Discovery

GuideA CHRISTMAS

CAROL

P.L.A.Y. (Performance = Literature + Art + You) Student Matinee Series

2013-2014 Season

P.L.A.Y. Student Matinee Series Sponsor

Passport ProgramSponsor

Written by

Charles Dickens

* * *Adapted

and Directed

by Mark

Cuddy* * *Music

andLyrics

by Gregg Coffin

Dear Educators,We’re excited to be trying something different this year with oureducational resource offerings for A Christmas Carol. Every year,this classic production that transcends time and generation isexperienced by kindergarteners, high school seniors, and every agedchild in between during our Student Matinee performances. Thisproduction not only reaches the most children, but also the widestrange of ages and grades. With that in mind, we’ve decided toexpand this year’s Discovery Guide to include online resources,content, and activities that can be accessed directly by you and yourstudents – as a class, in small groups, or independently.

While the Discovery Guide you receive prior to every P.L.A.YStudent Matinee production is intended for you - the educator -to read, absorb, and then integrate into your own classroomcurriculum or lesson plans, these additional pages of online contentcan be explored firsthand by elementary, middle, and high schoolstudents. They are designed to deepen your students’ connection tothe world of the play and to enhance each student’s theatreexperience here at Geva.

By offering more materials that can be examined by students of allages directly – as printed or photocopied sheets of paper for smallgroups of students to work on together, shared as a projection at thefront of the classroom for everyone to participate in, or pulled upon a computer or tablet for an individual to contemplateindependently – our goal is to provide an easily accessible, engagingway for students to interact with the production before and aftertheir trip to the theatre.

In order to locate these online resources, visit http://www.gevatheatre.org/programs-for-students/. There, under the P.L.A.Y.tab, you’ll find a series of downloadable, printable PDF files beneaththe “Student Matinees” heading and A Christmas Carol sub-heading. Materials will be added throughout the run of studentmatinees so be sure to check back weekly for new additions.

After the Student Matinee, you will receive a short survey to fill outabout your experience. There will be questions pertaining to theDiscovery Guide, the online resources, and if/how you or yourstudents used them. The more detailed reflections we receive aboutwhat you thought, what you used, what you didn’t, and why, themore we can gauge the effectiveness of these resources andcontinue to improve them in future years. We wish you a very merry holiday season and we’ll see you atthe theatre!

Sincerely,

Lara RhynerAssociate Director of Educationlrhyner@gevatheatre.org(585) 420-2058

11

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Synopsis . . . . . 2

London inthe 1800s. . . . 2

Adaptations:What StoryDo They Tell? . 3

Who isScrooge? . . . . 4

What isMusic’sRole? . . . . . . . 5

DifferentWorlds,DifferentSounds. . . . . . 6

How ScroogeSees theWorld . . . . . . . 7

“Memories areGhosts”. . . . . . 9

SPECIAL EVENTJoin us for ourannual open

house, “Magic inthe Making” and

get a free glimpsebehind the scenes

of New York state’smost attended

regional theatre!

Visit the set of AChristmas Carol and

see where actorsrehearse the

productions thatappear on our

stages. Meet theartisans who workoffstage to make

things happenonstage: See whatit takes to put a

production togetherby visiting the

costume and propshops. Discoverthe intricacies oflighting a show,designing soundand much more!

Discover Geva’sEducational and

Literary programsand sample ataste of the

popular ComedyImprov series.

Join us for “Magicin the Making” at

Geva TheatreCenter, 75

Woodbury Blvd.,Rochester NY,

14607. Monday,December 9,

6:00pm – 8:00pm.Admission is FREE.

For more informa-tion, contact

the Box Office at(585) 232-4382.

“Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.” – Scrooge

Cover image, from left:Ignorance (Michael

Bennett), The Ghost ofChristmas Present(Kilty Reidyl); and

Want (Megan Mueller). (Photo by Ken Huth.)

