An Inside Look at A Christmas Carol, Part 6 (Mister Bah Humbug Himself)

Thomas D. Mahard is our guest blogger for our final installment of A Christmas Carol blogs.  After being in the show for quite some time… he celebrated his 1,000th performance of the show at the beginning of the run this year, but now as Ebenezer Scrooge.  He is doing a magnificent job portraying the unfeeling miser and if you haven’t seen him yet, you only have until Dec 20, 2009 to do so.  A giant THANKS to Tom and all of our guest bloggers for the inside info on this beloved holiday tradition.

~Travis Walter

Thomas D. Mahard as Ebenezer Scrooge

After only 24 years of acting in A Christmas Carol, I’m finally getting the chance to play a role I’ve wanted to play my entire career.  I’ve performed the role 4 times as an understudy, so I entered the rehearsal period with a solid working knowledge of the words and blocking, as well as having some ideas of things I wanted to try.  Terry Carpenter (our esteemed director) was very open to all my ideas, and we incorporated many of them.

Playing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge requires a great deal of stamina especially when we start doing 9 and 10 show weeks.  Consequently, I used much of the rehearsal period like a workout session, trying never to coast and always trying to stay in the moment.  I knew that the harder I pushed myself in rehearsals, the easier it would be once I got on stage.

So many people think of Scrooge as a sort of cardboard cutout figure.  He is greedy and mean in the beginning, and generous and happy at the end. In order for the audience to connect with him, however, he must be real.  He must have redeeming qualities so that they will root for him in his fantastic journey towards redemption.  Although I revere the work of all the past Scrooges (and have shamelessly stolen all their best bits) it has been most important for me to make the part uniquely my own.  I had to take that cardboard image the audience has of Scrooge, and flesh him out with my own real emotions, my own humor, my own sense of pain and loss, and my own sense of joy.  Only if the audience can accept Scrooge, can associate with his pain and fears and longings, can they truly feel the joy and ecstasy of his redemption, and leave the theatre with that warm glow of the true meaning of Christmas.

~Thomas D. Mahard

An Inside Look at A Christmas Carol, Part 5 (My Future’s So Bright… I’ve Gotta Wear Stilts?!?)

The last and… tallest of the spirits in A Christmas Carol weighs in with his two cents about playing an ominous figure, walking on stilts and the thrill of being able to perform during the holidays.  This excellent blog reminds us that it is never too late to change our lives.  Wonderful work, Patrick!

~Travis Walter

Patrick O'Connor Cronin as The Spirit of Christmas Future and Thomas D. Mahard as Ebenezer Scrooge

Portraying one of the spirits of A Christmas Carol at Meadow Brook Theatre is truly an honor. Seeing theatrical productions at MBT was actually one of the first things that threw me into the whole “I want to be an actor” state of mind. I’ve been seeing shows there since I was at least six or seven years old. And having a high school teacher for a mom, who would use almost any excuse to take her students to a play (whether it pertains to the studied material at the moment or not) certainly didn’t hurt. Yeah! That’s right! Sorry St. Hugo I feel bad for making you think I was sick all of those times. What!? I was learning things! Research if you will. Who wants to read The Three Musketeers when you can watch them live on stage? I always did learn more by observing anyway.

Preparation for my role of Christmas Future is quite simple actually. Less than the seven habits of highly successful ghosts actually! (attempt at a joke that would pertain to the masses ten years ago… sorry)
#1 DON’T FALL! YOU’RE ON STILTS! Doing so would make everyone uncomfortable. This only happened once during my three years actually. During the first tech rehearsal of my first year was the occurrence. It didn’t really hurt anything but my pride, though the chuckle of a few friends in the tech crew watching someone looking like a drunken skeleton hit the deck was less than fun for me.

