***Please note advance ticket sales will close at 3pm Friday 12/2.  Tickets will be available at the door***

Back by popular demand and due to a lack of complaints “Dear Mister Ward” returns to the Shea on December 2nd, 2022.

Local performers will once again bring to life letters sent to the complaints department of the Montgomery Ward catalog by customers living in the Midwestern states between 1932 and 1942.  These letters were published in the book “Dear Mister Ward” by local author Evan Gregg and saved by his grandma Verna Gregg when she worked at Montgomery Ward.

The new and expanded version of the show from last summer will include some letters not read the first time around as well as music from Zara Bode from the Sweetback Sisters.  The reading will be preceded by a video introduction featuring clips of an audio interview with Verna Gregg from 1981 and after the performance audience members will be invited to pick a letter from a hat to read aloud.  The author will be signing books before and after the show as well as during intermission.

Also new this time is the chance to submit your own complaints!  Instead of “Letters to Santa” which include your wishes for Christmas these will be “Letters to Mister Ward” for your complaints about your worst Christmas gifts or stories.  You can submit a letter using the form on this website or place it in the boxes that will be coming to The Shea and some other places around Turners Falls.  Actual locations will be announced soon.  Some of the letters will be chosen to be projected before the performance on December 2nd.

Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 the day of the show.  You can also add copies of the book for $15 each.

“Sponsored by RiverCulture and the generous support of Greenfield Savings Bank”