Participation in this productionand supplemental activities

suggested in this guidesupport the following

NYS Learning Standards:A: 2, 3, 4; ELA: 1, 2, 3; SS: 2

22

SynopsisA Christmas Carol begins on a "cold, bleak, biting" Christmas Eve in 1843, exactly sevenyears after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge has noplace in his life for kindness, compassion or charity. He hates Christmas and repeatedlyrefers to it as "humbug.” He refuses his nephew Fred's dinner invitation and rudely turnsaway two gentlemen who seek a donation to provide a Christmas dinner for the Poor. Hisonly "Christmas gift" is allowing his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, ChristmasDay off with pay – which he only does in order to keep up with social convention.

Returning home that evening, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost. Marley warns Scrooge tochange his ways lest he suffer the same miserable afterlife as himself. He alerts Scrooge thathe will be visited by a succession of three ghosts who will accompany him to variouslocations with the hope of helping him to undergo a transformation.

The first of the spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of hisboyhood and youth, hoping to remind him of a time when he was more innocent. The secondspirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to several current Christmas settings,most notably the family feast of Scrooge's impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit, introducing hisyoungest son, Tiny Tim, who is seriously ill but cannot receive treatment due to Scrooge'sunwillingness to pay Cratchit a decent wage. The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet toCome, shows Scrooge dire visions of the future if he does not learn and act upon what he haswitnessed, including Tiny Tim's death. Scrooge then learns of his own death when the spiritreveals his neglected and untended grave, prompting the miser to vow to mend his selfishways in hopes of changing these “shadows of what may be.”

Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with joy and love in his heart and decides to spendthe day with his nephew's family after anonymously sending a prize turkey to the Cratchithome for Christmas dinner. Scrooge has become a different man overnight and now treats hisfellow men with kindness, generosity and compassion, gaining a reputation as a man whoknows “how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” u

London in the 1800sDuring the 1800s, London was one of the most spectacular cities in the world. Britain was inthe midst of the Industrial Revolution and its capital was reaping the benefits of suchtremendous growth. The city, however, was also suffering the consequences of such rapidadvances. The price of this explosive growth was untold squalor and filth.

Imagine the London of this time: The homes of the upper and middle class exist in closeproximity to areas of unbelievable poverty and filth. Street sweepers attempted to keep thestreets clean of manure, the result of thousands of horse-drawn vehicles. The city's manychimney pots belched coal smoke, resulting in soot settling everywhere. In many parts of thecity, raw sewage flowed in gutters that emptied into the Thames.

The Victorian answer to dealing with poverty was the New Poor Law, enacted in 1834. Thelaw required local officials to create regional workhouses which would offer aid for the poor.The workhouses were, in actuality, little more than a prison for the poor. Civil liberties weredenied, families were separated, and human dignity was destroyed.

Despite London’s rapid economic growth, it was the living conditions of the poorest of thecity dwellers that influenced much of Dickens’ writing and motivated him to writeA Christmas Carol. To learn more about Charles Dickens and London in the 1800s pleasevisit: http://charlesdickenspage.com/dickens_london.html. u

Scrooge is dressed fora night of intense dreaming.This rendering, and thosethroughout, was createdby costume designer DevonPainter. She selected a dis-tincive pattern of strongstripes in Scrooge’s clothing.What might the stripessuggest to you? (See also thediscussion of Scrooge andMarley’s clothes on page 9).

“I don’t myself make merry at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry.” – Scrooge

Have you knownsomeone whodied, or been

close to someonewho is in

mourning? Howdoes that feel,and how doesit change ourbehavior? Canyou imagine

feeling that wayyour whole life?

Do we want tobe judged for

our mistakes orour successes?

When have youneeded a secondchance? What didyou do about it?

“Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake,you remember what has passed between us!” – Jacob Marley

33

About Scrooge’s Journey:

“I’m a proponent of saying that the more you know,the more you realize you don’t know. It was importantfor me that during Scrooge’s journey, he started toplace himself in context, and that it was part of thelesson for him. He needed to know that the world wasmuch bigger than him. Scrooge looks at the world ina very two-dimensional way - black and white - or likehe’s watching a movie. He’s watching the world go by,not participating. He’s saying “leave me alone, justleave me alone.” But if part of the journey is aboutbecoming more engaged, certainly at the end of thestory he realizes that he’s just a tiny speck in this tinyuniverse. He’s really seeing everything for the firsttime. In other adaptations and older versions of theshow, with the Ghost of Christmas Present, Scroogesays “I’ve never seen,” and Present says, “Well, younever looked.” – Mark Cuddy

Adaptations for Every Age

Looking for a film adaptation?

For early elementary school:Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Disney 1983

For elementary/middle school:The Muppet Christmas Carol, Disney 1992

For middle/high school:A Christmas Carol, Disney 2009

For high school/adults:A Christmas Carol, 1951

A Christmas Carol, BBC 1977

Looking for a new way to share a classic story?

For elementary/middle school:A Christmas Carol: The Graphic Novel, 2008

For middle/high school:A Christmas Carol: The Original Manuscript, 2011

For educators:Classical Comics: A Christmas Carol - Making theClassics Accessible for Teachers and Students, 2009

“I think the challenge in any well-known classicalstory is in trying to get back to whatever the originalartistic impulse was,” explains Mark Cuddy, adapterand director of Geva’s A Christmas Carol. “Whetheryou’re directing, or adapting something from anoriginal source, you’re trying to ask what is at thecenter of the work so that you can capture that spark.Why did the writer or composer make it in the firstplace? You’re trying to work with that same curiosityand intention.”

Identify the most important pieces of the story:“I actually watched every version on film and video Icould find,” Cuddy explained. “What did each groupof people telling this story think was important? Whatwere the elements that artists chose to include intheir versions? What do you have to have to makethis story work?”

Identify the most important characters: “Whoare the most important characters in the story,outside of Scrooge?” Cuddy asked. “I think that whatyou find is that a character like Tiny Tim actually ismore important, maybe, than Bob Cratchit himself.He has one line! But he’s important in a symbolic way.I tried to ask and answer those questions. Is Fredimportant? Is Belle important? And then shape thescript to make sure that we were spending time withthe most important characters.”

Look at the dialogue line by line: As he did withGeva’s stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice,Cuddy went to the original text and extracted everysingle quotation where Dickens provided a line ofdialogue for a character, and put them all together ina new document. That provided a starting place tocut and shape, to identify areas that would requirehim to write original lines, or to revise or removelines that were not essential to this story’s focus.

Choose a scene from a book and use Mark’s sug-gestions to create your own script. Remember to

think about what the audience will witness forthemselves (such as settings, characters’ appear-

ances, behavior and actions, and sounds) andwhat doesn’t need to be spoken. In the following

pages, you’ll learn about the unspoken, visualinformation that this production shares.

Adaptations: What Story Do They Tell?

44

Who is Scrooge?Some thoughts from Geva’screative team...“Dickens wrote a number of indelible char-acters, but Scrooge! He is someone whowill last and last and last, because there’salways a part of Scrooge in everybody. Heis a character so seemingly apart from thehuman race, but that people really love.You really do want to be in the theatre withhim. Thinking about Scrooge at the centerof this story, I had to ask why, what was itthat caused him to shut the world away?And, for me, it was abandonment – whichis very Dickensian, actually. When he getssent away to school, he just neverrecovers. That scar was there, and I thinkhe was always trying to compensate forthat, to over-compensate, perhaps. So, hemoved toward achieving importance andstature – very much like you hear aboutsome of those who lived through the GreatDepression. He became focused on mak-ing money, the safety of having it. He willnever go through that again, never feelvulnerable, he’ll be in charge and incontrol. But, of course, you can’t controlyour heart.”– Adapter and Director Mark Cuddy

