Closing out a year is generally a festive time, but this has been a year like no other. St. Louis Shakespeare Festival has come up with a pandemic-safe way to enjoy the season, and just maybe create a new tradition that’ll endure.
In connection with PaintedBlack STL, Shakespeare fest presents “A Walking Xmas Carol,” an outdoor, self-guided immersive experience taking over the Central West End starting Saturday and going through December 23.
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Charles Dickens’ classic tale is reinterpreted across 20 stops on Euclid Avenue and Maryland Plaza, with 2D and 3D multimedia artworks by 16 local Black artists of PaintedBlack STL displayed in windows and musical accompaniment from the wildly clever “Q Brothers Christmas Carol,” a witty, hip-hop update on the old story.
“So much of what we love about this time of year just isn’t going to be possible in 2020,” says Tom Ridgely, producing artistic director for St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. “Those celebrations are really important—they’re not just indulgences or frivolity, they are really restorative.”
Peeping at holiday window displays is an enduring urban tradition, from Fifth Avenue in New York to the last decade-plus of Central West End Window Walks. And this summer, the self-guided tour “A Late Summer Night’s Stroll” moved Bard-lovers through Forest Park so successfully that the idea seemed ripe for adaptation to the holidays.
“It just seemed like such a great way to offer something safe and artistic for people to do at a time when there are not a lot of options for those kinds of things—especially ones that don’t involve more time in front of a screen,” Ridgely says.
The final three artists imagined a world made right, a perfect utopian Christmas. De Nichols’ companion pieces called Joy and Justice are festive and hopeful examples. The artworks, Ridgely says, have become the star of the show—and PaintedBlack STL was the only call he wanted to make for collaborators.
You can experience the walk any time, but Friday and Saturday nights will have live programming, like food and drink, musicians in the streets or dancers performing safely inside the boxes. Scan the QR code at each window or download a map ahead of time to keep on track and to hear the Q Brothers soundtrack. The event is free, but a $10 donation is suggested.
