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Timeless message
ISU Theatre's Jane Cox says "A Christmas Carol" is a special
experience regardless of how many times you've seen it.
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Jane Cox estimates she has seen "A Christmas Carol" on the
stage at least 25 times.
She's seen traditional productions and more offbeat versions. She saw
the holiday tradition in Washington D.C.'s Ford Theater.
One of her favorite childhood memories was traveling to Minneapolis and
Chicago each holiday season to view the Dickens' classic.
"Many people think 'I've seen this before and why should I go again?'
As a person who has seen it at least 25 times, I can honestly say that
anyone can still learn something from 'A Christmas Carol,'" Cox said.
"It's a story of redemption and of how human beings can change. It
talks about the importance of family and how our memories encourage us
to care for our fellow human beings.
"We all know how important these are but we have to be reminded every
now and then," she continued. "After spending a couple of hours
with Scrooge, it encourages us to act upon those things."
Now ISU Theatre and Cox, associate professor of music, are mounting their
own version of "A Christmas Carol."
ISU Theatre will present the holiday classic of the miser, Ebenezer Scrooge,
Dec. 6-7, 12-14 at 7:30 p.m., along with matinee performances on Sunday,
Dec. 8 and 15 at 2 p.m. All performances will be held in the Fisher Theater.
Visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, Scrooge is
brought to redemption by his nephew, Fred, who will not give up on his
uncle and an employee, Bob Crachit, and his family who show more compassion
than Scrooge deserves.
Cox adapted the Dickens classic for the stage eight years ago when the
first ISU Theatre production was performed on campus. Cox, who is also
the play's director, has tweaked the script a little bit this time around,
but the version that will appear on the Fisher Theater stage will again
be faithful to the original Dickens story.
"When we all love something, we don't want to change anything about
it," she says. "Why change something so good?"
Cox's adaptation utilizes four narrators who also take roles in the play.
The two men (Sean Stolper and Nathan Zobel) and two women (Sheena Seibert
and Patti Stringer) appear as street vendors, thieves, party guests and
parents.
This enables Cox to continue to utilize some of the more famous lines
from the Dickens' classic.
"So many of the most quotable lines from 'A Christmas Carol' were
not spoken by a character," Cox said. "By employing narrators
in the show, the audience gets to hear those lines."
Patrick Gouran, associate professor of music, is Scrooge in this production.
Scott Morehead plays Bob Cratchit, while the ghosts are portrayed by Langley
Neely, Megan Powers and Shayla Stevenson. Michael Dahlstrom is the nephew
Fred and Wyatt Rasmussen is Tiny Tim.
Around LAS
December 2-31, 2002
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