Party That Steals the Scene

‘Tis the season to do some serious celebrating.

And, because A Noise Within has just finished their first year of producing classical plays, including works by Shakespeare, they have more than just this festive time of year to celebrate. So, they are throwing a party.

Better yet, everyone is invited to the company’s home, Glendale Masonic Temple, on Sunday for “A Joyful Noise Within,” a buffet dinner and short program of scenes from all of the company’s productions--including the upcoming spring season.

The mission of the 28-member company, executive director Julia Rodriguez Elliot said, is to produce classic plays, ranging from the well-known comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare or the upcoming “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder, to lesser-known works, such as last spring’s “The Way of the World,” a 17th-Century comedy by William Congreve.

With almost everyone doing Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in one form or another this time of year, “you almost have to do past, present and future,” the company’s associate artist, Sabin Epstein, said of Sunday’s program. Epstein is putting together the 15- to 20-minute montage that interweaves the different scenes.

“We’ll probably do it pretty much as a human orchestra,” he sid. “With leading men in one section and ingenues in another.”

According to Epstein, Sunday’s bash will be a chance for the community to meet the company members. The event is also intended to raise money for the group’s educational outreach program.

“We want to move into the schools and introduce this body of material to the students,” said Epstein, who doesn’t like the way Shakespeare is traditionally taught. “It’s so inaccessible that people are put off for life. We want to make (the plays) user friendly, or bard friendly.”

The party “is a way to create that possibility,” he said.

Tickets are $20. The party will go from 5 to 8 p.m. at the temple, 234 S. Brand Blvd. For reservations, call (818) 753-7750.