If you go
› What: “The Bench: A Christmas Story.”› When: 6:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, Dec. 1-2 and 7-9; 1:30 p.m. Dec. 10.› Where: Flo Summitt Theatre, Oak Street Playhouse, First-Centenary United Methodist Church, Oak and Lindsay streets (dinner in church’s Oak Street Center).› Admission: $25› For more information: 800-838-3006 (option 1)› Web: www.brownpapertickets.com (type in Oak Street Playhouse)
On every bench, in every mall, in every town, and especially during every Christmas season, a story lives.
One of those tales, "The Bench: A Christmas Story," will be offered by Oak Street Playhouse in its annual holiday dinner theater format beginning Friday, Dec. 1.
The play, by Larry Larson and Eddie Levi Lee, involves two strangers, Sam Jenkins and Jeff Carlson, waiting for their wives on a bench at AmeriMall, a fictitious shopping center, during the busy holiday season.
As the days draw closer to Christmas, the men - one older and one younger - meet several times, discuss life, talk over the vagaries of the season and encounter a number of unforgettable characters. In time, the audience learns one of the men is not quite who it thought he was.
Director Jerry Draper originally noticed "The Bench" as a selection in the Blue Ridge Community Theater's then-upcoming 2016 season and was intrigued. He found a copy of the script online, read it and brought it to the attention of the Chattanooga theater, which is located in the Flo Summitt Theatre in First-Centenary United Methodist Church.
"I liked the structure of the show - that several actors were playing a variety of roles," he said. "I like that there [is] an unexpected twist in the story, that it is the type of show our audiences appreciate and also that it has a music offering."
Over the weeks Jenkins and and Carlson - the men on the bench - meet, it becomes apparent the holidays aren't an uplifting and celebratory time for everyone.
"There are so many people who have difficult times during the holidays," Draper said. "They have [less than positive] things going on or they have had things going on. Many people can relate to that, [but] the fact it has a happy ending gives an uplift to people going through difficult times."
Although the men on the bench give the story its backbone, several memory scenes, mall jingles, songs and even a five-minute version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" provide additional color, laughs and interactions for the waiting pair.
"The writers have given us permission to make some adjustments and changes to localize references," Draper said, "so there will be some references people will recognize."
Carlton Thomas and James Lawson portray Jenkins and Carlson, respectively, and all the other characters are played by Kendra Gross, Michael Myers, Teralyn Wade and Joey Winslett.
Tickets must be purchased in advance. No tickets will be sold at the door.