Community members unite for ‘A Christmas Carol’ production next two weekends

Tiny Tim, Scrooge, The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-to-Come are all coming to life this weekend at the Broadway Theatre.

The Broadway Players and Broadway Playhouse Kids will perform a joint production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

“This is a classic play, but we are performing the 1994 adaptation by John Mortimer,” said Director and Mount Pleasant resident Mike Meakin. “This particular recreation was originally made for the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.”

The production will take place following two weekends at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and one more show at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased online at friendsofthebroadway.org or at the theater box office, 216 E. Broadway St.

The show tells a story of man named Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taken on a journey of self-redemption in an attempt to save his future and to become a happier man himself. Upon the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is taken by three spirits visit him and show him his own Christmas past, present and future. The journey shows him the importance of caring for others and being kind.

“The show is a great way to bring the entire family together,” said Beaverton freshman James Campbell. “It’s a great way to set the mood for the Christmas season, and we have two or three entire families in the show, so it makes the holidays interesting for people both watching and participating in the show.”

As the play is a community theater production, so having full rehearsals can be a logistics nightmare because the cast has so many people, Meakin said. Production on the show began early September for Meakin.

With show time looming, Campbell said he is feeling the nerves of a big production.

“It’s different because it’s not like the normal play,” he said. “We are incorporating a lot of music, and its different for me because I have never done a show where everyone else is speaking in accents, acting like they are from another time for the entire show. So it makes it harder for our job a lot harder to portray a convincing character.”