“As Mark astutely pointed out from theget-go, there is no surprise or satisfactionin A Christmas Carol if we, the audience,are just watching an (inexplicably) greedy,cantankerous gentleman be grouchyall evening. We are all, no doubt, (forbetter and sometimes worse) the sum totalof our own bizarre and deeply personal lifeexperiences. Ebenezer who, of course,wasn’t born a ‘humbug’ as a newborninfant, has, as a result of intense traumaticabandonment and emotional neglect fromhis father, loss of his first young love,and gradual obsession with financialearthly gain, literally become a half-dead man walking amongst the living.”– Scenic Designer Adam Koch

“Scrooge has been ‘nickel and dimeing’ hislife, controlling and counting rather thanconnecting. He’s missing the emotionalpart of life. I actually think so many of uscan fall into that today without realizing it.We’re working all the time: it’s like we geton the treadmill and just go as fast as wecan. You can think of all the technologyand devices we have to get things donefaster, and how the result is that peopleseem to have even less personal time thanever before. I think in many ways, Scroogeis living like that at the beginning of thestory. He has allowed his work tocompletely replace any personalconnections.” – Lighting Designer PaulHackenmueller

“The heart of this story is in thereclamation of a man’s life, self-induced,on Christmas Eve. A man removes himselffrom his own life and from the lives ofeveryone around him. He becomes ‘secretand self-contained and solitary as anoyster.’ And after the course of onenight’s passing, he re-enters the land ofthe living with real vigor.”– Composer and Lyricist Gregg Coffin

“I asked the children who were auditioningfor the play if they already knew the story.When they did, I asked, ‘What’s yourfavorite part?’ 80-90% of their answerswere the same: ‘when Scrooge becomesnice, when he is transformed at the end.’This was not what I expected! I guess Ithought they would be more excited aboutthe ghosts, or about when Marley comesin with his chains and, of course,some kids did mention those things, too.But overwhelmingly, they mentionedScrooge’s transformation. And so I thinkthat’s something that’s in us. We rootfor someone to undergo some sort of spir-itual change, and that’s embedded in what-ever makes up the human psyche.– Thoughts from young audiences(as related by Mark Cuddy) u

“I want the grandest house on the grandest street and everyone bowingto me as I pass because I am the richest man in town.” – Scrooge

55

Composer and lyricist Gregg Coffin has a special appreciation of Christmas music.He shared: “I love Christmas music for its sense of fellowship, joy, hope andredemption. The non-secular music of the season is steeped in joy and rebirth,brightness coming out of darkness, the promise of new life. The secular music of theseason focuses on families coming together, highly caloric holiday cooking, laughter,snowfall, warmth and children’s expectations through it all. Most importantly, theholidays are a time when music really comes to the foreground in everyone’s life. Theairwaves are inundated with carols and holiday songs. People who don't usually sing atany other time of the year will find themselves humming a Christmas tune during theholidays. For a composer and musician, it’s a wonderful time of year and a wonderfulcollection of songs to enjoy.

I love all kinds of Christmas music, but I have a special place in my ear for earlycarols – both English and American. Again, the fellowship and community at this timeof year are what carol singing is all about. I come at the tradition of carol-singing not asa scholar, but as a musician. Listen to some of these carols and I hope you’ll see what Imean. Beautiful melodies, beautiful lyrics, beautiful harmonies.” (See list at left.)

How does music fit the story?

“I hope my music adds to the peaks and the valleys of Scrooge’s journey,” says Coffin.“The ‘songs’ in this production are specifically written to be songs for a play with music.That means none of them develop character or move plot along. All the sung momentselaborate on textual ideas that have already been presented. At no moment in thisproduction does a character step forward and start singing about how he or she feels.At no moment in this production does an actor step forward and sing about whathappened when Scrooge went out into the London streets. The songs in this productionunderscore scenes, set up a dance at Fezziwig’s, show us London on Christmasmorning, put the Cratchit children to bed, entertain party guests at Fred’s party, andopen Scrooge’s eyes to the world around him at the end. They all have verbs behindthem, they all have intents to elaborate on a moment already occurring in theadaptation. Songs of support, if you will.

I needed to find where the adaptation ‘sings’ andwhere it underscores and supports the text.Once Mark and I knew where they’d be singing,I started to write what they’d be singing. Thattakes a while. I relied heavily on Dickens forlyrical content, using specific references whichdon’t appear in Mark’s adaptation.”

