'A Christmas Memory'

The dramatic art of oral interpretation, or readers theater, has been around a long time, and its growing popularity is due to its ease, accessibility and flexibility.

“You can take whatever written word you want and make a readers theater out of it,” said Jennifer March, executive director and founder of the newly formed Petaluma Readers Theatre. “The concept of oral interpretation has been around a long time. You can use any kind of literature for it — poetry, plays and short stories.”

March first encountered oral interpretation while in high school, where she participated in competitive dramatic interpretation camps. Her interest in readers theater grew as a drama student in college and has stayed with her.

“It’s always been my first love,” she said. “It’s my favorite form of theater because it’s open and there’s so much you can do with it.”

Traditional simple readers theater is very basic. There are no costumes, scenery or props to deal with, which makes it a very portable form of theater.

In simple readers theater, the performers are usually seated on stools, dressed in black and have music stands in front of them with the script.

“The dramatic interpretation is all from the waist up,” said March. “They can use gesturing, but no miming. It’s a less intimidating form of theater. It’s simple and you can do it anywhere.”

March added that there are two other kinds of readers theater styles: staged readings and chamber theater.

“With staged readings, the readers are more involved and can either sit or stand,” she said. “Chamber theater has a lot more freedom. The readers can walk around, use a prop or scenery and even wear costumes, but they are still holding the script.”

For the past several years, March has been working at getting a readers theater group started in Petaluma.

“It’s been my dream to start a readers theater for a long time,” said March. “I tried to start one a few times, but it didn’t take off. So, I’ve gotten more involved in theater in the area, the Petaluma Poetry Walk and even with the Five-Minute Plays. I made some connections in theater in the area and found people interested in doing a readers theater. This time, it’s really going somewhere.”

While it has taken some time, Petaluma Readers Theater has finally gotten off the ground and is debuting this month with a simple reading of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory.”

“A friend of mine read ‘A Christmas Memory’ to me one winter and I knew I wanted to do it,” said March. “I found out that another readers theater company had a script for it, so I got it and have been holding on to it for a year and a half until we could put it together.”

“A Christmas Memory” tells the story of Capote’s younger years growing up in the rural South during the Depression. Living with his cousin, Capote remembers back to when he was about 10 years old, and it was suddenly decided that it was fruitcake weather. Sharing stories about the task of baking 30 cakes for mostly far-away friends and other rituals of Christmastime make Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” nostalgic and touching.

“It’s perfect for readers theater,” said March. “Capote writes so beautifully and paints such beautiful pictures with words.”

Show times for “A Christmas Memory” are 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4 and 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at Pelican Art Gallery, 143 Petaluma Blvd. North. The Dec. 11 show is a benefit for Mentor Me Petaluma. Tickets are $12.

For tickets and information aboutbecoming involved with Petaluma Readers Theater, visit www.hazelstage.com/readerstheatre.

(Contact Yovanna Bieberich at yovanna.bieberich@arguscourier.com)