“A New England Christmas” presented by Pontine Theatre

Don’t miss this special holiday event! We are pleased to welcome back Portsmouth’s Pontine Theatre to Tamworth, with two intimately-scaled holiday stories featuring the essence of Christmas in New England.

A NEW ENGLAND CHRISTMAS 2025
For this year’s holiday program, Pontine performs two treasured seasonal tales: A Speakin’ Ghost and Christmas Back Home. Both stories are by wonderful regional authors long gone and largely forgotten by contemporary audiences.

+ A Speakin’ Ghost, written by Annie Trumbull Slosson (1838–1926), features a woman born and raised in Rye, New Hampshire. Many years after leaving her childhood home near the ocean to work as a household servant, she finds herself living an isolated life providing care to an elderly man. She spends most of her time alone in her room, reliving memories of years gone by. From these musings arises a ghost-like figure, a young boy who begins making regular visits to this lonely soul.

Annie Trunbull Slosson published over 15 collections of short stories between 1878 and 1912 and was a frequent contributor to the Atlantic and Harper’s. Her first book, “The China Hunter’s Club” (1878), a collection of dialect stories situated in her native Stonington, Connecticut and the Franconia Notch area of New Hampshire, was considered, along with Sarah Orne Jewett’s Deephaven (1877) and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Pogonuc People (1878), to be one of the first identifiable examples of the regional or “local color” genre.

+ Christmas Back Home, a story by Eugene Wood (1860–1923), features a delightful cast of characters who inhabit a small, rural town. The piece evokes the childhood magic and suspense of Christmas as the special day approaches. The enchantment of preparing gifts to both give and receive enlivens this simple, heartfelt musing about the most magical day of the year.

Eugene Wood wrote stories describing the lives of rural folks whom he had known in the small towns where he lived. His three best-known books are fittingly titled “Back Home,” “Folks Back Home,” and “Our Town.” His career began with newspaper work as a reporter on The Cleveland Herald. He was also a regular contributor to principal magazines.

Scene from the “toy theatre” production of Christmas Back Home, original artwork created by Greg Gathers of Pontine Theatre. Watch the video below to see Pontine Theatre’s toy theatre in use, along with other theatrical stylings.

Pontine’s Co-Artistic Directors and performers, Marguerite Mathews and Greg Gathers, have developed a special fondness for searching out rich, historical literary gems and bringing them to life for audiences throughout the region. Pontine’s shows often feature antique stage techniques, including rolling panoramas, puppetry, and toy theatre figures to bring stories alive onstage. Mr. Gathers creates all the props and sets used in the theatre’s productions.

This event would make a delightful pre-Christmas gift!

$10 | $5 for members
Space is limited, preregistration is required.
Suitable for ages 14 and above; interested and patient attendees under age 14 are welcome.
The program is approximately 60 minutes long.
Interaction with the artists and viewing of the theatre staging and props are possible after the performance.

PREREGISTER HERE
Members: All ticketing falls under the $10 registration fee, member discount will be applied at checkout.
Not sure if your membership is current? Give us a call at (603) 323-7591.

This event is part of our Fall at the Farmstead schedule.

ABOUT PONTINE THEATRE

“Pontine Theatre is a small miracle. The theater has used puppets, mime and stagecraft to convey visions of the past to modern audiences for more than 35 years. Artistic Directors Marguerite Mathews and Greg Gathers conspire to fascinate the contemporary mind with original works based on the stories and literature of New England. There’s really nothing else like it anywhere.” ~ NH Magazine

“Since 1977, Pontine Theatre has been an active participant in the development of actor-based theatre, creating work that is engaging, innovative and original. Co-Artistic Directors, Marguerite Mathews and Gregory Gathers have produced over fifty original works. Creating and performing these works, Pontine has introduced their unique form of theatre to audiences throughout New England, transforming audience interest in gestural theatre, puppetry, toy theatre and storytelling into enthusiasm for this distinctive synthesis of forms.

“In choosing projects for our at-home performance series and subsequent tours, we endeavor to reflect the interests of the audiences we serve. We are fortunate to live and work in a region with a particularly rich history and a citizenry deeply interested in this legacy. As other cultural organizations work to preserve historic landmarks and significant architecture, we have dedicated many of our performances to celebrating classic works of New England literature: some well-known, others obscure gems. We also create works based on original research that explore various aspects of New England culture and history.

“…Our intimately-scaled chamber productions are an ideal fit for the small-town audiences…. The intimate scale of our productions reflects an aesthetic choice to magnify the theatrical power and artistic integrity of our work through concentrated attention to the details of each element comprising the whole.”

“…art has the capacity to reach us on multiple levels at the same time. It’s much more than an intellectual experience, it’s also an emotional experience, can be a spiritual experience, can even be a physical experience. And there are very few times in life when all those aspects of our nature are brought together in the same place and we’re made aware of it. And I think it makes for a very deep bonding experience between actors and audience and between audience members. The fact that that performance happens only in that moment with everybody’s cooperation — it’s priceless. It’s absolutely priceless.” ~ Greg Gathers, Co-Artistic Director of Pontine Theatre

LEARN MORE LINKS

+ Watch a toy theatre demonstration — a small-scale, paper-only version of Pontine Theatre’s large, 3-D staging (designed and crafted by the theatre’s co-artistic director Gregory Gathers).

+ Listen to The Rise and Fall of Toy Theatre, a fun podcast episode from Craftsman Magazine. See the modern-day version of Pollock’s Toy Store, mentioned in the podcast, which sells modern versions of the original-style toy theatres.