Five years ago, Jamie Stewart had never read Charles Dickens' immortal Yuletide novella, "A Christmas Carol."
Now, he's wondering how he'll get through future holiday seasons without it.
Stewart, who's directing the Argenta Community Theater's production of the timeless tale, has been immersed in the stage piece for the past five years. He said like many cast members, he is finding this final season of the show an emotional experience.
"I think one of the things that brings people back to it year after year is there's so many layers to it," says Stewart, whose day job is as director of music and theater at Southwest Christian Academy in Little Rock.
"There's always something to learn from it, and this is our fourth attempt to learn something new from it as artists. I believe we are experiencing it at a much deeper level this year than ever before, because for those of us who've been connected to it for the last five years, we've lived in Dickens' head for this long and we're starting to feel it with his heart, I believe.
"I'm hoping that some of our patrons that have been to prior versions of the show will notice how it's evolved spiritually, really, into something that's so personal and so powerful. I'm just so excited to be a part of it this last time."
Stewart has been cast as an actor in all of the productions during the five-year run, including this year, and has also served in a variety of directorial capacities. In 2018, he served as musical director; he co-directed the play in 2019; and for last year's modified virtual production, served as assistant director.
Christmas-morning carolers gather on a London street. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Royce West)
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
He said the quality of this year's 31-member cast stands up to the high expectations audiences have of such a well-known play.
"Our cast is made up of seasoned actors and really promising first-time actors," he said. "There's a couple of first-time adult actors in it as well. The talent that we have in our community is really something very impressive." Many cast members play at least two character; some play three.
Eric Harrison plays Ebenezer Scrooge, with Madden Babb, Aiden Roberson and Connor Keeler as his younger selves. Greg Fallon plays Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Present. Chloe Hoofman plays the Ghost of Christmas Past. Matthew Maguire plays Bob Cratchit, with Jaydon Clark as his son, Tiny Tim. Shaun Hartman plays Fezziwig, who also serves as narrator and master of ceremonies.
Little Rock playwright Judy Goss, who adapted the story for the stage, had also never read the original tale before being approached to work on the Argenta project.
"I'm probably the only person in America that that would be true of," she says with a chuckle. "My husband reads it every year and I had seen bits and pieces of old movies of it and I had seen stage productions. I was never as enamored [by] any of that as I was when I read his novella.
"I thought it was just wonderful, and I'm glad I read it as an adult instead of as a child just because it seemed so full of heart and of humor that I never really picked up, except on kind of a basic level, when I would see productions of it, be they film or on stage."
Goss, whose graduate degree from the University of Texas-Austin is in adaptation of poetry and fiction for performance, said her lifelong participation in theater also played a key role in creating a vibrant script.
Ebenezer Scrooge (Eric Harrison) scowls at Christmas Eve visitors to his money-changing office. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Royce West)
'EASY TO COMMUNICATE'
"I have directed plays, so I find it pretty easy to communicate and collaborate with someone else who's directing," she says. "What you would of course imagine and understand is that a playwright, be it with an original script or an adaptation, collaborates with the director and the designers. When you move it to the stage, there are going to be changes or brainstorming or other things that are going to shift and change that script in some way. It is not a script written in stone.
"That, and especially in community theater where each year you're having a new cast call and you're going to have a new group of people and perhaps some of your other theater artists are going to change. At Argenta, it's pretty stable with a really good set of people doing the design work and so on, but we have had changes. I've had some fun having some different twists to emphasize certain things in the story."
One element that is consistent throughout this year's cast and crew is the eagerness to get back to live performance, says Argenta Community Theater executive director Laura Grimes.
"We did a sort of virtual storytelling thing with some of the characters from 'A Christmas Carol' last year and it was really important to us to get this one last production of it this year," she said.
Grimes said the theater has stepped up covid-19 safety protocols for cast, crew and audience members. Patrons over 12 will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door and all audience members are required to wear masks throughout the performance. Seating limits have also been imposed to allow some space in the gallery. She says thus far this season, there has been only positive feedback from the theater-going public and that she expects the same with "A Christmas Carol."
Chloe Hoofman plays the Ghost of Christmas Past. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Royce West)
'ONE MORE TIME'
"Our audiences and subscribers have come to expect it as part of their holiday plans," she said. "We wanted to be able to bring it back one more time before we kind of reinvent the Christmas wheel next year."
Stewart agrees, saying the return of live theater feels like one big step back toward normalcy.
"As a group, both administrative and as a cast, we've talked multiple times about this being something we consider a gift to the community," he says. "We're putting our heart and soul in it because we want our community to come and feel something and enjoy Christmas, all of us together.
"There's such passion because of the year away from theater and this post-covid world we're in. The impact on those of us who just really love this art form has created a level of enthusiasm such that people just need to come and experience it."
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None“A Christmas Carol”
What: Adapted for the stage by Judy Goss from the Charles Dickens classic
Where: Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock
When: Preview, 7 p.m. today; 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Dec. 17-18; 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 18; 7 p.m. Tuesday-Dec. 16
Tickets: $30 ($20 for tonight’s preview)
Information: (501) 353-1443; argentacommunitytheater.org
Covid-19 protocols: Patrons over 12 will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door and all audience members are required to wear masks throughout the performance. Seating is limited to allow some space in the gallery.