A Christmas Carol:
A Cultural Heirloom
by p. m. strain

First Production:
Zona Gale Theatre
Portage Center for the Arts
Portage, WI
Dec., 2007
Scenic and Lighting Design Patrick M. Strain
Costume Design by Barbara Church

REPRISED IN 2009 as a collaborative production with the Portage High School and performed at the Portage High School Auditorium.

Cast: (minimums - can be expanded. Also, I firmly believe this script allows for cross gender role playing easily)
2 boys, 2 girls, 4 teen boys, 5 teen girls, 3 men, 3 women

Roles:
Titles on the left are for the framing scenes and narration – characters on right are roles
each plays from Dickens. There is room for these roles to be divided differently as
needed. The decision to have Marley and others played by women was to demonstrate
that many roles might be played against gender without disrupting the story in the least.

CHILD: TINY TIM
CHILD 1: BELINDA CRATCHIT – BELLE’S DAUGHTER 2
CHILD 2: CRATCHIT GIRL – WANT
CHILD 3: BOY SCROOGE – CRATCHIT BOY – IGNORANCE

CHILDREN also play CAROLERS; SLIDERS; MINERS; NARRATION

ROBERTA: SISTER – ADOLESCENT BELLE
ANDY: TOPPER – ADOLESCENT SCROOGE
YOUTH 1: FAN – LAUNDRESS
YOUTH 2: MRS. FRED – YOUNG WOMAN BELLE – BELLE’S
DAUGHTER 1 – WIFE
YOUTH 3: FRED – YOUNG MAN SCROOGE – HUSBAND –
LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER – MERCHANT 5
YOUTH 4: DICK WILKINS – PETER CRATCHIT – TURKEY BOY
YOUTH 5: GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
YOUTH 6: MARTHA CRATCHIT – MERCHANT 2
YOUTH 7: ADOLESCENT BELLE - GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST (The
original production was blessed with a pair of twins to play
this role. I highly recommend twins (or any two), as it
provides the dual nature of Scrooge’s history.)

YOUTH also play GHOST OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE; NARRATION; PARTY
GOERS; MINERS; SAILORS; PEOPLE ON STREET; TOMBSTONES

GRANDPA: FEZZIWIG – OLD JOE
MALE 1: CRATCHIT – BELLE’S HUSBAND – MERCHANT 3
MALE 2: ADULT SCROOGE
FEMALE 1: MRS. FEZZIWIG – GENTLEMAN 1 – MERCHANT 1
FEMALE 2: GENTLEMAN 2 – CHARWOMAN
FEMALE 3: MARLEY – MRS. CRATCHIT – ADULT BELLE –
MERCHANT 4

ADULTS also play NARRATION; PARTY GOERS; MINERS; PEOPLE ON STREET

Time and Place:
Christmas Eve day this year, or perhaps the recent past or future.; The attic of a older American home.

Genre:
Drama

Synopsis:
During a Christmas Eve Day family celebration, teen Roberta and her young beau, Andy try to escape the family by going to the attic. The trouble is the family follows them up there. Upon discovery of an old family treasure, a faded "Scrooge and Marley" sign, they decide to revive the tradition of sharing an old family heirloom - the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim. They quickly take up the roles they've known from years past, and Grandpa hands the role of Scrooge off to the next generation. From there, we are in Dickens' classic story until we reach the end, and there we quickly send the family on their way.

READ THE OPENING SCENE - CLICK HERE

Production Notes:
So this is about the writing of the play. For more about the first full production, which I directed, please see my Directing Page on this show. That is where I will also discuss the presentation show. For more about the design of the show, please see my ZGYPT Christmas Carol Page.

History of the process:
In 2006 I designed the lighting for A Christmas Carol at the Commonweal Theatre Company in Lanesboro, MN. They had, several years prior, adapted the story from the original into about a 6 person show. The production was simple, effective, and above all, theatrical. It did not depend on stage trickery or expensive and ever changing scenery to convey the story, and it was my pleasure to be a part of the production.

Inspired by this experience and after realizing it had been years since A Christmas Carol had been presented in Portage, I planned to produce a version the following year, this time with a bend toward the community theatre - including young and old in equal measure. I read numerous versions of the show that were in print (and it seems that everyone and their dog have adapted the show for the stage), but found none that I found good. In fact, most I found terribly heavy handed and overly laden with an imposed hand - as if the playwrights didn't trust that Dickens' knew what he was doing and they needed to frequently intervene on the audiences behalf. In short, none possessed the efficacy of the Commonweal script. I would have paid them for their script and used it, but knew I wanted more players and more children and felt their script was not the script I needed. And so, I endeavored to do justice to Dickens' little book and craft it for the stage. I added a short introductory scene that establishes our locale as a modern family Christmas party. During this scene I introduce a burgeoning love (which actors will take up the young Scrooge and his love), a group of young children, a group of sassy youths and a group of knowing adults, guided by "Grandpa" who proceeds to embark on telling the story of a "family heirloom." After that, I simply tried to stay out of Dickens' way, narrate the show as sparingly as possible, get to the scenes and dialogue Dickens had written and then interspersed music, mostly as transition, that evoked a sense of history, a feeling of simple Christian deference, and musical beauty. At the conclusion of the play, the players quickly revert back to the family reunion, and Grandpa hands down the ring which we had seen go from Scrooge's fiancee, back to Scrooge, and on to the Cratchit family. And so, by subtle innuendo, we reveal we have been watching the descendants of Tiny Tim tell the story of how their family began. I was perhaps, too elusive with the innuendo about the family being Cratchits, as most audience members did not perceive that aspect of the show, but overall, the show captured a heartfelt rendition of this small story that has so captured our collective imagination.

Thoughts on the show:
This show is, despite my name in the author slot, essentially Dickens, albeit Dickens planned to be thetrical. It is intended to be performed on a shoestring: the setup allows this adaptation to be done without all the gradeur of a Guthrie-type production. No elaborate sets, no trickery to present a giant Ghost of Christmas Present, not even food for the Cratchits. It is intended to have the feeling of a home-spun, family presentation put together on a moment's notice. It is best to be able to do as little transitions as possible - keep the action moving and keep everything feeling as if it were pulled down from the attic walls as the show progesses.

For inquiries about performance royalties for this script, please e-mail me.