November 14-15, 2008 is Fruitcake Festival Weekend in Monroeville!
Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal to perform Capote's "A Christmas Memory" in Monroeville, Alabama
Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal and Broadway actor Joel Vig will present a dramatic reading of Truman Capote's enduring holiday classic "A Christmas Memory" Friday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., at the Old Courthouse Museum in Monroeville, Ala. Tickets are $35. The event is sponsored by the Monroe County Heritage Museums' Endowment Fund.
Capote's tender tale of family, friendship and fruitcakes is set in Monroeville just a few blocks from the Courthouse Square on South Alabama Avenue where Capote spent his childhood with elderly cousins, the Faulks. The short story has become one of Capote's most popular works and is his most autobiographical. His cousin Sook Faulk, whom he describes as his best friend, was shy and awkward - a misfit much like Capote. They formed a bond that Capote cherished throughout his life.
Patricia Neal's performance is part of Monroeville's Fruitcake Festival, a celebration of Capote and the holiday dessert immortalized in his classic story. In the 1930s, when Capote's "A Christmas Memory" is set, fruitcakes were the queen on the holiday dessert table. Now, however, the often-maligned fruitcake is more likely the punch line of holiday jokes. Monroeville is working to revive the Southern tradition with fruitcake sales and auctions, recipe exchanges, Capote-related Christmas gifts and even a fruitcake toss on the courthouse lawn.
The Fruitcake Festival, Nov. 14-15, is held in conjunction with Mockingbird Market, a holiday shopping fair with more than 50 vendors displaying their wares around the historic Courthouse Square.
"Patricia Neal and Joel Vig have won acclaim for their performances of 'A Christmas Memory' in New York, New Orleans and around the nation, but we're especially glad to bring them to Monroeville where Truman's nostalgic story takes place," said event chairperson Cindy Kennedy. "Truman spent his childhood right around the square, and this sentimental connection and the amazing talent of Patricia Neal will make this a very special evening."
A star of stage and screen, Patricia Neal won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1964 for her Patricia Neal & Joel Vig performance with Paul Newman in Hud. Her film career includes starring roles opposite Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. She received a Tony Award for Best Actress in Another Part of the Forest and starred in Broadway productions of The Children's Hour, A Roomful of Roses, Suddenly Last Summer and The Miracle Worker. Joel Vig was an original cast member of the Broadway hit musical Hairspray. In addition to his accomplishments as an actor, Vig has written and directed a number of productions, including this adaptation of "A Christmas Memory."
Those attending the performance will be able to spend some time in the museum's Capote exhibit which weaves photos, letters and memorabilia together to paint a fascinating portrait of Capote's early life in Monroeville. The exhibit has a number of items on display that relate directly to "A Christmas Memory."
"Truman maintained his devotion to Sook throughout his life, and we are honored to display Sook's housecoat and the baby blanket she made for him," museum director Jane Ellen Clark said. "Truman kept Sook's blanket with him his entire life and even traveled with it, including on his last trip to California where he died in 1984."
The Nov. 14 performance will be followed by a reception for Patricia Neal that will, of course, include fruitcake. For tickets or information, contact the museum at 251-575-7433 or mchm@frontiernet.net. The musuem's Web address is tokillamockingbird.com
Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal and Broadway actor Joel Vig will present a dramatic reading of Truman Capote's enduring holiday classic "A Christmas Memory" Friday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., at the Old Courthouse Museum in Monroeville, Ala. Tickets are $35. The event is sponsored by the Monroe County Heritage Museums' Endowment Fund.
Capote's tender tale of family, friendship and fruitcakes is set in Monroeville just a few blocks from the Courthouse Square on South Alabama Avenue where Capote spent his childhood with elderly cousins, the Faulks. The short story has become one of Capote's most popular works and is his most autobiographical. His cousin Sook Faulk, whom he describes as his best friend, was shy and awkward - a misfit much like Capote. They formed a bond that Capote cherished throughout his life.
Patricia Neal's performance is part of Monroeville's Fruitcake Festival, a celebration of Capote and the holiday dessert immortalized in his classic story. In the 1930s, when Capote's "A Christmas Memory" is set, fruitcakes were the queen on the holiday dessert table. Now, however, the often-maligned fruitcake is more likely the punch line of holiday jokes. Monroeville is working to revive the Southern tradition with fruitcake sales and auctions, recipe exchanges, Capote-related Christmas gifts and even a fruitcake toss on the courthouse lawn.
The Fruitcake Festival, Nov. 14-15, is held in conjunction with Mockingbird Market, a holiday shopping fair with more than 50 vendors displaying their wares around the historic Courthouse Square.
"Patricia Neal and Joel Vig have won acclaim for their performances of 'A Christmas Memory' in New York, New Orleans and around the nation, but we're especially glad to bring them to Monroeville where Truman's nostalgic story takes place," said event chairperson Cindy Kennedy. "Truman spent his childhood right around the square, and this sentimental connection and the amazing talent of Patricia Neal will make this a very special evening."
A star of stage and screen, Patricia Neal won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1964 for her Patricia Neal & Joel Vig performance with Paul Newman in Hud. Her film career includes starring roles opposite Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. She received a Tony Award for Best Actress in Another Part of the Forest and starred in Broadway productions of The Children's Hour, A Roomful of Roses, Suddenly Last Summer and The Miracle Worker. Joel Vig was an original cast member of the Broadway hit musical Hairspray. In addition to his accomplishments as an actor, Vig has written and directed a number of productions, including this adaptation of "A Christmas Memory."
Those attending the performance will be able to spend some time in the museum's Capote exhibit which weaves photos, letters and memorabilia together to paint a fascinating portrait of Capote's early life in Monroeville. The exhibit has a number of items on display that relate directly to "A Christmas Memory."
"Truman maintained his devotion to Sook throughout his life, and we are honored to display Sook's housecoat and the baby blanket she made for him," museum director Jane Ellen Clark said. "Truman kept Sook's blanket with him his entire life and even traveled with it, including on his last trip to California where he died in 1984."
The Nov. 14 performance will be followed by a reception for Patricia Neal that will, of course, include fruitcake. For tickets or information, contact the museum at 251-575-7433 or mchm@frontiernet.net. The musuem's Web address is tokillamockingbird.com
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