Culture

[HO HO HO]

Written by JENNA JONES

Kevin olan first donned a red Santa suit eight years ago to ta e photos at his daughter’s preschool with her classmates. e had gone to almart, pic ed up a Santa suit and his beard was still blac . fter he had ta en a few pictures with the ids, his phone started ringing.

Parents were calling, saying you don’t often see a Santa of color. nd he reali ed they were right. olan now has a professional red suit, complete with ingle bells and a smile only the real Santa laus could compete with. e travels around the St. ouis area, boo ing events and other visits as ocoa Santa a Santa with a slightly dar er hue, he describes on his website. ach holiday season, olan ta es a brea from his ob at the etropolitan St. ouis Sewer District to spread cheer. t feels good to show representation matters. ’m out there for all that want to come, olan tells the RFT. li e to see the smiles of the small ids and big ids. Sometimes, the adults are even more giddy than the children are. t’s absolutely wonderful to be that person to bring that smile to everyone. ocoa Santa fre uently gets told didn’t now Santa was lac by children something olan chal s up to children famously lac ing a filter and he e plains to them that Santa comes in all different colors and si es, and says he thin s it’s important to have this appearance this year. e’ll as the child if that’s , and then he says the conversation usually ows from there. ypical wish lists ensue, as well as ust general discussion of things they want Santa to now. istening is a ey s ill when it comes to being Santa, olan says, something taught to him in Santa School yes, it’s real . e ma es sure to hear what the children are saying, as well as what they’re not saying, and watches for different cues. Santa School taught him to interact with small and large crowds, as well as be an effective storyteller. e also thin s the little details are ust as important as the big ones. hese s ills come into play with one of olan’s favorite memories as ocoa Santa. ast year, ocoa Santa offered oom calls, and a set of parents had arranged for their daughter essica to spea to him. Prior to the call, olan as ed her parents for facts about their child, as he does with every id, and they had told him about essica’s lf on the Shelf, immy. hen ocoa Santa as ed essica how immy was doing, she was stunned. fter the call, essica’s mom sent olan a video of the little girl informing her grandma that she tal ed to the real Santa because he new about immy. ll the small details ma e a real difference, olan says. olan’s family has also oined in on the fun is wife, loria, doubles as rs. laus, and his children serve as elves that get to pass out candy canes and attend events with him. y wife saw pictures online, and she said, ow, you en oy doing that ’ and would say, es, you should try it ’ olan recalls. ventually got her out there to try. She went to an event and she said, ou now what, understand. understand why you do this. t’s a good feeling to see all the smiles and positive energy.’ t’s a family ordeal now. hen as ed what he en oys about the holiday season as ocoa Santa, olan had his answer right away. s Santa, still am able to bring smiles and delight to newcomers. ’ve been doing this for eight years, and ’m still getting a lot of positive e posure, he says. t’s a good feeling to ust see someone smile a genuine smile, no cause, no effort that’s a good feeling for ocoa Santa to get that from people. ou can also catch ocoa Santa riding around on his sleigh a red eep dec ed out with holiday lights around the St. ouis area. e also has a aceboo page that lists where he’ll be visiting that wee . ead to faceboo .com blac .santa. stl for more information. n

[STAGE]

Written by JENNA JONES

Metro Theater Company’s latest production will bring a St. Louis jazz legend to the stage: Denise Thimes will star in Metro’s musical Last Stop on Market Street early next year.

Beginning Sunday, February 6, at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square), the musical follows Thimes as Nana, with a press release describing the character as “a veritable force of nature who lives in a world considerably different” from her grandson, CJ, who is reluctantly staying with her. The two embark on a bus ride after Nana notices CJ is too plugged into his tablet and phone. She guides her grandson to connect closer with his roots and “see things that have not been seen.”

The jazz singer is no stranger to the stage — she’s won eight awards from the St. Louis Black Rep for both musicals and drama. Thimes has shared stages with musicians including Bobby McFerrin and Clark Terry; she’s sung for Queen Elizabeth II at the British Embassy and performed at the White House for President George W. Bush in 2007.

Motown meets hip-hop for a mashup of genres in the musical; playwright Cheryl L. West adapted it from Matt de la Peña’s award-winning picture book. St. Louis-based actor and theater professor Jacqueline Thompson will direct, and Philip Woodmore, a longtime member of the St. Louis music community and executive director of P. Woodmore Music LLC, is the musical director.

Thimes will be joined by five other actors on the Grandel’s stage. The production runs 70 minutes and is recommended for ages five and up. Tickets begin at $20 (a virtual option is available). Masks are required, as well as proof of vaccination for those twelve and older or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the event.

The show will run until Sunday, February 27. Purchase tickets at metrotix.com. n

Written by JENNA JONES

Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri and the District of Columbia are all coming together through theater: The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis announced last week it will join a year-long artistic caucus. Four theaters, including the Rep, have hired a group of freelance artists who will participate as key parts of the artistic development teams in each of their institutions.

The artistic caucus is made up of theater artists outside the traditional dramaturges or literary managers. The members will scout projects, read new plays and proposals, and facilitate new relationships with artists on behalf of the theatres.

DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre and Maryland’s Baltimore Center Stage all join the Rep in the caucus. A press release details how the four artistic directors of color at these theaters — Hana Sharif of the Rep, Stephanie Ybarra with Baltimore Center Stage, Jacob Padron of Long Wharf and Maria Goyanes from the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company — formed a cohort after being appointed to their positions. They have a goal of “creating artistic homes across the country” that are intersectional, inclusive and focused on the liberation of all people.

“The four of us have been working together formally in these positions for just a few years, but we’ve been informally collaborating our entire careers,” the artistic directors say in a press release. “Our field has long operated through the organic relationships formed amongst theater-makers, and this Artistic Caucus is our latest way of naming that trend and optimizing for it. By combining our intellectual and financial resources and increasing interconnection at every artistic level of our organizations, we are able to force multiply to throw our doors even further open — evolving how we bring artists into our communities towards more equality, more transparency, more accessibility, more trust and more abundance.”

A press release says the goal of the caucus is to “support artistic development at all four theaters by making space for more entryways into artistic development pathways, more touch points for artists, more voices in the room, and more visions for what theater can be.” The release adds that by establishing this caucus, the four theaters are “actively opening up the frequently competitive and opaque artistic development process of our industry by engaging artists to help identify projects, paying them for their expertise and positioning the different artistic priorities for each organization as a place of strength and cooperation.”

One of the artistic caucus members, Adil Mansoor, agrees.

“I am especially excited that the caucus brings together an ensemble of folks interested in curatorial disruption,” Mansoor says. “I appreciate that the strategies and deliverables of our work together weren’t predefined and are coming out of our time together. It’s thrilling to experiment with a curatorial model that resembles a devising process and encourages emergent possibilities.” n