MAT hosts a slew of events and shows this holiday season

Montana Actors' Theatre has a busy few months ahead as it prepares for a number of events and shows this holiday season.

MAT Artistic Director Grant Olson said casting for this year's production of "A Christmas Carol" is announced, the casting for "Monty Python's Spamalot" will be announced later this week and, this weekend, MAT will hold its 24-Hour Play Festival, an event MAT has held for many years.

Olson said Friday at 7 p.m. at Crawford Distillery writers, directors and actors will be randomly grouped together and given a major news headline that will need to be worked into dialogue somewhere in a play that they will have 12 hours to write, then another 12 hours to rehearse.

These six 10- to 15-minute plays will be performed starting at 8 p.m. Saturday with the doors opening at 7:30 p.m. The lounge will be open.

He said these plays often become springboards for full plays MAT puts on later, and some from previous years are still in development.

"It's a great experience for everybody," he said. "... It's the adrenaline and skills that everyone brings to the table."

The following Friday and Saturday, in partnership with KNMC and the Little River Institute, MAT will also be hosting "The Last Best Waltz," a show where local and Montana-based bands will play together in an homage to "The Last Waltz."

Olson said both nights will see bands bringing their own unique takes on the concert to MAT, including The Nick Crawford Band, The Cover Band, The Milk River Band, Steeds, Music from Big Dirt and Counting Coup.

He said he's particularly happy that Billings-based band Counting Coup, which performed at Montana State University-Northern in September, was able to come back.

"They had a great time, and we found a way to get them back up here," he said.

He said Dave Martens of KNMC was a driving force behind this event, which is something he's wanted to do for quite a while.

Olson said because of the pandemic Northern couldn't host its typical music events, so MAT streamed music played by local bands in its theater using their new sound and lighting systems, but many of the performers said they'd like to actually play for people in the theater one day and this seems like the perfect opportunity to do that.

In the second week of December MAT will also be putting on this year's "A Christmas Carol" using Bunraku, a Japanese style of puppetry that, he said, will allow MAT to include many of the more magical elements of the story that can't be done with a typical performance.

"It's going to be a really interesting version," he said.

He said the show will be family-friendly and authentic, using a script taken directly from Charles Dickens' work.

Olson said because they wanted to make the show child-friendly the shows will begin at 7 p.m.

He said "Spamalot" will begin showings in January, which he's really looking forward to as well.