Theater

Dickens plays on Argenta stage

The Cratchit Family as  they appear  in Argenta Community Theater’s A Christmas Carol.
The Cratchit Family as they appear in Argenta Community Theater’s A Christmas Carol.

A grumpy old miser, a hardworking assistant, a few spectral visitors and a tale of redemption. Is this some new series on Netflix?

No, silly, it's Argenta Community Theater's production of A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol

7 p.m. Thursday (preview); 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; (Dec. 19-20 shows sold out) 7 p.m. Dec. 21; 8 p.m. Dec. 22-23, Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock

Admission: $10-$30

(501) 353-1443

argentacommunitythe…

The theater will present 11 performances of Charles Dickens' holiday classic, with opening night on Friday. Produced by Judy Tenenbaum and directed by Vincent Insalaco from an adaptation by Little Rock playwright Judy Goss, the play stars Greg Robinson as Ebenezer Scrooge. It includes Ben Grimes as Bob Cratchit, Laura Grimes as Mrs. Cratchit, Tommy Diaz as Mr. Fezziwig, Francesca Bee as the Spirit of Christmas Past, Ben Barham as the Spirit of Christmas Present and Sagan Kinetic as Tiny Tim.

For Insalaco, it's a chance to direct a story he has always adored.

"A Christmas Carol is my absolute favorite holiday movie of all time," he says. "I have probably watched every film version of it 10 times. It's the ultimate story of redemption. It probably, in some way, can speak to everyone -- men, women and children -- and there really aren't a lot of stories like that out there."

For this production, Insalaco wanted to change up the tale a bit.

"I loved the challenge of us being able to write our own version," he says, so he reached out to Goss, who adapted Mrs. Miniver for the ACT in 2015.

"At first, she was a little bit skeptical because she had never read the book," he says. "She called me back after reading it and said, 'This is wonderful. I really want to do this.'"

Goss, who studied adaptation at the University of Texas, confirms that although she'd seen a film version and even a theatrical production, she'd never read Dickens' novella.

"The story is wonderful," she says. "I've studied literature, I taught creative writing, I've read all the Shakespearean plays, but I had not read A Christmas Carol. It's a great story."

First published in 1843 as A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, the novella tells the story of the original penny-pinching curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by four spirits -- his former business partner, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future -- who show him how his selfish behavior affects those around him. It was a commentary on themes of wealth and poverty in Victorian England.

It also made the phrase "Bah, humbug" and the labeling of someone not sufficiently filled with holiday spirit as a "Scrooge" part of the modern lexicon.

Her version, Goss says, will use a narrator -- "It's part of my twist on the way the story will unfold" --although she and Insalaco are both reluctant to divulge too much.

"There are several twists that Judy added that are really fun," Insalaco says, "but I don't know if I want to give them away."

Goss adds, "It's still the same story, with the basic question of will Scrooge, this unhappy skinflint, be redeemed or not?"

This being Christmas, carols will be involved, Insalaco says: "During the transitions, characters will be singing old, Victorian carols that people are familiar with, but probably don't realize are that old."

Helping transform the cast to 1840s England are the costumes of Shelly Hall, who has worked with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre and other venues.

"It's such an elaborate undertaking," Insalaco says. "Our costumes are being made from scratch and she's doing a fabulous job designing all our costumes."

This will be ACT's third original production, which include 2015's Mrs. Miniver and During Wind and Rain from this spring.

The goal, says Insalaco, is to make A Christmas Carol an annual tradition at ACT, with a different cast each year. It's a part of the theater's mission to be a community arts hub.

"This is a community theater," Insalaco says, "and the majority of the people are volunteers who have worked day and night to pull this off. When you do that you involve the community."

photo

Bah, humbug! Greg Robinson is Ebenezer Scrooge.

Style on 12/12/2017

Upcoming Events