#2 DON’T ADD ANY LINES! Oh did I mention I don’t have any lines? Sneezing or clearing my throat would make the Specter seem less than effective I would wager. Since the spirit looks like Death, it probably wouldn’t look good to have a coughing fit while Scrooge has “learned the things I have shown him.”

#3 REALIZE THAT KIDS AREN’T ADULTS! During the student matinee performances some children are actually chilled to the bone when I show up on stage. This always makes me feel quite affective and pleases me a great deal! It’s funny how much we can learn from children. They merely sit back and take it all in for the most part. While others (adults) have the need to have an answer. “He’s on stilts!” Is always a phrase I hear during high school and adult audiences. I won’t take it too personally however. How many skull faced eight and a half foot tall people do we really run into every day at Costco anyway?

All in all, with all joking aside. I believe my character shows Scrooge (Thomas D. Mahard) the way things could be. I firmly believe that the future is not written in stone as the name “Ebenezer Scrooge” is illuminated on the tombstone. Personally my take on Future is somewhat a selfish one. Since I also play Young Scrooge in the play, it makes it easier to connect with the character Scrooge as an older man. I feel that Future is trying to light a beacon not to follow, but to stay away from. Scrooge could so easily end up being just another tortured soul roaming in the dark if he doesn’t change his ways. Hey. Let’s not let that happen.

Also. Let me end this blog in saying how much of an awesome thrill it is to be able to share the stage/offstage with so many talented people. It throws a smile on my face that I actually get to go to work everyday during this holiday season, and get to do what I love the most! Thank You Meadow Brook!

~Patrick O’Connor Cronin

An Inside Look at A Christmas Carol, Part 4 (No Time Like The Present)

Today’s guest blogger is Paul Hopper.  He has played MANY roles in A Christmas Carol over the years, but is currently playing The Spirit of Christmas Present.  In his blog he shares a lot about becoming ‘Christmas Present’… feeling his joy… learning about what ‘family’ means… and sharing a dire warning for the future.

~Travis Walter

Paul Hopper as The Spirit of Christmas Present and Thomas D. Mahard as Ebenezer Scrooge

Many people have asked me over the years “What’s it like to be Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol?”   “Are you indeed a ghost?”  “How do you prepare for such a role?”  “Who is he to Scrooge?”  And “What does it all mean?!!!”.  My answer to those people who have approached me either before or after a show or on the street or at a restaurant or in a grocery store was always, “I have no earthly idea”.  This was because the answer would be so long winded that it would erode the magic that is A Christmas Carol and cause them to have a fit of yawning, or faint in their soup, or in the worst case, convulsions.  I shall attempt, at this time, to answer some of these queries with the fervent hope that your eyes, dear reader, do not begin to droop.

Oh, I do understand, my friend.  Whenever an actor talks about his craft it is only marginally exciting to another actor.  And in my 37 years in this profession, whenever I have discussed a particular nuance of a character or a scene, I have been known to leave even my fellow thespians asleep or to have them run screaming from the room.  So with your indulgence and in the hope you have an adequate supply of No-Doz, here goes.

Simply stated, Christmas Present is the embodiment of the joy that is Christmas. (Well, that was concise and to the point.  Do you feel the wind building?) The love, the hope, the good will toward your fellow man, and the charity you feel and wish for all people is encased in this character.  About this point, if they’re still conscious, people ask “Why does he laugh so much?”  The love that he feels for everyone, including Scrooge, is so all encompassing; there is no other expression that can convey it.  There is no other release for that joy.  Other Actors have asked me, “How can you laugh that full and that long?  Whenever I try it on-stage my diaphragm hurts for a week!”  My immediate response is “I have no earthly idea.”  What I’m thinking is “That’s because you’re forcing it and not feeling it.”  When you let it fill you, there is no pain.  There is no technique. There is only love, only joy.  It is my dearest wish for all people to know that joy, that charity, that love just once in their existence because it can be life altering.

