A Christmas Carol
Adapted by Amanda Petefish-Schrag and Ben Schrag based on the work of Charles Dickens Original Music by Ben Schrag and Directed by Amanda Petefish-Schrag
This new adaptation frames Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol within the rich tradition of the Victorian ghost story. A dynamic and haunting chorus drives the action, while large‑scale puppetry brings Scrooge and his spectral visitors to life. Blending ensemble storytelling with innovative design, the production centers the power of community—asking what we owe one another as we shape our shared present and imagine a more hopeful future.
Performed in Fisher Theater - November 5, 6 & 7 at 7:30 pm and November 8 at 2:00 pm
AUDITIONS
Thursday August 27, 6pm – 10pm in Carver 308
SignUp for Auditions HERE (this link will be live in August 2026)
Callbacks for A Christmas Carol will be held Fri Aug 28, 6pm – 10pm or Sat Aug 29, 10am – 4pm
Note, the SignUp for Antigone and A Christmas Carol are two separate sign-ups!
Audition Requirements:
Please prepare a 45 sec-to one minute contemporary monologue and one of the sides listed below.
If interested in auditioning for a singing role, you should also prepare 45 seconds of “In the Street the Snow is Drifting,” (ending with the lyric “now the sun’s growing low in the sky”). This section is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD3OfU5m5vg
Audition forms will be filled out upon arrival. Please be prepared to list all times you are unable to rehearse due to class, work and other commitments. Tentative rehearsal schedule is Monday – Friday 6-10pm beginning approximately Sept 10 and running through mandatory tech and production week, ending November 8.
DIRECTORS NOTES
This is a story about community and connections. As such, it depends on a responsive ensemble to bring it to life. Each member of the ensemble will shift between human characters, puppet characters, and the creation of the play’s atmosphere and environment. Actors will work physically and collaboratively, helping to build the world of the play moment by moment.
Actors should be comfortable with movement and open to puppetry. Several ensemble members may also need to sing. Flexibility, range, and a willingness to inhabit a variety of characters and theatrical functions are essential.
Roles
Casting an ensemble of 12–15 performers, from which all roles will be drawn. Ensemble members will take on multiple parts throughout the production, including principal characters and supporting roles.
Sides
MARLEY – I have none to give. Comfort comes from other regions, conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men. Nor can I tell you all. Little is permitted to me. I cannot stay, I cannot rest, I cannot linger anywhere. In life my spirit never wandered far from our money changing hole… now only weary journeys lie before me! No rest, no peace. Just the incessant torture of remorse.
BELLE - You fear the world too much, Ebenezer. All your other hopes have merged into the one hope of being beyond its reproach. Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so. (Beat) You may have pain in this, Ebenezer. But after a time, I know you will dismiss all recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream from which you have at long last awoken. May you be happy in this life you have chosen.
WRAITH 5 – If he wanted to keep ‘em after he was dead, wicked old screw, why wasn’t he more natural in his lifetime? If he had been, he’d have someone to look after him when he was struck with Death, instead of lying there, all by himself, gasping out his last breath. Alone by himself in the end. (Beat) Must’ve been terrified.
SECOND SPIRIT – ‘Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?’ Look at them! The boy is named Ignorance. The girl is named Want. Beware them both. But most of all beware this boy for on his brow is written Doom. Though that writing may yet be erased. But deny it? Slander those who tell it ye? Make it worse and bide the end!