A [new] Christmas Carol

When, Where, How
I hope you will join us:

Thursday, December 10th, 8 p.m.
Friday, December 11th, 8 p.m.
Saturday, December 12th, 8 p.m.
Sunday, December 13th, 2 p.m., matinee

The Van Fleet Theater (190 seats)
Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Avenue, downtown Columbus
map: http://tinyurl.com/CPACtheaters

Tickets are available online here where the show is nicknamed "XMAS."

Want to know more? Here you go…

We are in rehearsal.
That's good news. It's high time we rehearse.

The writing phase has been productive and — as a co-writer — I'm thrilled that the other two writers have brought experience and insight to the process. (I brought quiet apprehension.)

Is the script truly ready? I don't know. But, enough fussing. ("Great poetry is never finished. It is simply abandoned," said the poet Richard Hugo to those of us in Daily Themes.)

In any case, as an actor, I'm glad to see the writing phase yield to the rehearsal phase. This show opens in three weeks and we must block scenes, learn lines, and ready ourselves for the opening. For you.

So, What's The Show?
Here's the title:

Huh? That's not very helpful. Except that it appears we have offed the lead character before the play has opened. Ominous! Ooooooo.

So, What's It About?
Here's what it's about.

I have always loved Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It's a perfectly told tale, whether read or performed.

I've heard Jonathan Winters' radio portrayal on NPR many times. I saw Patrick Stewart's one-man show on Broadway. Jim Carrey is out with a coldly animated version. And the folks from Nebraska Theatre Caravan will be back in the Palace Theater again this year with their staged version.

It is simply a magnificent story — and one that brought true social change to England. The original language and structure are so wonderful.

It's Time For A New Look
Wicked taught us that there are a lot of people who already know The Wizard of Oz and are ready for a new look at the story. They don't need to be retold the original. They want a new way of celebrating their love for the great story.

The same, I believe, is true of A Christmas Carol. You already know it. Now let's look at it differently.

So, I went to Matt Slaybaugh of Available Light [Theatre] and suggested that we produce a version of A Christmas Carol as Spalding Gray might have told it. The immediate concept: a contemporary telling of the story — using today's often dreadful audio-visual technology. At first we called it:

That was enough to win the collaboration of Sean Christopher Lewis. And so Matt, Sean and I set to writing.

As we wrote, I paused to imagine looking across the stage. And who did I see?

Jo Anne O'Carroll, the celebrated local actress who enamored audiences with her piercingly honest portrayal of Mrs. Soames in Our Town.

So we recruited Jo Anne, which didn't take much work. She hopped right on board.

This is a two-person show. I'm the other person.

What We Seek To Achieve
Here are our goals as I see them:

• Return relevance to A Christmas Carol. Every production of A Christmas Carol is — properly — a celebration of the brilliance of Charles Dickens and the gloom of 19th Century England. But how can we make it relevant to today? This might sound too Jewish for you, but the Passover Seder does that every year: Exodus isn't primarily about our ancestors; it's about us, here, now. (It's no wonder Jews do so well in Hollywood.) We want to do that with A Christmas Carol: tell the story so that it is about us, here, now.
• Remind us of the true message. It really isn't about money. Scrooge's more egregious miserliness isn't with currency; it's his denial of engagement and relationship. He is stingy with his affection and connection. Let's not focus on the money. Watch the heart.
• Draw audience to theatre. We long to bring back folks who enjoyed our recent productions of The Odd Couple and Our Town. And, wouldn't it be great if we also attracted folks who don't go to theatre that often but might come because my shamelessly public mid-life crisis has been held over for an extended run? 
• Raise money for Available Light. All year long, Available Light offers professional theatre — homegrown! organic! — for the strange price of pay what you want. Why? Because theatre is too important to be the exclusive possession of the economically fortunate. So, for this show, we'll charge $15 per seat — more for the beloved patrons (like you?) — to amass a surplus, and help fund the year-round mission of this wonderful theatre company.
• Achieve a magic moment as performers. Jo Anne and I — with Matt as director, and all the talented folks of Available Light — just want to do it again: create genuine, true-to-our-souls flow on stage. We seek — and we will find — the optimal experience.

And you can be a part of that. Here, again, are the details.

When, Where, How
I hope you will join us:

Thursday, December 10th, 8 p.m.
Friday, December 11th, 8 p.m.
Saturday, December 12th, 8 p.m.
Sunday, December 13th, 2 p.m., matinee

The Van Fleet Theater (190 seats)
Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Avenue, downtown Columbus
map: http://tinyurl.com/CPACtheaters

Tickets are available online here where it's nicknamed "XMAS."