thoughtless prank and learned a lesson – sort of.
The upcoming presentations of Christmas in Montpelier will serve as a benefit for the “Applaud the Tradition” capital campaign, according to Nick Morrison, the dean of the Caine College of the Arts.
The ultimate goal of that fund-raising effort will be the full restoration of the Caine Lyric Theatre to year-round use.
Evening performances of Christmas in Montpelier are slated for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6; Saturday, Dec. 7; Monday, Dec. 9; Thursday. Dec. 12; Friday, Dec. 13; and Saturday, Dec. 14.
Matinee performances will be presented at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Saturday, Dec. 14.
The Caine Lyric Theatre is located at 28 West Center Street in downtown Logan.