Present shows Scrooge the effect that this all encompassing love has on those in his life, the people of London, Crachit, and his nephew Fred, and how those closest to him harbor no ill will toward him and indeed are grateful to have him in there lives.  Even though he is a sour old curmudgeon, they both offer up a toast to him.  He is a part of them.  All he has to do is open his heart enough for them to be a part of him.  Family.

When Present’s time is nearly gone, he leaves Scrooge with a dire warning, the image of the two children Want and Ignorance.  Want represents for me the understanding that there are untold millions in this world a lot less fortunate than I am.  I believe that if I woke up this morning with change in my pocket, I am richer than 80% of the world’s population.  Ignorance, for me, is not an expression of a College education or a Masters Degree.  It is intolerance.  If you have neither idea nor any desire to understand what another person is going through, what their life is like, you become closed off, self centered, selfish, intolerant, and inevitably angry.  Ignorance is the trait to beware most of all.  It will lead to doom.

In my humble estimation, when I learn of all the goings on in our present world, I feel that Want and Ignorance are no longer little children but are currently teenagers.  God help us if they should ever reach adulthood.

Is Christmas Present a ghost?  No.  I think of him more as a spirit.  I believe he is more in the vein that Dickens actually phrased him.  The Spirit of Christmas Present, in every sense of the word.

“Why does he look so much like Santa Clause?”  Again, Dickens.  What better image to use to express the joy that is Christmas than the image of Old Saint Nick.  He’s such a Dickens.

~Paul Hopper

An Inside Look at A Christmas Carol, Part 3 (A Look Back Before Moving Forward)

For our third installment of the A Christmas Carol blog… we look back on Scrooge’s life with Sara Catheryn Wolf who plays the Ghost of Christmas Past.  Sara lets us know about what it’s like to have compassion for such a ‘humbug’ and the struggles of forgiving yourself.  Visit www.mbtheatre.com for more information and for tickets to see A Christmas Carol.

~Travis Walter

Sara Catheryn Wolf as the Ghost of Christmas Past

I love playing the Ghost of Christmas Past. Every year I find something new in the role. Every performance offers a new discovery- what is the best about Past is that she has to react based on Scrooge’s needs; why she must show certain scenes, what she hopes to accomplish by showing them. It’s easy to say that the spirit is trying to change him, but that is a kind of cop out. She’s doing more than that. She isn’t just trying to let him see the evil of his ways, she’s trying to help him forgive himself as well in a way. She’s not trying to just get him to be compassionate about others, she also wants him to be compassionate to himself as well. It’s hard to look back on your life sometimes and forgive yourself, embrace your humanity and reach out to others if you feel you’ve been failed by so many, and I think the spirit wants Scrooge to take that risk again. Money was a safe spouse in many ways- he could control it, it wouldn’t leave him, he could rely on what it had to offer. But the problem with money was that it alienated him from others. I think the spirit asks him to take risks, to face what hurts and see that he can survive it. He needs this lesson before he can even face the other two spirits, I think.

To prepare for the role, I read the book. And if you’ve read the book, you’ll see that the spirit is written as androgynous, neither old nor young, but both at the same time. Obviously we’ve taken some liberties with the spirit in form, but that allowed me to break with the archetype a bit more. I don’t think necessarily about her femininity, the dress and hair can do that for me. I was able to do the make-up plan myself to make her just a touch less human, something dreamy and a bit unreal. Ultimately, I had to find the compassion in myself for my fellow man. I imagine Scrooge sometimes as a moron that cuts you off while driving, as the head of a huge bank that throws people out on the street when they can’t make their payments on time, etc. It’s hard to have compassion for those people, and they are the ones that need it the most. Sometimes though, I imagine Scrooge as my own Dad, and the need to save him becomes more immediate and connected. Of course, my Dad is no Scrooge, he’s quite the opposite, but it’s a terrific “as if”- a tool we can use as actors to evoke a response in ourselves.

