A Christmas Carol 
Original Novella by: Charles Dickens
Adapted by: David Middleton and Anthony Carregal
Directed by: Stefanie Maiya Lehmann

Production Team: John Manion III & Alan Rosenthal (Scenery & Props), Jim Russell (Sound Design and Operation), Susan Demers (Lighting Design), Kevin Commander (Light Board Operator), Stacie Lehmann (Costume Design)

A very special thanks to Phil Celli of Pro Focus Video Inc. 

Cast
Jamie Bierchen (Ebenezer Scrooge)
Georgia Dunning (Ghost of Christmas Past, Betsy, Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come)
Velda Gauthier (Storyteller, Cook, Mrs. Fezziwig, Mrs. Cratchit, Betty, Mrs. Dilber)
Kal-El Gibson (Storyteller’s Son, Boy on Street, Child Scrooge, Fezziwig’s Son, Belle’s Son, Tiny Tim)
Stan Gurvitz (Bob Cratchit, John, The Fiddler, Mr. Newbury)
Alan Rosenthal (Undertaker, Mr. Tweed, Mr. Fezziwig, The Ghost of Christmas Past, Old Joe)
Kailyn Rosenthal (Belle, Martha Cratchit, Kate, Alice Wilson)
Audrey Savage (Fan, Fezziwig’s Daughter, Belle’s Daughter, Belinda Cratchit)
Eric Weber (Marley’s Ghost, Mr. Topper, Jacob Marley, Belle’s Husband)
TJ Venieris (Fred, Mr. Wilson, Young Scrooge, Peter Cratchit)

Director’s Note

“Waste!” That is Scrooge’s first line in this play. As we approached this new 2020 adaptation of SPCT’s annual production, I felt as if I had a personal pocket-sized Scrooge constantly shouting “Waste! Waste!” With that in mind, we stripped the production down to its barest parts. There is certainly a time for spectacle and extravagance, but for me, this year has been one for essentials. And like the themes of the play, it is also one for asking ourselves “what truly matters most?”

This year marks 150 years since Charles Dickens’ death, however, if you study his prolific body of works, it becomes clear that his world had much in common with life today. His novels depict worlds filled with pollution, systemic injustice, exploitation, greed, crippling debt, and economic disparity. Especially timely for 2020, this world was also struggling with infection and deadly epidemics. Smallpox, typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis are just several of the many diseases that were common threats. An epidemic is central to Dickens’ novel Bleak House and his novel Little Dorrit starts out with characters in quarantine. There is plenty that Charles Dickens could relate to in 2020. Even in A Christmas Carol he writes, “While there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”

Despite his darker themes, his writing holds onto the great idea of hope - hope that we, as individuals, can improve and hope that we, as a society, can work towards a better tomorrow. This, I believe, is why we keep coming back to A Christmas Carol every holiday season. Ebenezer Scrooge was lucky enough to receive a spiritual intervention before it was too late. The rest of us won’t be so fortunate. So, as we approach the end of an especially challenging year, let’s take the time to consider which of our “nobler aspirations” have fallen away and examine the weight of the “chains we’ve forged”. We still have time.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”

(originally captured on December 10, 2020. Christmas Carol, A Haunting Holiday Tale was produced within COVID-19 guidelines utilizing Zoom rehearsals and a small cast with no stage crew. Social distancing, masks/shields and temperature checks protected cast & audience.)