Lincoln County Community Theater

On Saturday, December 20^that 2 pm and again at 7 pm, Lincoln Theater in downtown Damariscotta will proudly re-create, live on stage, The Lux Radio Theater version of The Miracle on 34^th Street.  With thanks to HM Payson, the show is the 2014 holiday gift to the community from the theater and all are invited to find out if Kris Kringle is indeed Santa Claus.

Lux Radio Theatre was a long-run classic radio anthology series broadcast from 1934 through 1955. Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences. The series became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years and continued on television as the Lux Video Theatre through most of the 1950s.

Lux Radio Theatre strove to feature as many of the original stars of the original stage and film productions as possible. In 1936, when sponsor Lever Brothers (who made Lux soap and detergent) moved the show from New York City to Hollywood, the program began to emphasize adaptations of films rather than plays.  One of its most popular, the Miracle on 34th Street, was first broadcast on December 22, 1947, and performed again Christmas week 1948.  It featured the film’s original stars,including Maureen O’Hara, John Payne and Edmund Gwenn.

Lincoln Theater is pleased to have drawn the "Lux Radio Readers” from across the region, including: Bruce Babb (Pemaquid), Tyson Bailey (Alna), Andy Barber (Woolwich), Mary Charbonnet (Damariscotta), Michael Feldmann (Boothbay Harbor), Andrew Fenniman (Chamberlain), Emme Harris (Southport), Sarah Harris (Southport), Susan Hodder (Boothbay Harbor), Jackson Ross (West Boothbay)Bill Vaughan (Newcastle), Stephen Wallace (Newcastle), Charlie Waterman (Damariscotta). Barbara Bruno (Wiscasset) who captured hearts and laughs as the narrator for LCCT’s production of HMS Pinafore, returns as our host.  The Kringle Quartet – Kyle Aarons (Portland), Andy Barber, Devin Dukes (Portland) and Nancy Durgin (Wiscasset) – will be on hand to entertain and enjoin the audience in a carol sing-a-long.  The show, directed by John Mulcahy (Chamberlain), with technical direction by Jim Buckingham (Bristol) and production assistance by Jennifer True (Cushing), is bound to entertain young and old alike.

While the event is free, tickets may be picked up in advance at the theater office (open Tue-Fri 11 am to 2 pm) and will be available at the door on a first come, first served basis.  For additional information, please call the theater at 563-3424.  Please come enjoy this family friendly holiday classic and celebrate the season at Lincoln Theater.

Lincoln County Community Theater, the resident theater company of Damariscotta’s Lincoln Theater, is pleased to announce its new series "Sundays Without Scenery: Actors, A Script, and Your Imagination.” "Sundays Without Scenery,” which will usually take place on the final Sunday of each month,  will offer a reading of a contemporary play, which may or may not go on to become a full scale production at the theater.  The actors will have rehearsed, a stage manager will set the scene, and the audience's imagination will fill in the rest as they listen to the spoken text. LCCT’s goal is to provide opportunities for more actors and directors to "hit the boards” without requiring our hard-working but limited stage crew to have the responsibility of mounting each piece as a fully-staged production. Each reading will be followed by a "talk-back” with the actors and the director to allow discussion of the play and to assess interest in whether we might pursue a full-scale production. 

Other titles being considered for the series include "Heroes,” adapted from Gérald Sibleyras' "Le Vent des Peupliers” by acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard, Donald Margulies "Dinner with Friends,” Nora Ephron’s "Love, Loss and What I Wore,” Jeffrey Hatcher’s "Miss Mannerly,” and Jon Robin Baitz’s "Other Desert Cities.”