"A Christmas Carol" Begins December 5

"Marley was dead: to begin with..."

TheatreSquared premieres new live stage adaptation

On stage December 5-29, 2013 in Northwest Arkansas

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — November 5, 2013 — TheatreSquared Artistic Director Robert Ford and Managing Director Martin Miller announced today the cast and creative team for the theatre's original adaptation of Charles Dickens's holiday classic, A Christmas Carol. Directed by Morgan Hicks (Noises Off, Boeing-Boeing), this world premiere stage adaptation will feature eight professional actors performing more than 40 roles.  Performances are scheduled for December 5-29, 2013, in the 175-seat Studio Theatre at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville. Tickets range from $22-36 ($10/under 30) and may be purchased by calling the Walton Arts Center Box Office at (479) 443-5600 or visiting theatre2.org.

"Charles Dickens himself performed A Christmas Carol hundreds of times, playing every role from Scrooge to Fezziwig," said Robert Ford.  "He started a grand tradition.  His story — of four ghosts rudely waking a miser and taking him, literally, on the ride of his life — has justly become one of the world's best-known holiday tales. We're delighted to bring Northwest Arkansas its first original, professional stage production of this enduring classic."

InA Christmas Carol, heartless and shrewd Ebeneezer Scrooge spends his days amassing a fortune and scorning the company of others in grimy Victorian London. On Christmas Eve, he is deeply unsettled by the appearance of four ghosts at his bedside who warn him that a dire fate is in store unless his life changes course — and soon. Charles Dickens’s classic tale of redemption, rediscovered each year by generations of families, is newly reimagined for the stage by TheatreSquared in a holiday gift for Arkansas audiences of every age and walk of life.

The professional cast for A Christmas Carol includes Jeffrey Baumgartner, Noah Chacon, Jenny Guy, Bryce Kemph, Kathy Logelin, Justin Scheuer, John T. Smith, and Nate Stahlke. The creative team includes Morgan Hicks (director), Megan Truscott (scenic designer), David Stoughton (lighting designer), Holly Payne (costume designer), Will Eubanks (sound designer), Ginny Headrick (properties designer), Joseph Fletcher (stage manager), Emily Bohannan (assistant stage manager), and Josh Tillotson (technical director).

Tickets are on sale now at the Walton Arts Center Box Office, and can be reserved by calling (479) 445-6333 or by visiting theatre2.org. Performances are scheduled Thursdays at 7:30, Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 2:00 and 7:30, and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:30.  Tickets range from $22 to $36. A limited number of $10 tickets are also available for patrons under the age of 30 through the theatre’s “30 Under 30” program.  The performance will run 90 minutes with no intermission and is suitable for all ages.

TheatreSquared’s locally produced and nationally acclaimed productions reach 22,000 patrons each year. The company is Northwest Arkansas’s only year-round professional theatre, offering a unique audience experience in its intimate 175-seat theatre at Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios. In 2011, TheatreSquared was recognized by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, as one of the nation’s ten most promising emerging theatres. For further information, contact TheatreSquared at (479) 443-5600 or visit theatre2.org.

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Major funding for the TheatreSquared Season 8 is provided by The Walton Family Foundation, Inc.; by The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation; by Joel and Lynn Carver; by Nick and Carolyn Cole; and by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Major marketing support for TheatreSquared Season 8 is provided by the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotions Commission. Media sponsors include NWA Media, CitiScapes, KUAF, Mailco USA and The Fayetteville Flyer.