A Christmas Carol, 1993

I have worked on A Christmas Carol four times over the years and the production we did in December 1993 is my favorite.

The production was big.

The cast was thirty-two plus a choir of eleven.

The set was huge with lots of extras.

We made money with the production two years before and thought new would do the show every two years and spend extra money to make a set we could use over and over.

Three years later we would do the show again but with a different director and designer and we did not reuse the set, but just pieces of it.

The show had every trick we could come up with: Fog, snow, an elevator up through the floor, Scrooge’s front door flew in and out, Marley’s image was projected and more.

There were moving platforms every place plus two large ones that had smaller ones that slid out when onstage.

We had a great staff and students at the time and most important I was still only thirty-seven and had the energy to work long days and late into the night.

Without a doubt the best part of the show was the ghost of Christmas Future.

As designed the Ghost was part of Scrooge’s bed curtains.

The actor/puppet moved away from the bed, his long arms stretched out and then his head popped up.

The student designers even made a long arm with a hand at the end that had fingers that moved so it could point to Scrooge’s grave.

The Ghost always shocked the audiences and on opening night someone loudly said “Oh Shit” as it came alive.

This was one of the best reactions I have ever seen working in Theatre.

I am happy to report the two students who worked on the play went on to successful careers working in Las Vegas and their work can often be seen at Comic Con.

With the show’s success doing A Christmas Carol every two years did not seem like a bad idea but of course things did not work out as planned.

Two years later we would not be able to use our mainstage Theatre because of asbestos removal and did a smaller Christmas show over in the Dance theatre.

Changes in the number of students, staff and money issues (read budget cuts) would make us decide not to continue doing A Christmas Carol on a regular basis.

I do not miss doing it.