LAKE COUNTY — Lake County Theater Company (LCTC), a non-profit organization that seeks to involve the community in the art of theater, will produce a virtual Zoom production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ for performances on December 18, 19, 20, and 24.
The famous ‘A Christmas Carol’ story by Charles Dickens, published in 1843 as a novella, has over the years morphed into play format, movie, musical and now virtual format. The story of a crotchety, mean-spirited Victorian businessman, Ebenezer Scrooge, who hates Christmas and is unkind to his employees, then refuses to give to charity and is rude to his nephew when he invites him to spend Christmas with him. The ghosts of Christmas past, present and future visit Scrooge and transform his life. [according to www.rsc.org.uk]
Marie Schrader, the IT director and video editor of the play, said, “We [LCTC] are trying to change with the times, being difficult times. LCTC is really trying our best to provide quality theater in a new form for both actors and the public.”
Eighteen actors, adult and children, grace the Zoom screen. Alan Fletcher, in his bearded glory plays Charles Dickens, James Paton plays Scrooge, C. Richard Smith is Bob Cratchit, along with Benjamin Miranda, Zoey Wing, Amirah Jassar, Kaitrine Brasier, Edward Borg, Peggy Barthel, Jimmy Reynolds, Nick Hogan, Sam Miller, Ashley Ann Pearce, Zoe Richardson, Rachel Lenard, Cindy Sobel, Annabella Schoot-Burress, Natalie Farrell and Robert Boccabella
Schrader explained, “Everyone has a green screen with a picture on it that makes it look like the characters are in their living room or other locations. The characters interrelate to each other, even appear to pass things to each other. Our challenge was finding backgrounds that fit into the time periods as Ebenezer Scrooge travels to the past, the present and the future to learn the error of his ways.”
Larry Richardson, Charise Reynolds, and Michele Chapman are co-directors and co-producers for the production. “It’s good to have that many directors, so that they get the experience of directing using this medium,” said Schrader.
Reynolds agreed. “We’re going to be using this virtual medium for awhile, so it’s good to have this knowledge and experience.”
“As directors and producers,” Reynolds said, “we’ve attended all rehearsals, took notes, helped the actors with any Zoom difficulties, watched the cobbled-together show numerous times, solicited sponsors. We’re also making a pre show that will have interviews with the actors, their bios, interviews with directors, and the all-important advertisements.”
“The most difficult part of this production is that it’s a new medium for us. There are certain things we didn’t know, until we experienced it. In this county, the internet doesn’t always work properly, so there are times when the actors were perfect, but not the internet. Sometimes we had to chose the recording that was technically perfect over the one that we liked artistically.” Reynolds emphasized, “That doesn’t mean to say, you’re not going to see a great show.”
“The best part,” Reynolds said, “is that it’s always fun to learn a new medium and how to be creative in the midst of COVID.”
Reynolds’ son Jimmy, 11, plays Tiny Tim and the young Scrooge. “I did this same play in 2018, but not virtually. It was LCTC’s children’s version, performed at the fairgrounds.” Sounding wise beyond his years, young Reynolds said, “With virtual scenes you can redo until you get it perfect.” As an example, Reynolds said, “I couldn’t get the acting right as young Scrooge while he was on the phone. I got it through trial and error. Try, try again.”
He spoke about acting live. “When you’re doing it live, you have to do it perfectly, you can’t mess up. It’s a bit more stressful, but more fun in person. Because you get to do it with other people and use your full body rather than just your head, hands and shoulders. You get to express yourself more.”
A miserly, mean character, Scrooge is played by James Paton, who says he comes across as super mean at the start and gets softer; a harsh, glaring white light that changes to a soft yellow light as the play progresses. Paton spoke about interacting with other actors via Zoom versus stage. “Luckily I’ve known a lot of the other actors from working with them over the years so we already had a sense of camaraderie.”
This is Paton’s first virtual play and he spoke about getting the green screen working correctly. “It was difficult to figure out where to look in relation to both screen and the other actor sharing the scene. But in a way,” he said, “the difficulties were the fun things…because in using the green screens, sometimes our hair or our eyes would vanish, so we’d look like ghosts. We corrected that by fixing the lighting or by changing the webcam’s angle.”
“Christmas Present,” said Schrader, “has been overshadowed by the COVID pandemic. Like Scrooge, Lake County Theater Company has had to adapt and change to continue to provide us with theatrical performances. It has and it will be a great time had by all. Merry Christmas!”
LCTC’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ runs December 18, 19, 20, 24 at 7 pm. “Tickets are a Scrooge approved $5,” said Schrader. They can be purchased at LCTC.us.
