By Veronica Clements
Round Table reporter
Sorting through costumes in the school’s dressing room, Susan Thornton, the co-director for Middletown High School’s play A Christmas Carol, exclaimed her excitement.
“It’s fun!” she said about the play. “It puts you in the Christmas spirit! But it is a lot of wrangling of a lot of voices.”
A Christmas Carol features the classic story by Charles Dickens about a miserly, cold-hearted man named Scrooge, who on Christmas night is visited by three ghosts and is given the ultimatum to change his ways or be doomed.
In order to bring the story to life onstage, the MHS Theatre department has been working on the play non-stop, starting with auditions in late September, then moving to practicing two to three times a week and having technical meetings on the weekends to build the set pieces. Not only that, but elementary and middle school students have joined the cast to portray the younger characters in the play.
“It can be challenging with so many bodies on stage,” Thornton said, “but they [the elementary students] are so energetic and eager to please!”
For some of the MHS freshmen in theatre, this will be their first official play for the school. Duncan Boszko, portraying Scrooge’s deceased partner Jacob Marley, was “ecstatic” for the chance to be on the high school stage.
“I love the rush and the feel of people just watching you perform,” Boszko said. “I love getting out into the audience and creating some sort of reaction.”
Boszko said he was also excited for a big turnout. “It’s going to be a blast!”
Behind the scenes, the stage crew has been working to make sure the set and technical aspects of the play are finished by performance time. MHS senior, Cassidy Cregan, is currently one of the two stage managers for the play.
“So far it’s going very well,” she said. “Things are getting done on time.”
In anticipation for the performance nights, Cregan said she expects that “everything will be fine”.
“The first night is always hectic because it is the first real run-through, but everything always ends up working out.”
A Christmas Carol will feature Matt Carlstrom as Scrooge, Tara Forseth as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Jessica Rota as the Ghost of Christmas Future, and Jacob Holcomb and Sam Terbush as the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Performances will be on Dec. 9 and 10 at 7:00 p.m. and Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. at the school. Tickets are $8.00 for students and seniors and $10.00 for adults.