Mark Cuddy offered an observation aboutScrooge’s relationship to music: “If he’s hidingfrom life, then he hates music because music islife. There’s music all the time at Christmas andso he hates Christmas time.” That idea suggested that it might be important for Cuddyand Coffin, as writers, to pay attention to when Scrooge might and might not sing in thisstory. What do you notice about Scrooge and music? u

What is Music’s Role?

“I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Greed, engrosses you.” – Belle

The Composer’sPlaylist

A great deal of theunderscoring andincidental cueingthat you'll hear inthis adaptation ofA Christmas Carolis based on these

early tunes:

“The Wexford,Coventry,

Sussex Carols”

“TheGloucestershire

Wassail”

“In Dulci Jubilo”

“Lo, How a RoseE'er Blooming”

“The Seven Joysof Mary”

“The Holly andthe Ivy”

“Tomorrow Shall BeMy Dancing Day”

“The CherryTree Carol”

“In Old Judea”

You can listento a variety of

performances fromaround the world

on YouTube.

Which holidaysor other occasionsdo you celebrateby singing? Whatcan music add toa holiday or other

special time?

66

Gregg Coffin’s music provides not just melodies to sing, but instrumental underscoring, too:“I had to answer the question of what the orchestration sounds like really early, and bothMark and I agreed that we like a blend of traditional sounding instrumentation in somemoments and wildly orchestral instrumentation in other places. The opening moments ofthe show are all steeped in English traditional orchestrations of holiday songs and carols –guitars, fiddles, hammered dulcimers, concertinas, bells, brass and voice.

When we move into the dream-scape of Scrooge’s journey, I freedmyself up to start exploring other instrumentation. That’s when thestring sections and the winds and percussion kicks in. BIG soundsfor BIG ideas. And then, as we move towards the conclusion of thestory, those orchestrations start to mix and the ‘bigness’of Scrooge’s inner landscape blends with the traditionalorchestrations you’d hear on the streets of London. The finalmoment starts with Scrooge hearing bells rejoice for the first time ina long while. The bells become voices, the voices join in unison, thenharmonies develop, and then the full orchestra kicks in to supportthe fullness of Scrooge’s experience.”

What doesn’t sound like music?

Sound designer Lindsay Jones has a few important roles. Sound design can help to fullyrealize scenes in a streamlined adaptation that Jones calls “stripped down to its essence andlightning fast on its feet,” traveling between many locations. “Sound can flesh out anenvironment, even if we’re only there very briefly, so that we can still feel like we’re reallyright there.”

Perhaps most exciting, sound can play a role in “heightening the stakes.” Jones explains:“It’s important that we feel the possibility that Scrooge may not be redeemed. There has tobe real danger, very realistic and somewhat scary stakes. It always bugs me when we see aproduction of this story and we all know that it’s going to turn out okay; it cuts the legs outfrom under the story. We have to know what that night means, and really feel it. Sound canhelp.” Jones proposes that the visit of Marley provides the first important example. “Wehave to be scared by him, by what has become of him, and by what will happen to Scrooge.We have to make that a fate that no one would want, something that cannot be dismissed.”(See also the discussion of Marley on page 9.)

“This production has so much music that is beautiful and lush, full of the holiday spirit. Withsound, I can bring the darkness; the moments of tension and danger that contrast with that.Gregg and I basically agree that he – with music, songs and underscoring – does the light,and that I do the dark. Where are the parts of the story that are ‘anti-musical’ – unplanned,unpredictable, unusual? The sound design can provide that world of irregular rhythms anddangerous surprises.”

One of the most challenging sections is the visit of Yet to Come. The designers have workedtogether to find choices that will make that sequence “feel completely like its own world –like we’ve stepped into a whole other dimension – and yet still related back to what Scroogehas experienced. Everything should be a surprise, and yet not a surprise.” u

Different Worlds, Different Sounds

“Spirit, conduct me where you will. I went forth last night oncompulsion and I learnt a lesson which is even working now.” – Scrooge

The ComposerSuggests ...

