Capote’s wintry words

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
lbianchi@thecitizennews.com

Tom Key’s Reader’s Theatre returns

In crisp and clear prose, Truman Capote immortalized his elderly cousin’s simple world seen through the eyes of a seven year old boy in the classic holiday offering, “A Christmas Memory.” Filled with wonderful details concerning the baking of 30 fruitcakes, the humble reality of an unnamed woman in her late sixties sheds a unique light on the sprit of giving.

Tom Key, best known for his rendition of “The Cotton Patch Gospel” lends his voice to a reader’s theatre production of Capote’s holiday bookends, “A Christmas Memory” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor.” This holiday event runs through Christmas Eve at the Theatrical Outfit’s recently opened Balzer Theater at Herren’s in downtown Atlanta. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. tonight and tomorrow. A 2;30 p.m. show is set for Christmas Eve. and tickets are available for $37 each.

Enjoy the evocative retelling of a young boy in Alabama named Buddy’s memoir of Christmas in the rural South/ Buddy’s poignant and often amusing recollection of gathering pecans and buying whiskey for a Christmas fruitcake recipe you will never forget.

The addition of “The Thanksgiving Visitor” shares another memory with Buddy, this time with Miss Sook and an unpleasant little boy named Odd. It’s a great pairing of two beloved holidays and one great voice.

The Balzer Theater at Herren’s is located at 84 Luckie Street in Atlanta. For more information phone 404-577-5257 or visit theatricaloutfit.org.

WHAT: Tom Key reads “A Christmas Memory” and “A Thanksgiving Visitor”