Striking 12 Shakes the Grooves Off New Years Funk

Diggit Dave Schroeder

A holiday production for everyone, even those who despise the holidays u2013 PACA's latest show Striking 12 is a uniquely interwoven story with an ensemble cast and a live band bringing a concert-like vibe to the stage.

CONTINUING FRIDAY, DEC. 8

Brimming with cynical holiday sentiments, Striking 12 is the latest musical being staged at the Performing Arts Collective Alliance (PACA). Written by Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda (member of the band GrooveLily), and Rachel Sheinkin, Striking 12 is also inspired in part by Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Match Girl. While the grim 1845 tale is explicitly mentioned by the characters in the main story, the tone is balanced out by a modern, post-holiday attitude. Director Kate Neubert Lechner noted that "It's truly the only holiday show that I've encountered that can be equally enjoyed by folks who love, hate, or are indifferent about the holidays."

Taking place during New Year's Eve, things center around "The Man Who's Had Enough," played by the wonderfully biting Josiah Prittie. He resolves to spend the holidays alone in his apartment, until he runs into a plucky Light Seller (played with charming resilience by Maeve Kirby), offering full-spectrum Christmas lights to ward off Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). Lechner explained that it "provides a pretty realistic look at why the holidays might not be the most exciting time for some people, while ultimately providing a realistic message of hope at the end."

The show's unique formalism and meta storytelling is another remarkable part of the production. As Prittie's character interacts with new people, he begins to read The Little Match Girl (played by the heartfelt SaNae Stephens), which is itself retold as a play-within-the-play. These narratives are woven together with multiple narrations, interstitials, commercials, and short sketches, having the majority of the cast act in multiple roles. All this, and the backing band (in full stage view) interacts with the story itself.

Portraying a litany of quirky characters, the cast also features the talents of Alex Staley, Marley Tressler, Michelle Michali, Dan Bainbridge, and Curtis Jones III. The band is composed of Bainbridge, Andrea Tredent, Moe Ferrara, Dan Lucore, Jim Kipp, and Liz Alward.

"It's essentially a staged concert, rather than a big splashy musical, so the focus was really on telling the story with the music," Lechner described. "We also wanted to focus a lot on making the audience know that they are also a part of the storytelling experience, so depending on the audience from night to night, it could be a different vibe at every show."

Weekends through Dec. 17 // Fridays and Saturdays and Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7:30, Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. // PACA, 1505 State St. // $20 // For tickets and more info: PACA1505.org