Listen to how themusic supports the

spoken word.

Listen for themesof redemption and

reclamation inthe lyrics.

Listen to Dickens'references in the

lyrics as well.

Listen for thedifference in theorchestrations:

from traditionalinstruments in"real" moments(guitar, fiddle,dulcimer, bells)

to orchestralinstruments in

"dream" moments(full orchestra,string sections,

winds, percussion).

Above: Emily Ossinskias a fiddler in

A Christmas Carol.(Photo by Ken Huth.)

What soundeffect would

you choose tohelp create

a part of thisstory, and why?Is it part of thereal or imagined

world of thestory? Of the

light or the dark?Does that

influence how itshould sound?

77

How Scrooge Sees the World “For this production of A Christmas Carol,” saysScenic Designer Adam Koch, “we wanted tostrip away the heavy adornment and the usualformal decorative baggage that can come with atelling of this traditional Dickensian holiday story.One of the thrills and challenges of designing forthis production is the opportunity to make aseemingly simple space magically transform intoall the haunting, joyous, scary, splendid, freezing,cozy, and infinite worlds within A ChristmasCarol.” Since this production invites us to traversethe emotional landscape of Scrooge’s journey,Koch uses the “magic of suggestion” to take us “toa hundred locations, across London and memoryand time itself.”

To accomplish this task, Koch began with“scribbled notes and ideas, immersing [himself]with research and sketches, just bits and piecesthat speak to the moments of the story. It’s themost ethereal part of the process.” Koch’s designemerged with an expansive bridge, a massiveclock, a maze of stairs, and banks of windows which, when coupled with lighting andfurniture, can become any number of settings – Ebenezer’s chambers, for example, or theCratchit household, the school of Scrooge’s youth, or the graveyard of his envisioneddemise. With such an open set and what he calls the “chamber elements” within, MarkCuddy is able to “keep the aperture wide and then the aperture small,” allowing the storyto travel fluidly amongst the various settings. For example, the physically sparse space of

the classroom can evokeScrooge’s feelings of abandon-ment over the emotionalneglect by his widowed father,or the drab, colorless look ofhis home might reflect theequally grim manner withwhich he lives his life. AsCuddy noted, “the meager firein his old school matches themeager fire in his office, in hischambers, and in his heart.”With this pairing of space andemotion as a guide, Kochsought to bypass creating“environments Scrooge wouldhave seen to illustrate, instead,what his journey felt like.”

Why do youimagine the

designer includedso many stairsin the design?

Why do you thinkwindows becamesuch an importantpart of the set?

How do windows,gates and stairs

work? Whatcan they do

literally? Andmetaphorically?

Much of theset is painted

shades ofmidnight blue –

not quite atraditional

Christmas orholiday color.What feelings

do you associatewith this colorand what might

those haveto do with

Scrooge’s story?

Look atthe designer’srendering for

Scrooge’s office.What do you

think it tells usabout the kind ofperson Scrooge

is? Can youdescribe your

impression witha mood oremotion?

Detail of stairs from Koch’s set model.

“It should be Christmas Day, I am sure, on which one drinks the healthof such an odious, stingy, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge.” – Mrs. Cratchit

Koch’s rendering for Scrooge’s office.

88

SCROOGE: I wish to be left alone! Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that ismy answer … It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not interferewith other people’s.

“Scrooge,” says Cuddy, “looks at the world in a very two-dimensional way, like he’s watch-ing a movie or watching the world go by.” To help us understand Scrooge’s self-imposedexile, Cuddy decided to incorporate video projections into the show’s design. Koch offersthat “the glass windows as projection surfaces seamlessly meld together the magic ofprojections with the permanent environment of the production.”

One of the priorities of representing this two-dimensional world, according to VideoDesigner Dan Scully, is to “try to stay connected to Scrooge … to try to show what he isthinking, feeling, or seeing. His change must be driven by him, not something done to him.”Like Koch, Scully also began his process of creating Scrooge’s world by exploring a numberof resources including period research, contemporary images and video footage, as well ashis own original artwork.