It’s also a tremendous pleasure to perform it for you folks. Your energy is such a part of what we do on stage. It is much more fun when you’re there, so come on out and see us!

~Sara Catheryn Wolf

An Inside Look at A Christmas Carol, Part 2 (A Visit From an Old Friend)

In our second installment of the A Christmas Carol blog… Aaron T. Moore talks about breathing life into a character seven years expired, being the first of four ‘Ghosts’ to visit Scrooge and an outlook of redemption.  Enjoy his story and then see the show! It runs until Dec 20, 2009.  Visit www.mbtheatre.com for more information.

~Travis Walter

Aaron T. Moore as The Ghost of Jacob Marley

Without hyperbole, Marley’s ghost is the most fun I’ve ever had with a character on stage. Though somewhat daunting in preparation for the role, the payoff is well worth the adventure of getting into makeup an hour before the show and hefting 40lbs of chains sewn to a jacket on my back. Marley’s journey offers hope for Scrooge and a chance for his own retribution. He is an Oracle by his own volition, come to grant Scrooge one last chance at redemption. A chance Marley himself was never given. And even though he has no hope himself of escaping the horrors of this strange purgatory to which he has been consigned, he still comes back to warn Scrooge there is a chance of turning his life around. It is his only act of kindness.

Marley is a true pleasure to create, and I have had the good fortune of doing so under two wonderful directors! This is my second round with Marley in three years, and I finally feel as if I can enjoy the interaction that comes with an audience and Scrooge. Though he is supposed to be frightening in many ways, what is most enjoyable is finding moments of humor and compassion in my conversations with Scrooge (Thomas D. Mahard) on stage. They were, despite their terrible practices, close friends and colleagues, and there is a wonderful moment of recognition between the two when they have one last chance to be more than colleagues.

Had Marley not been able to come back, Scrooge would very likely have never reformed. I think Marley would find any means necessary to warn Scrooge. Sometimes, as I’m in the bowels of the theatre awaiting my entrance, i jokingly think: “Couldn’t Marley just have easily sent a letter?” And that letter would read:

Dearest Ebenezer,

Change NOW! Or Chains forever!

Yours,
Jacob Marley

Subtle and simple, but perhaps not nearly as powerful.

Enjoy and thank you for your patronage

~Aaron T. Moore
Actor/Director/Instructor
MFA – Acting,  proud Member of AEA

An Inside Look at A Christmas Carol, Part 1

This Christmas season I thought it would be fun to let you know a few of the backstage stories that go into making A Christmas Carol possible.  I will be updating the blog once or twice a week with insights written by those working on the show.  This week we have Terry W. Carpenter our Associate Director at the theatre and also the Director/Stage Manager of A Christmas Carol giving you an inside look at the timetable that keeps A Christmas Carol ticking…

~Travis W. Walter

Belle's Family Christmas

Christmas at Meadow Brook Theatre lasts almost as long as it does at Hallmark stores.  Soon after Labor Day and the start of the new school year, we hold auditions for the children’s roles in the show and find out what new faces are eager to perform with us and which kids from last season may have grown out of their past roles and maybe not yet into a new one.  Soon after that comes singing auditions for the carollers who sing in the lobby before the show and then become the guests onstage at the Fezziwig and Fred’s parties.  This year we were able to use two of our interns with us for the season as the tenors and were lucky enough to have the sopranos, altos and basses from last year return.  Many of the adult roles are played by actors who have been in their roles for several seasons, so we have let them know often as early as springtime that we will be able to employ them again for the holidays. Sometimes one or another isn’t able to accept our offer or has decided to take a role at a different theatre for this time of year, and the returning actors may find themselves shifted around into a new configuration of roles.

