FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sharyn Turner
336.758.5580

or Sarah R. Smith
336.758.5524
 
 

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (December 7, 2011) –Reynolda House Museum of American Art will present the one-woman play "A Christmas Memory" on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. This year's performance will mark the museum's 25th anniversary of the play, adapted from the Truman Capote story. Admission is $8 for members and students, $12 for non-members.

There's a reason Reynolda House has presented "A Christmas Memory" for 25 years. This humble autobiographical story written by Capote never fails to stir personal memories and nostalgia for the real joys of the holiday season and remind us of the importance of spending time with family and loved ones, carrying on our own traditions. "A Christmas Memory," performed by Robin Voiers and adapted by William Voiers, has become an annual tradition for families in the Piedmont Triad.
Young Truman's morning proclamation, "It's fruitcake weather!" began a seasonal tradition of collecting leftover nuts from beneath the pecan trees in a nearby orchard.  Then there was the trip to the general store to redeem quarters, pennies, and dimes saved over the year in anticipation of purchasing candied fruits, aromatic spices, butter, sugar, flour, and whiskey. These were the necessary ingredients to bake 30 fruitcakes, which would be sent to local friends and complete strangers, even to President Roosevelt.

"It's been the backbone of my acting career these 25 years," said Voiers. "You can find a part of Miss Sook in everything I've done. Her lines go through my head constantly. It's the words, the words, the words. To be able to say these words (of Capote), it's an honor. I look forward to it every year."

To purchase tickets to the anniversary performance, please call 336.758.5150 or visit reynoldahouse.org for information about this and other holiday programs at Reynolda House.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art is one of the nation's premier American art museums, with masterpieces by Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keefe and Gilbert Stuart among its collection. Affiliated with Wake Forest University, Reynolda House features changing exhibitions, concerts, lectures, classes, film screenings, and other events. The museum is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the historic 1917 estate of Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband, Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolda House and adjacent Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village feature a spectacular public garden, dining, shopping and walking trails. For more information, please visit reynoldahouse.org or call 336.758.5150.

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