In the course of developing the designs, Scully realized the effect that one area of researchcould have on the entire proces. “While looking at collections of Victorian engravings ofLondon, I discovered each technique of engraving imparts its own emotional charge.” Thisemotional charge guided Scully in his considerations of Scrooge’s relationship with eachindividual ghost. “I’m trying,” says Scully, “to illuminate the different kinds of experienceseach ghost brings. The imagery for the Ghost of Christmas Past is a combination of ripplelight reflections over period engravings in an attempt to capture the idea of the past and theimprecise nature of memory. The Ghost of Christmas Present,” continues Scully, “is amarriage of black and white photography and material sourced from various film

productions of A Christmas Carol … I’m trying to get at the firmnessof Present [as well as] the dullness in how Scrooge sees it.” And theGhost of Christmas Yet to Come? That, tempts Scully, is a surprise. Thedesign finally lands us on Christmas Day where, Scully promises,“things are bright and in color.”

MARLEY: It is required of every man that the spirit within him shouldwalk in fellowship among mankind; if that spirit fails to do so in life, itis condemned to do so after death.

In echoing Cuddy’s notion that Scrooge “needed to know that the worldwas much larger than him,” Scully set about capturing Scrooge’stravels throughout London and beyond. To give the audience a sense ofLondon, Scully employed “montages and maps of the city, but that’sjust a method of getting at the magic of Scrooge’s dreams … andallowing us to see how Scrooge sees his world.” In the end, Scully says,it’s not about the city but, rather, about “the common humanexperience of these people” and Scrooge’s new-found appreciation forthose around him. u

Think of a locationin the story - ifyou could only

introduce two orthree elements

to set the scene,what would youchose and why?

Pick an imagethat representshow you think of

your past, presentand your imagined

future. Can youalso represent

these with a colorand a texture?

One of the majorfeatures of the set

is a large clockface. In how manydifferent ways istime important toScrooge’s story?

“Spirit, I begin to see how the mere mention of my name casts such a shadow!” – Scrooge

Rendering of the clock used in this production.

Elements of the design for theGhost of Christmas Past comefrom the 1790s, when Scroogewas a child. The far-left image

provides a comparison for thatstyle, and Scrooge’s sister Fan

will be dressed for that timeperiod. However, Painter

created this Ghost as an etheral,other-worldly presence. Imageslike the lower-left photo, while

much more contemporary inappearance, inspired Painter

with the potential that lightingand reflective fabrics could “blur the

image of the girl, so you can’t see herwhole shape, hiding her human form.”

Painter describes, “She’s somewhat adult,too – calm, centered and present.”

A white wig, pale make-up, headpiece,and lighting enhance the ethereal look.

“The approach for thespirits was different fromthe work on Marley,”Painter says. “He’s aghost, he’s dead, but thespirits are of a differentbreed: more glamorous,with that sparkle ofmagic.”

ChristmasPresent’s richgreen robes wereinspired byresearch images ofFather Christmas’traditional dress inbrown and green.

Want and Ignorance?“They’re also spirits, andcome from that same world.”

“Memories are Ghosts”“How is dreaming connected to memory? Does memory unlock imagination?” MarkCuddy asked while writing the play. “Memories are lessons, they grow in Scrooge.Memories are ghosts.”

Costume Designer Devon Painter plays an important role increating the unforgettable impressions of Scrooge’s dreams andthe lessons they bring. “Scrooge probably thinks he and his life arebasically alright, and Marley is the first warning saying: No, you’renot at all alright.” She knew that Marley’s fate needed “to be trulyscary, gruesome enough to be truly gross and uncomfortable.” Toexplore a realism that would be frightening when Scrooge’s deadpartner appears, Painter took inspiration from photographs of thebodies preserved in the crypts of Palermo. The figures areremarkable for the degree to which fabrics, facial hair, even tissues of theeyes, musculature, and skin have resisted disintegration. This researchinspired ideas for Marley’s costume, including a mask of decaying skin, apartial wig of hair, and make-up to transform the actors lips to resembleteeth (since decaying lips can recede away leaving teeth exposed).

