“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” 

Fort Wayne Youtheatre will be turning to the Peanuts gang to answer that question this holiday season during performances of A Charlie Brown Christmas from Dec. 8-17 at First Presbyterian Theater. 

Nostalgia

According to the show’s director, Christopher Murphy, the stage version of A Charlie Brown Christmas is everything audiences love about the original 30-minute cartoon that premiered nearly six decades ago with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, and the rest of the gang. 

He said the original script translates well to the stage, and he hinted there may be a few extra surprises along the way. 

“I think that what I love about the experience of being able to come and see this play is that if you are somebody who grew up in any way, shape, or form watching the cartoon on TV with your family, you know, gathered around in the living room every Christmas, that this is a great way to take your kids, or to take your grandkids, and have that same sort of nostalgic, warm family Christmas,” Murphy said. “But to experience it in a fresh and a different way.”

Conviction

The play culminates in the iconic Scriptural monologue scene where Linus quotes from the Gospel of Luke to remind Charlie Brown and his friends about the true meaning of Christmas.

“When (Peanuts creator) Charles Schultz was originally asked to write the script for the TV version of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, it was sort of a battle with him and the network,” Murphy said. “(The network) did not want the famous speech at the end where Linus puts down his blanket and stands on a spotlight and basically recites an entire verse out of the Bible on this national TV primetime cartoon.”

Murphy continued to recount that Schultz was insistent the scene had to be a part of the show because it was, to Schultz, the whole point: Finding the true meaning of Christmas amid the commercialization of the holiday, even in 1965. 

“And so, you know, I think no matter where you fall on the religious spectrum, or don’t fall on the religious spectrum, I think that’s still a great lesson for everybody,” Murphy said.

Loosening up

This is Murphy’s third time directing A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

For a long time, Fort Wayne Youtheatre would annually perform The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. What they have tried to do now is build a rotation of about four shows, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frozen, and Elf the Musical. In this way, not only is there an aspect of tradition but also a consistent refresh of the annual repertoire.

Each time he has directed A Charlie Brown Christmas, Murphy said the experience has been different. Initially “really slavish” to the cartoon’s intricate details, Murphy has learned how to tackle certain aspects that seemed “stiff” and has continued to perfect the performance.

“If a character was holding his hand up to his cheek in the cartoon, then I made sure the actor was holding his hand up to his cheek, down to those sorts of details, because I thought that’s the kind of stuff that people would love, and it was a good production,” Murphy said. “But, at the end of the day, I felt like it was a little stiff. 

“So, the second time we did it, I kept what I thought was really important and iconic about the cartoon. And then, I felt much, much freer as a director to do my own thing with it and add my own spin to it. 

“This time, tackling it for the third time, I haven’t even watched the cartoon this year. I am just relying on what I remember as being really important, and then totally putting our own spin on it.”

Youths take the wheel

Fort Wayne Youtheatre is one of the oldest operating children’s theaters in the U.S. 

Murphy said most children’s theaters across the country are geared more toward audiences of youth and families, but generally feature adult performers. Something that makes Fort Wayne’s iteration unique is the actors are young people themselves. 

A special performance during the morning of Dec. 16 will give audience members the chance to not only mingle with characters from the show, but also to have the chance to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus during a breakfast with Santa that gives participants priority seating, along with several other goodies.

A sensory-friendly performance will take place Thursday, Dec. 14.