Everyone knows the story of perhaps the best-known, best-loved Christmas film ever made. What would life have been like in Bedford Falls, New York if George Bailey had never been born.

Will Clarence the Apprentice Angel get his wings for stopping Bailey’s suicide? Will greedy old Mr. Potter get his hands on the Savings & Loan?  After his father’s death, his responsibilities at the S&L, and family life, will George Bailey ever get to see the world?  Will it matter?

You know, but it’s a great show anyway. Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed star in Frank Capra’s classic It’s A Wonderful Life.  We even learn what happens if someone gets the moon.  Enjoy it with our best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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 It's a Wonderful Life: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Night Santa Stole Christmas: Created by a man with a mic, a Mac and a kitchen table. Answering those key questions such as “Who is Santa’s brother?” “How does he decide who’s naughty and nice?” “Does being Santa do his back any good?”

Here we have a story designed to delight, enthrall and give a warm Christmassy feeling. Whilst taking the piss out of everything.

Download it quick before it gets devalued and repossessed!

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 The Night Santa Stole Christmas: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Black Stripe Theater will present Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming “on July 4-5-6 at the Theatre Atelier Fontaine in Azabu Juban.

The Homecoming is the kind of play for which you would do well to prepare yourself, so be warned what you are getting yourself into: a lethal, haunting drama about familial one-upmanship, seduction, lust and betrayal.

Brilliant dialogue, dark humor and an air of menace have long marked it out as one of Pinter’s finest and most important works. (Read on …)

Chris Parham, the director of the upcoming Black Stripe Theater production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, sat down with me and had a short chat about the play and the Tokyo theater scene.

BST is planning to bring a couple more shows to the stage during the 2008 season, and Glengarry Glen Ross, brought to life by some of the Kanto region’s most dedicated actors, is likely a sign of big things to come.

Black Stripe Theater’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross hits Theatre Iwato this weekend, February 22nd through the 24th, and tickets are available at blackstripetheater@yahoo.com.

Update:
The Friday and Saturday evening performances (both at 7:30pm) are now sold out.

Tickets are still available for the Saturday and Sunday matinees (2:00pm) and the Sunday evening performance (6:30pm).

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The Black Stripe Theater, a Tokyo-based company, will be presenting David Mamet’s highly-acclaimed, award-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross the last weekend of this month (February 22-24) at Theater Iwato in central Tokyo. (Read on …)

(Read on …)

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 'Twas the Night Before Christmas: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“The Fir Tree”

By Hans Christian Andersen

Read by Christopher Pellegrini

Far away in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh air made a sweet resting place, grew a pretty little fir tree. The situation was all that could be desired; and yet it was not happy, it wished so much to be like its tall companions, the pines and firs which grew around it.

The sun shone, and the soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little peasant children passed by, prattling merrily; but the fir tree did not heed them.

Sometimes the children would bring a large basket of raspberries or strawberries, wreathed in straws, and seat themselves near the fir tree, and say, “Is it not a pretty little tree?” which made it feel even more unhappy than before.

(Read on …)

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 The Fir Tree: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“Our Christmas present to you is the new Christmas classic of our time, Miracle on 34th Street.

“It’s wrapped in a gay covering of laughter, tied with a bright ribbon of good humor, and decorated with the three sparkling stars of the 20th Century Fox picture: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn.”

Last year, TPR brought you the story that created our image of the Christmas spirit. This year, we’ll bring you the poem that created our modern image of Santa Claus. And now, TPR gives you the modern classic story that put those two things together - Santa Claus as Kris Kringle the man, who tells us that Christmas is not a day, but a spirit we carry with us everywhere, everyday. These days, it seems hackneyed, but it was less so when the Lux Radio Theater broadcast it’s version of Miracle on 34th Street in 1948.

Starring Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn, in an Oscar-winning turn as Kris Kringle. Seriously. The real one.

And just because we here at TPR wish you all a Merry Christmas, we’re bringing you not one, but two different old time radio versions of Miracle on 34th Street starring Edmund Gwenn. The other, the Screen Director’s Playhouse version of 1949, is available here.

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After winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a Macy’s Santa Claus named Kris Kringle in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, Edmund Gwenn reprised the role on the Lux Radio Theater in 1948 (also available from TPR), then again in the 1949 Screen Director’s Playhouse presentation TPR brings you here.

Fans of this classic Christmas story will notice that both the Lux version and this one differ not only from each other, but from the original film itself.

Merry Christmas.

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 Miracle on 34th Street: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

December 7, 2007

On this day in 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor.

Last year, TPR brought you this brief summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US’s entry into World War II.

This year, we bring you the speech itself.
Listen to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt explain America’s declaration of war.

What is striking is how much happened on December 7th and 8th, 1941, and how little of it is remembered now - how many major events have been pushed aside as Pearl Harbor went from surprise to symbol to legend (to schmaltzy film.)

On December 8, 1941 (Japan time), Japan not only attacked Pearl Harbor. . .

(Read on …)

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 FDR on WW2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download