"The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley" at Lyric Arts

The Christmas at Pemberley play series by Lauren Gunderson and Margo Melcon has become a new #TCTheater holiday* tradition. The playwrights have taken the characters and relationships from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and continued them on into the following years. These plays came to us first through the Jungle Theater, which produced Miss Bennet (focusing on bookish sister Mary) in 2017 to such success that they co-commissioned a sequel, The Wickhams (about Lydia after her elopement with Mr. Wickham), premiering in 2018. After a pandemic pause, they brought us the third play (another co-commissioned rolling world premiere) Georgiana and Kitty (focusing on the friendship between Mr. Darcy's sister and a forgotten Bennet sister) just last year. Also last year, Lyric Arts wisely jumped on this bandwagon, producing the first play in the series, Miss Bennet. This year they're continuing the story with the second play, The Wickhams, the events of which happen concurrently with those of Miss Bennet. One can only hope they'll complete the trilogy next year with Georgiana and Kitty, but for now, head up to charming downtown Anoka for the best Jane Austen fan fic, that "perfectly marries Jane Austen's legacy of female-centered stories in a man's world of property, marriage, and inheritance with modern feminist sensibilities." You can visit Pemberley-in-Anoka Thursdays through Sundays until December 22.

"Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story" by Wayward Theatre at the James J. Hill House

For an alternative (or complement) to the Guthrie Theater's annual production of A Christmas Carol, head across the river and see what the creative minds at Wayward Theatre Company are bringing to this classic story. Not only are they focusing on the ghostly aspects of the story and doing it in the gorgeous (and slightly spooky on a good day) James J. Hill House, but they're also performing in ten different locations around the house with three staggered groups of 30-person audiences walking around to the different locations. I always enjoy ambulatory site-specific theater, and this Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story is intricately planned, well executed, and provides an immersive (but not interactive) experience into this familiar and beloved tale of redemption. With three performance times every Wednesday through Sunday (except for Christmas Eve and Day) through New Year's Day, you have plenty of opportunities to follow Scrooge on his journey. But with only 30 tickets per show, and some performances already selling out, don't wait too long to secure your ticket.