The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Tell us about your role in A Christmas Carol. I play one of the Narrators and also one of the Gentlemen.  The Narrator is essentially the voice of Dickens, responsible for introducing scenes and setting the context, and commenting on the action, as a kind of Greek chorus.  The Gentleman I play is humorous, slightly pompous, and good natured. What were some of the challenges you had with this show? What is unusual about the role of the Narrator is that he does not actually interact with any of the other characters, apart from the other Narrator, who is brilliantly played by Dan Lavanga.  He speaks to the audience but not to the other people on stage, which means he does not develop his relationship with others and broaden his character.  The challenge is to explain what is happening, or about to happen, without detracting from the action.  The role of the Gentleman is a fun part - as I said, slightly pompous, and not necessarily all that bright. What do you...

Tell us about your character in A Christmas Carol. Jacob Marley is a ghost of himself. He was just as Scrooge is in the beginning of the play - a shrewd, unfeeling man of business who weighs any situation by the amount of monetary profit he might gain from it. It isn't until he dies that he realizes how much of a waste that is and so he has returned to the one friend, and protege, he had in the world - Ebenezer Scrooge - to save him from the same fate in the afterlife. What were some of the challenges for you in working on this show? Oddly enough, it was the accent that gave me the most trouble. I've done accents throughout my time on stage but finding the right one and sticking with it was hard. Fortunately, I had a patient director and some fellow cast members who could help me find my way. What do you hope audiences will take away from A Christmas Carol? I hope audiences will see how everyone is important to everyone else. There are no insignificant players in the sh...

Tell us about your character in A Christmas Carol. Girl Cratchit is very happy.  She is excited for Christmas.  She likes to help people.  She loves her family very much. What challenges did you face working on this show? Sometimes it can be hard to focus on two things at once, like saying a line and getting a basket to decorate the Christmas tree.  It is also hard to think of Tiny Tim dying and being sad for that scene. What do you hope the audience takes away from A Christmas Carol? Never be mean.  Always be grateful for what you have.

Tell us about your role in A Christmas Carol. My First and primary Character is Fred the nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge and only surviving family member. I am the son of his beloved sister Fan, whom for the most part represented the only light in his life. Fred is is very resolute in his ways and is happy no matter how his uncle treats him or feels about his presence. She died giving birth to me and he resents me for that but also subconsciously yearns for my company. I love my uncle no matter what and I am intent on spreading Christmas cheer to him no matter what. Fred is the life of the party and everywhere he goes people love him for his humility and giving nature. On the other side of the spectrum I play the most feared and dark character being that of the ghost of Christmas Future. He does not speak at all but has a very menacing presence and is symbolic of the most dreadful of outcomes in Scrooge's life should he not take heed of the lessons learned from the previous encou...

Tell us about your character. My character's name is Belinda Cratchit.  She is 11 (I am 10).  I am the middle Cratchit girl.  My dad works for this really mean man named Scrooge and my parents don't like him.  I don't know much about who he is and why he makes my dad so sad all the time but I worry about my parents.  I also worry about my little brother, Tiny Tim because he isn't well.  We are poor but we have a Christmas tree, we have food, and we have each other. What were some challenges you faced working on A Christmas Carol? One of the challenges I have is singing a carol on stage while decorating a tree.  I solved this by practicing the song a lot at home so I didn't think about it anymore.  Also, at first I thought I'd have a hard time feeling sad doing the scene when (spoiler alert!) Tiny Tim dies -- but it turns out it's not really a challenge after all because doing the scene really makes me sad.  The other actors make it feel s...

Ebenezer Scrooge is the ultimate story of Christmas and of Redemption. Ebenezer Scrooge is arguably both one of the most famous characters created by Charles Dickens and in English literature. Scrooge's catchphrase, "Bah, Humbug" is often used to express disgust with many of the modern Christmas traditions. He is the focal character of Dickens 1843 Novella "A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. Dickens describes him thus: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice...". There have been many theories as to how Dickens arrived at the name for the character. My favorite, and I think the one that actually Describes him the best, and influences how I portray him, is that Dickens chose the name Ebenezer which in scripture and history means "the stone of help" to describe the...