It is like no other tale Salt Lake City audiences will hear this holiday season. Televangelist Lucas Karol heals the “sick,” performs “exorcisms,” but most importantly, collects donations from his followers for these miracles on his daytime TV show, Scriptures Unscripted. However, during the premiere of Pastor Karol Presents: A Christmas Carol, a rowdy mob hijacks the show and the pastor, his wife, and his special guests are forced to obey the orders of the Lord of Misrule who leads the mob while performing their Christmas pageant.
That is the premise of the raucous, über-cheeky Christmas show The Lord of Misrule, produced by the Lords of Misrule Theatre Co., led by poet and literary figure RJ Walker. While tickets are optional (as noted below), the audience can drive the play’s actions selecting from a menu of options, by making donations to
Our Unsheltered Relatives (OURS), an organization that feeds the homeless fresh, hot meals at Rio Grande in downtown Salt Lake City every weekend, and the Alternative Arts and Music Program (AAMP), which supports independent artists, especially those in historically under-represented communities. Performances will take place daily Dec. 19-21 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 22 at 3 p.m., at The Beehive (666 South State Street, Salt Lake City).
The company consistently does a fine job in its win-win formula: put on a show rich with improvisational nonsense that tickles audiences, make audience interaction an opportunity for spontaneous philanthropic efforts to raise funds for benefiting a worthy nonprofit and twist familiar narratives into spicy, bizarre, ribald forms. Amid the zaniness of the theatrical shenanigans, Walker and company use the show to put forward the cause of honoring the best values of the season through meaningful philanthropic acts. The show’s program will have a list of challenges (their shows always have 69 items listed) for the actors an audience member can order, by making donations. The challenges open up the possibilities for the characters’ real personalities to rise to the surface. Audiences could determine whether or not Karol’s church will survive this “hostile Yuletide takeover?”
The theatrical company launched the annual holiday show in 2019, which then benefited the former Road Home community after news came that it was set to close and be demolished. From Walker, “The Lord of Misrule is an ancient Christmas tradition dating back to Christmas’ origins as Saturnalia. A beggar is crowned the Lord of Misrule to preside over drunken mobs and Christmas parties. The Lord of Misrule would often make demands of local gentry (usually more food or booze) and if the gentry failed to meet the demands, the Lord of Misrule would incite a riot against the gentry, destroying property and threatening violence: basically, forced Christmas charity. We’ve taken this ancient Christmas practice and devised a new kind of play — raucous Christmas absurdity, for the betterment of the community.” Donations for OURS will aid in purchasing healthful ingredients and kitchen equipment and covering operational costs. For AAMP, donations will ensure access to grassroots independent artists for workshops, programs and opportunities for developing their creative skills.
General admission tickets are free but a package for $10 includes a stocking pack with throwable items, noise makers, and treats while a $20 package includes a stocking pack, mocktail drink ticket, collectible keychain or bracelet. Suggested items for in-kind donations include tarps, tents, camping supplies, winter seasonal clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, gloves, hand warmers and new diapers, socks and underwear.
The Lords of Misrule, which has performed during other holiday events including Halloween and the Great Salt Lake Fringe festival, also has raised funds for The University of Utah Prison Education Project and Save The Kids, a Utah nonprofit dedicated to eliminating the automatic options of youth incarceration and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. Lords of Misrule are part of AAMP Utah, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting alternative arts and music with a focus on access. The theater company holds no-cost improv and acting classes every Saturday 2-4 p.m., at Mark of the Beastro.
For more information and tickets, see the links for Dec. 19, Dec. 20, Dec. 21 and Dec. 22.