By the beginning of October once the first show in our season has been built in the set, costume and prop shops, it’s time for those staffs to bring the “Carol” items out of storage to refreshen, repair and replace as necessary and for the costume shop  alter costume pieces to fit the new cast members.  Well before Halloween rehearsals are underway, since by mid-November we’re already performing matinees for school groups.  This year our performance on the day after Thanksgiving will be the 9^th of this season and the 1,158^th performance of “A Christmas Carol” at Meadow Brook Theatre.

I’m one of the few now on staff who were here for that 1^st performance in 1982 when the set (not the same as we use now) was still being finished behind the curtain while the audience was taking their seats.  I had just closed the show before “Carol” and was about to go into rehearsal with the one to follow.  But my wife Linda had made many of the costumes, so of course I was there on opening night and we knew we’d seen something special.  Neither were born at the time but our sons Adam and Joel saw the show as soon as they were old enough to sit through it.  They each ended up playing Tiny Tim and then other roles in following years until they were too old.  We hosted the out-of-town actors for Thanksgiving dinners for many years, and “A Christmas Carol” became part of our family tradition. I now have stage managed this show nineteen seasons and directed it for five and probably know more about it than anyone except for Reid Johnson, the lighting designer who from his booth has watched virtually every performance even in the seasons when I was working on the show set to open in January – when the scenery, props and costumes go back into storage to wait for the yearly cycle to start all over again.

~Terry W. Carpenter, Associate Director of Meadow Brook Theatre

I’d like to say I’m sorry for not blogging…

…but I’m not because we’ve been selling so many tickets I haven’t had the chance to write a new entry! I’m pretty sure that in the grand scheme of things that’s probably a good thing.

So, let’s catch up with each other shall we?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow closed on Sunday with a wonderful turn out of over 500 attendees! If you missed the show check out the pictures here. Those patrons who joined us on Halloween received a little something extra for their ticket…cider and donuts.

All in all the show was a ton of fun for us at MBT and we hope you all enjoyed yourselves as well.

A Christmas Carol is on the horizon, and we’re all gearing up for the 27th year! In celebration of this Associate Director (and “ACC ” director) Terry Carpenter asked me to invite you all to participate in a fun winter event.  Here are the details:

Fans of Meadow Brook Theatre…  Friends of Detroit Public Television…  We’re a good match!  Come join the festivities as MBT folks answer phones for the DPT Winter Pledge Drive.  It’s an opportunity to have some fun, do some good and promote Meadow Brook Theatre.  Here are the details:

Time:   6:00 to 11:00 p.m.  (They provide a lovely dinner at 6:00 – dessert & snacks later)
Date:   Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Place:  Riley Broadcast Center  (Their new offices & studios)
1 Clover Court
Wixom, MI 48393
248-912-0760

To sign up and/or get more information, contact MBT at 248-370-3316.

I went to this event last year and it was a ton of fun.  We supported DPTV and we wore bright red sweatshirts that said “Bah Humbug” on them and hats from A Christmas Carol. It was a great night, and I’d love for new people to join us this year!

Till Later!

Savannah

Breathing Life into a Classic…

Rusty Mewha and Katie Hardy as Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel with Aaron T. Moore as Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt

So, I am sitting at work, at 1:00 am, considering going home, when I find myself thinking about today’s rehearsal.  We are now at the stage where we run the entire show every day (an exciting phase to be in).  But… as we tread on the brink of Opening, I wanted to reflect on what drew my attention to this piece in particular.

Many adaptations have been made of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. So when choosing the show for the season I read about 18 versions of the script.  All soooooo different.  I knew that I was looking for a version that was very close to the original story.  I didn’t want people to leave (as they so often do in films) and say “the book was better.”  I needed something that would capture the essence of the story and not stray too far from Irving’s original written word.

Finally, I found what I was looking for… a new adaptation by a relatively new playwright.  This version kept the Ghost story that we have come to love so well, about a hapless schoolmaster and the Headless Horseman, and still gave equal weight to the love story that this fairytale tells so well.  The love story that first drew my attention to this piece.

