Lydia Burke and Michael Witten from The Hampstead Stage Company, in Barnstead, New Hampshire, performed to a packed crowd at the Sunflower Theatre on Saturday afternoon.
They performed a classic Christmas tale, “A Christmas Carol” as a two-person show.
They interacted with the crowd while putting a comedic spin on the classic story and brought three children from the audience onstage to play a part.
“The event went well, this is the first traveling theatre performance the library has brought in for a Christmas show,” Desiree Henderson, Sunflower Theatre director, said in an email. “I think the family events at Christmas are usually popular.”
This performance was a collaboration with the Sunflower Theatre and the Cortez Public Library.
Eric Ikenouye, Cortez Public Library Director, thought the performance went well and looks forward to creating a holiday tradition in Cortez.
“I would like to see this become a tradition that can become a part of the kick off to the holiday season here in Cortez,” Ikenouye said. “I got really positive feedback from people as they were leaving.”
After the original scheduled show at 3 p.m. sold out so quickly, the library, Sunflower Theatre and Hamstead Stage Company worked together to schedule an additional show earlier in the afternoon.
Burke and Witten took questions from the audience after the 3 p.m. show and answered questions from the audience.
One of the main questions was how their jobs as traveling performers worked.
“They explained they have an audition process in N.Y., and they spend three weeks’ work, shopping different plays. And then they are split up into teams, and they have different regions,” Ikenouye said.
It was both of the performers’ first time in Colorado.
