L’ARC EN CIEL THEATRE GROUP, in its 56th year under the direction of Paul and Angie Lowe, presents the Indiana premiere of an original Christmas comedy, with the permission from former LCTG mid-90’s theatre student Paul Storiale who penned, directed, and even performed in the crazy comedy during several Christmas seasons at the NoHo Theatre in North Hollywood, California. Storiale even rewrote parts of his original piece for his former directors and met with them in early November to adapt parts of the show, including the ending. It’s just a zany piece performed now by a local group of talented and energetic actors who came along for this silly ride ! LCTG notes this show is PG 13 recommended, not for the easily offended, but language isn’t really an issue.
Dysfunctional Family Christmas deals with the Logans, a Hoosier family, who have invited their 3 grown “kids” to spend one final Christmas in their family home in Indianapolis before the home is sold and the parents move to Florida. None of the kids have been home for 3 years as they’ve gone their own ways , but Mom and Dad have planned one final family bash for the holiday. With every family, of course, anything can happen, but with this family, it usually does! Add to the fray is the Grandpa who now lives with and irritates his own son and his wife. It happens that Grandpa “expires’ on Christmas Eve morning, and the parents jump in to keep the sad news from the kids, hiding him in various places around the house. However, no matter how hard they try, Grandpa still seems to have other plans to further complicate things. Add to this mix a nosy neighbor who only aggravates the whole situation, and the whole Christmas holiday is up for grabs and giggles.
Veteran LCTG performers Lynette Estes (Dyer) and Dean Johanson (Griffith) team up to play the control-freak parents Joanne and Dean Logan, whose daughter and two sons, Christine, Adam, and Braden have been invited to come home for one last Christmas in the family home before the parents sell and move to Florida. The kids know they’ll be facing and reliving their rocky childhoods, in spite of their mom’s best intentions.
Daughter Christine, a medical student who is supposed to bring her fiancé, a fellow med student, home to meet the parents, decides not to come, adding more to her mom’s anxiety. She does text Mom from time to time with welcome news. Sons Adam and Braden come home from Chicago and New York City respectively, each bringing a girl onto the scene.
James Rhoten, Highland, plays first-born son Adam, an opportunistic fellow who trades on his vitality and good looks to get ahead. His “date” for Christmas is a naïve, unsuspecting Katie Galloway, played by Miriam Lung, St John.
Youngest son Braden, a wannabe actor, brings home his friend and roommate Lila Davis who lets him stay with her in her Greenwich Village loft while they both appeared in an off-Broadway production, possibly bound for Broadway after a preview run in the Village. Braden and Lila are portrayed by Justin Arvay (Schererville) and Elise Fedrick (stet) (Munster). LCTG welcomes Elise in her first show at Great Oaks.
Don Jones (Schererville) plays the irascible Grandpa whose presence is felt and seen throughout, while Linda Slankard (Cedar Lake) plays Mrs. B, the nosy neighbor, who knows much more than she lets on. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, but probably not nearly half as funny!
LCTG will present six performances of the DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY CHRISTMAS, but there are only three actual dinner shows for this run, given the busy time of year, and the welcome added holiday activities at the Great Oaks venue, 13109 S. Wicker Ave in Cedar Lake, Indiana.
The two Sunday dinner show matinees with 12:30 dinner and 2 pm show (December 11 and 18) always fill in fast, and, in fact, are already sold out, but the evening shows are all still available for all tickets. Opening Friday, December 9 is also a dinner show, with dinner at 6:30 and show at 8, and as of this writing, there is still a good number of tickets left for the opening. The other three non-dinner show-only performances still have ALL TIX available. Those are Saturday, December 10 as well as Friday and Saturday, December 16 and 17 with the show only at 8 pm.
Order your tickets today! Text Angie Lowe to order all tickets at 219.776.0888. Theatre seating is limited to 108 seats. Dinner show prices are $40 for adults (under 60) and $38 for seniors (60 and up). The show-only prices are $22 for adults and $20 for seniors.
The Lowes will always be grateful to the original Great Oaks owner Tom McAdams for allowing us to do theatre in the former swimming pool these past 17 years, as well as to the new owner Mike Kopec for keeping our LCTG THEATRE legacy going! We encourage everyone to come to Great Oaks too, to see all the newly remodeled surroundings! Great Oaks is a happening place!
