This holiday season, the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca decided to forego its usual holiday party, instead hosting a hybrid holiday party and play Dec. 3 to 14. The production, titled “Reindeer Sessions,” included gathering for audience members with both food and drink and gave them the chance to interact with the actors after the show.
Emily Jackson, producing artistic director at the Kitchen Theatre, said that she wanted to do something different this year and brought up the idea of mixing a holiday party with a play to her fellow colleagues.
“We hadn’t done a holiday play in a long time,” Jackson said. “So it sort of seemed like a natural opportunity to be like, ‘OK, well, why don’t we just make every night of this fun show a party, and it’s been really great.’”
Reindeer Sessions centers around one of Santa’s reindeers Blitzen, who is sent to go to therapy by Santa’s human resources team after an incident involving him and Rudolph. The play shows how the relationship between Blitzen and his therapist grows, but also reveals some personal things about Blitzen and his family life that connect the dots with other famous Christmas stories. In one scene, they even reference the famous Christmas song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” when describing how Blitzen’s brother ended up in prison.
Jackson said that “Reindeer Sessions” is a newly written play, and that the Kitchen Theatre’s production is its second time on stage, the first being in 2023. The play was written by Eric Ulloa, who is close friends with Karl Gregory, who plays Blitzen in this production. Jackson said that Gregory pitched the show to her and things went from there.
Jackson said that before the Kitchen Theatre started working on this production of Reindeer Sessions, Ulloa decided to make Blitzen’s character gay.
“Eric wanted to make that version for Karl and for the play to have a different set of audiences and folks who could see themselves even more on stage,” Jackson said. “I think this version gets that even more to people.”
The show has been quite popular, Jackson said that several shows have sold out and said a limited quantity of tickets are still remaining.
Jakki Fargnoli decided to spend a night at the theater with her sister and said that for them, the small intimate vibe at the Kitchen Theatre was perfect.
“It was amazing,” Fargnoli said. “I would definitely come back with my girlfriends.”
Lori Reenan, an audience member, drove an hour from Corning to see the show. She first went to the Kitchen Theatre with her book group and decided to come back to the theater to see Reindeer Sessions. Reenan said that the way she was able to connect with characters throughout the play made the show special for her.
“I think it’s very relatable, especially this time of year,” Reenan said. “I could relate to the therapist, having children myself, and wondering, ‘OK so how am I projecting on them what Christmas should be and what they want it to be?’”
With the show being a hybrid between a holiday party and a play, heavy planning had to go into figuring out how they would get enough food and drinks to satisfy audience members. Jackson said that is where local businesses stepped in.
“It’s been really great because we have a couple of sponsors, like our hospitality sponsors, Cafe DeWitt,” Jackson said. “They’re making it possible for us to have a party every night here. A lot of people were happy and surprised that so much was included.”
Jackson said that the theater has had a great relationship with Cafe DeWitt and has worked with them for several other shows. Jackson said that without their help, the festivities surrounding a show like “Reindeer Sessions” might not be possible.
“It was so great, they did such an amazing job, it was delicious food, we actually hired them back a couple of times last season to do several other opening nights,” Jackson said. “This year I was looking for hospitality sponsors that I personally love and believe in in the community, but also that have done really great work for the theater or with the theater, and I was looking for folks who would sort of kind of go all in with us so Cafe DeWitt is our hospitality sponsor for the whole season.”
Cafe DeWitt will be providing food for the opening nights of the Kitchen Theatre’s next two productions including “Milkweed” and “FEAST.”
The audience engagement for the show was very high, with lots of laughter and emotion shown in audience faces throughout the show.
