Actor, novelist, playwright and poet Barret O’Brien will be joined by two local performers as they join forces to present Willa Cather’s “The Burglar’s Christmas” at the Jacksonville library.

Titled “A Story Aloud,” the event will include a theatrical presentation and reading of “The Burglar’s Christmas” with a touch of music and sound effects as the three actors bring the story to life. 

“This particular story has hardship in it, but there’s a real underlining of the belief in the human spirit and I was looking for that,” O’Brien said. “You get this fully realized beginning, middle and end of a story in 45 minutes.” 

O’Brien will be joined by longtime actor Shoshana Alexander and recent Southern Oregon University graduate and actor Aiden Jenkins. 

The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at the Jacksonville library, 340 W. C St., in Jacksonville. 

It is free to attend, and due to mature themes in the story, is recommended for attendees ages 12 and older. 

“The Burglar’s Christmas” follows character William Crawford — played by Jenkins — on the cold streets of Chicago as he considers the failures plaguing his life and resorts to a new role in thievery.

Cather’s piece, written in 1896, is in short story format, an art form O’Brien feels is under-appreciated and under-utilized in modern times. 

“I think the short story as an art form doesn’t really know where it fits in contemporary American society,” he said. “I love it as an art form.” 

O’Brien previously performed “The Burglar’s Christmas” at Bloomsbury Books in Ashland to over 70 listeners and decided to continue the unique storytelling event after seeing the interest and community-building involved. 

“When we started that story last time and I saw that room filled, it filled my heart and my belief in this so much that it was already a success before the first word, that there’s an interest and a hunger in just coming together as a community for a short story,” O’Brien said. 

O’Brien, joined by Alexander and Jenkins, will provide a unique telling of the short story, dipping into multiple art forms throughout while utilizing his peers’ varied skillsets. 

“Shoshana (Alexander) is a longtime resident of Ashland and she is a meditation teacher, playwright, actor, poet and orator,” O’Brien said. “Seeing her and Aiden (Jenkins) work together and the dynamic they bring has been just a delight.”

Jenkins “is just a fantastic, dynamic, kind, hard-working, open-hearted actor,” he said. “He does some really splendid work.” 

Part of the appeal of “A Story Aloud” for O’Brien is the versatile nature of the event, allowing he and his fellow actors to perform in just about any space with minimal costs and time to prepare as well. 

“I like the idea of live storytelling and community building … you don’t have to wait (for) eight weeks of rehearsal and put it up with a lot of finances,” O’Brien said. “Really all we need is a couple of Xeroxes of the story, the actors and I get together three or four times and there’s this great sense of immediacy and aliveness to it; we can do it pretty much anywhere.”

“We really just need me and two actors and a really dynamic, well thought out short story from the last century and then we’re ready to rock,” he added. 

For the future, O’Brien aims to make “A Story Aloud” a more regularly occurring series with six to 12 performances a year. 

“I see us doing it at more and more venues; I see us maybe eventually getting some small grant where we can go and share it with underserved communities,” he said. “Already, the Jacksonville library would like us to come back in the summer, so we may start doing it regularly there.”

Other communities O’Brien would like to perform for could include senior living facilities, local schools or rural communities in the region. 

“I feel like there are so many short stories we can do,” O’Brien said, noting the desire to perform other short stories and even move into a poetry event as well. 

For more information on “A Story Aloud,” visit  jcls.libcal.com.

To learn more about O’Brien, or for updates of future performances, visit barretobrien.com.

Reach reporter James Sloan at jsloan@rv-times.com.