Everyone has felt a passion for something… at sometime or other we’ve identified this feeling as love… once we’ve given this feeling a name, we need to express it in the best way we can.  Will anyone care? or even take us seriously if we do?  This is the basis for this beautiful love story set in the American East in 1790.

The first time I read Washington Irving’s short story I fell in love immediately.  I am pleased to say that I continue to fall in love with the story every day when I sit in rehearsals and watch this very talented cast bring Irving’s words to life.  I am quite a ‘task master’ in rehearsals as the actors may tell you, but it all pays off in the end when you see the cast lift these characters off the page and into reality.  I am so proud of all of them and the work they are doing.  We still have a long way to go before opening, but we’re in great shape. I hope the audience will share my passion for this story and my respect and admiration for the very gifted actors/designers/crew/staff who have worked so hard to make this show a reality!

~Travis

Zombies!

MBT has decided to try a little something different this year to promote our first show the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  We’re having a Zombie Walk! St. Lucifer’s Asylum, a top rated haunted house in Flint, is partnering with us to have the walk in downtown Rochester.

So, wondering what a Zombie Walk is? It’s really simple…just dress up like a Zombie and walk with all of the other Zombies on the route acting Zombie-ish. Done.  After a little Googling (is that a word?) I found out that Zombie Walks are popular all over the world. Apparently it’s all the rage to stumble around pretending to eat brains.  I’m game!

Here are some cool articles that I found about Zombie Walks:

http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/09/21/Metro/13034.html (Iowa City)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTQCJGllHos  (Sydney Australia)

I guess one of the goals of a Zombie Walk is to try to beat the Guiness Book of World Records for most Zombies at a single walk. Oddly enough Grand Rapids, MI holds the record right now with 4,000+ Zombies. Go Michigan Zombies! This being our first walk we don’t have any desire to bring a Guiness judge out to try and beat the record, we are just planning on walking from University and Main in downtown Rochester to the Rochester Mills where all Zombies get half off appetizers. It will be just a relaxed night of Zombies out on the town.

So if you’re feeling a little bit undead this Sunday join the fun. Check out the flyer below for more details.

Thanks guys. Rock out!

~Savannah

Off and running!

After a brief hiatus I am back from Las Vegas, and full of lots of events to blog about. The theatre is cooking with gas now.  The summer calm is over, and we’re in the thick of rehearsals and building and designing and ticket sales and on and on and on!!!!

Tuesday was the Legend of Sleepy Hollow Meet and Greet.  Meet and Greet is a reception that we have right before the first rehearsal of every show during the season.  he lovely ladies of our theatre Guild make yummy baked goods and such and we feast and get to know our new cast! This year was cider and donuts for inquiring minds.

After the Meet and Greet everyone was invited downstairs to the rehearsal room to look at Liz Moore’s renderings for the costumes.  Ever the crafty one, Liz decided to do a handful of her renderings in oil paint this year.

Here’s a picture of them:

This picture doesn’t begin to do the paintings justice, but you can see them at the show because Liz has graciously agreed to auction them off during the run of the show!!!  I would especially love the woman in purple, it’s so beautiful.

Anyway, after Liz’s presentation was over and contracts were signed the cast walked to the scene shop to get a look at the set Brian (BK) Kessler’s set design, and the parts of the set that have already been constructed. I tagged alog to take pictures and it looks sweet! Check out the picture below:

The set is very natural looking with real dead trees and stones. The stones as you can see from the picture of our carpenter Cobey are being carved free form by the shop out of massive sheets of foam.  I promise I’ll take a trip over there later in the process to show you some sneak peeks once the foam is painted.

After our journey to the shop the cast headed into their first rehearsal, and I went back to the office to sell more tickets for this awesome show! It starts in just a few weeks so stay tuned for a lot of fun posts to come because there are a lot of fun things yet to come before “Sleepy Hollow” is ready for an audience!

Later gators!

~Savannah