Organic Theater presents alternate take on 'Christmas Carol'
A holiday classic is getting a fresh take this weekend in Naperville.
The Organic Theater Company from Chicago will be staging "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol" on the campus of North Central College.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. today, Dec. 11, through Dec. 13 and 2 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14 in Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St.
The play, written by award-winning actor and director Tom Mula, tells the traditional Charles Dickens tale through the eyes of the ghost of Jacob Marley, the former business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge.
"In this case, Jacob Marley is charged with redeeming Scrooge and it's the act of redeeming someone that grants him his redemption so it's the ultimate in giving," director Alexander Gelman said.
Mula himself spent years playing Scrooge in the Goodman Theatre's productions of the original "A Christmas Carol" and wrote his alternate version as a one-man show that eventually grew to a four-person cast.
"The piece was written with profound understanding and knowledge of 'A Christmas Carol' as only someone who has lived inside it for years could have," Gelman said. "It was also written with great understanding of the art of the theater. It's a great ride of imagination for the audience."
The holiday show will be the first time the Organic Theater Company, the second-oldest theater company in Chicago, will stage a show in the Western suburbs.
They'll take the stage at Meiley-Swallow Hall, a recently renovated former church that now houses a 240-seat thrust-stage theater surrounded closely by seating on three sides.
Gelman said the theater is "a fabulous space, beautifully designed."
"The lovely thing for us is they (thrust-stage theaters) carry with them such great energy as opposed to a proscenium theater that gives you perhaps a perfect picture," Gelman said. "There's a sense of community energy, the performers and audience are at one with each other."
Tickets for the show are $30 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. For more information, call (630) 637-7469 or visit northcentralcollege.edu/show.
<p class="factboxheadblack">If you go</p> <p class="News"><b>What:</b> "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol"</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11-13; 2 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St., Naperville</p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $30 adults, $20 students and seniors</p> <p class="News"><b>Info:</b> (630) 637-7469 or <a href="http://www.northcentralcollege.edu/show" target="new">www.northcentralcollege.edu/show</a></p>