HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS Opens at No Strings Theatre Company Friday

No Strings Theatre Company presents "How to Survive Your Family at
Christmas," a charming comedy by William Missouri Downs and directed by
NSTC's Artistic Director, Ceil Herman. The play opens Friday, December 6
and runs through Sunday, December 22. There is a wonderful exhibit in
thetheatregallery located in the lobby of the Black Box Theatre titled
"It's All Relative." There will be a wine and cheese reception for the
artists on Friday, December 6 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

It's Christmas, that wonderful time of year when families deck the halls,
don their gay apparel, and pretend they don't hate each other. College
student Loretta (Debbie Jo Felix) hasn't been home in two years mostly
because she has nothing in common with her blue-collar parents (Nancy Clein
Tafoya and Bobby Senecal). When she left to attend Harvard, she thought
she'd never return, but then she fell in love with a cultivated Cambridge
law student (C.S. Rede), and he wants to meet her parents.

The difference between Loretta's law student and her parents couldn't be
more profound. He loves yachting, while her parents never let her near
water - growing up Loretta's mother told her chlorine caused skepticism. He
reads Tennyson, while her parents read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" - not
the book, the Cliffs Notes. Joseluis Solorzano plays the understanding
priest who helps the family to solve their problems and have a happy
resolution.

Joshua Taulbee designed the set, Autumn Gieb is the costume designer and
Peter Herman is the lighting designer. Bekah Taulbee is the Light, Sound,
and Projections operator and Genno Tafoya is the Stage Manager.

"How to Survive Your Family At Christmas" is an entertaining crowd-pleasing
comedy about family, love and the one thing we all need to survive the
holidays, forgiveness.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sunday matinees on
December 15 and 22 at 2:30 p.m. and there is a Thursday evening
performances at 7:00 p.m. om December 19.

Playwright Bill Downs will be at the Thursday performance and there will be
a talkback after the the performance that evening..With this play, the
premiere production, the Black Box Theatre will have produced the most
plays (5) by William Missouri Downs. The others are "Cockeyed," "Mad
Gravity,"Seagulls in a Cherry Tree," and "Headsets."

For more information and ticket reservations call (575) 523-1223