Okay, so I admit it.  I am not the biggest fan of the holiday season.  Not surprisingly, I come from a broken family, so statistically my holidays have been crap.  Then I met my husband and I thought things would get better.  No.  My past birthday, two Thanksgivings, and two Christmases I have ended up crying.  I blame living with my mother-in-law.  And vodka.  In that order.

So this year, my husband and I have decided to give up on the holidays.  He and I will be hiding in our bedroom waiting for mom to leave, and then I will cook him and myself a nice, small dinner.  Turkey may or may not be included.  But I thought I would ask all the other TUTA folk: 

How are you spending the Thanksgiving holiday?

"I am having an orphan thanksgiving and attempting to cook both a 20lb turkey and make pecan pie. I hope to see the Redmoon's Winter Pageant and New Leaf Theatres new show Redeemers."

 - Cynthia Castiglione, Managing Director

"For thanksgiving I am just hanging in Oak Park with my parents and my youngest sisters, my brother and his wife, Lisa, and my grandmother! We are making dinner watching foot ball and eating! It ought to be a chill and relaxing holiday. Usually we go to Door County WI, for Thanksgiving but the Twins are comming home from college and want to be at home to see their friends.

I would love to see some show but I don't have any plans yet. But maybe I will make it to the New Leaf show that Trey [Maclin, TUTA Ensemble Member] is in."

 -- Helen Lattyak, Stage Manager and Prop Designer

"[We are] cooking a huge turkey and inviting family with SMALL kids.   I LOVE Thanksgiving - it is by far my favortite holiday - it is not religious so it is all-inclusive, no house decorations, no social pressures to buy gifts and crap,  just mountains of home cooked food and lots of family and football among the many small kids running around.  I already made cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies (and broke the handle on the oven!), and Z [Zeljko Djukic, TUTA Artistic Director]bought a huge bird at our local Italian market (Minnellis).  I am looking forward to the stuffing...  and frankly to doing nothing for a couple of days. 

We have a lot to be thankful for - and we do our best to acknowledge that we are lucky and happy that way."

 - Natasha Vuchurovich Djukic, Costume Designer & Development Director

"I'm going sailing off of San Diego.  Is that interesting?"

 - Dana Wall, Ensemble Member

"I'll be spending my holidays making two hundred 5-ounce servings of mashed potatoes for the Lorraine Hansberry Senior Apartments Thanksgiving dinner on the west side. Other opportunities at www.chicagocares.org if anyone is interested.

And then I'm going to see the ILIAD [at A Red Orchid Theatre]."

 - Andy Hager, Ensemble Member

"Keith [Parham, TUTA Lighting Designer], Josh Schmidt (sound composer for Baal) and I will be up in Spring Lake, WI at American Players Theatre.  Josh (original music) and Keith (lights) are in the midst of designing a new production of "Gift of The Magi" up there which opens this weekend.  We'll be seeing the show, antiquing, and a possible trip to House on The Rock!"

 - Jacqueline Stone, Ensemble Member & Executive Director

"I am traveling to MA for the week.  I'll be sharing a vegan potluck with 100+ vegetarians, vegans, environmentalists and animal rights activists."

 - Jennifer Byers, Ensemble Member

And there you have it.  Just some of the fun to be had by TUTA folk this weekend!  If you'd like to catch anyone out this weekend, here are the links:

RedMoon Winter Pageant:  http://redmoon.org/blog/2010/11/11/winter-pageant-2010-opens-nov-11th/

The Redeemers at New Leaf Theatre:  http://newleaftheatre.org/current.php

Gift of the Magi at American Players Theatre:  http://americanplayers.org/plays-and-tickets/gift-of-the-magi

House on the Rock, Spring Green, Wisconsin:  http://www.thehouseontherock.com/

Despite my Bahumbug, Happy Thanksgiving,

Jaimelyn Gray

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