PORT TOWNSEND — Plum pudding, holiday punch and a dramatic reading of “A Christmas Carol” will come together at the Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St., this Friday evening.
The performing artist known as Raven will offer his reading of Charles Dickens’ tale at 7 p.m., and attentive listeners of all ages are encouraged to come out for the evening of holiday cheer, said Bill Mawhinney, organizer of Northwind’s year-round reading series.
“I enjoy performing ‘A Christmas Carol’ every year because it’s a story about rebirth and renewal,” added Raven.
With its grumpy hero Ebenezer Scrooge confronting the ghosts of Christmas future, present and past, the yarn is also, to him, about finding inner peace through forgiveness.
Solstice soon
Now is the time, Raven feels, as the turning point of the winter solstice nears; the solstice comes the evening of Monday, Dec. 21, this year.
Admission to Friday night’s reading is a suggested $10 donation for adults, while children under 12 are invited to come free.
Raven also cites Dickens’ preface to “A Christmas Carol” when it came out 172 years ago.
“I have endeavored in this ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea,” he wrote, “which shall not put my readers out of humor with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me.
“May it haunt their houses pleasantly.”
“I’m sure each of us can identify with Ebenezer Scrooge in some way,” added Raven.
For more information about this and other activities at the nonprofit Northwind Arts Center, phone Mawhinney at 360-302-1159.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