Painter’s design for Marley is fantastical, too. The ghost’s chains actuallycreate the tailcoat he wears, and when he pushes his glasses up on his head,he reveals his white eyes. His clothing is intentionally similar to Scrooge’s,“as if they’re both frozen in time,” including strong stripes as a distinctivepattern (see also page 2), but on Marley, “stripes have become chains.” u

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“I am not the man I was! This is not the man I will be!” – Scrooge

“Scrooge was better than his word. He became as good a friend, as goodan employer, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.” – Londoners

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In a play featuring as many characters as A ChristmasCarol, it is not uncommon for actors to changecostumes and portray multiple characters. However,this production takes advantage of that strategy tohelp reinforce the importance ofmemory and dreaming.

For instance, two actors playScrooge’s nephew Fred and hiswife. That same pair will alsoportray Belle and apprentice-ageScrooge; they will also play the rolesof another young couple duringScrooge’s dream of Yet to Come.Cuddy explained that these choiceswere not accidental. If thesevisions are all Scrooge’s dream, hisimagination weaving fantasy fromhis life and memories, then itmakes sense that the peopleare vaguely familiar, in the sameway that Dorothy from The Wizardof Oz recognizes the faces in herreal life as having appeared –though transformed – in her dream.Furthermore, seeing the same actorin multiple roles can subtly invite us to think about thechoices Scrooge has made, and his roads not taken. If hisyounger self and Belle had not separated, might he, too,enjoy the warmth, love and hope that Fred radiates?

This casting decision led to another choice for costuming:whether to emphasize that the same people keep appear-ing so they are always recognizable, or to let eachcharacter transform completely. Painter chose the latter.“The role assignments do allow an actor to bring somesimilarity to each role; there’s going to be a link directlyfrom the actor’s own personality and physicality.Ultimately, we will see just what Scrooge sees: aresemblance, a memory of something else that happenedearlier in this night, which is perfect. The costume doesn’tneed to heighten that continuity.” Actors appear dressedfor the 1790s to the early 1800s with a “lighter, cleaner”look Painter has chosen for Scrooge’s early memories.Traveling to the Present, they appear in the “darker,heavier, patterned clothes of the Victorian.” The date wasselected based on the novella’s publication in 1843. And, afew actors are further transformed as spirits or ghosts inthe realm of Scrooge’s imagination. u

Devon Painter did notdesign a costume for

the Ghost of ChristmasYet to Come, and thereis no actor playing the

role. How do you imaginethis ghost will appear as

a part of the story?

In our production, threemen and one woman play

all the following parts:

Business ManBob CratchitMrs. CratchitMrs. Dilber

FezziwigMrs. Fezziwig

Ghost of Christmas PresentMarley

SchoolmasterSubscription Gentleman

Undertaker’s ManDick Wilkins

If you know the story,which characters would

you choose to be played bythe same actor? If you were

the director, how wouldyou imagine dividing up

these roles and why?

You might choose one actorand pay attention as that

person transforms from onecharacter to the next. Whattools does that actor use tocreate separate characters?

How does the costumedesign help, and what does

the actor do to transformhis or her body and voice?

The Ghost of ChristmasPast is not among theadult characters listed atleft; Past is played by ayounger actress who isalso the “Turkey Girl,”the first to see and speakwith Scrooge when heawakes on Christmasmorning. Why mightCuddy have paired theseroles to be shared by ayoung girl?

Tickets still available for ...

To reserve seats please call (585) 420-2035

75 Woodbury BoulevardRochester, New York 14607

Box Office: (585) 232-Geva (4382)Education Department: (585) 420-2058 or 420-2035

www.gevatheatre.org

February 25th & 27th and March

6th at 10:30 a.m.

Recommended for maturehigh school audiences

May 1st at 10:30 a.m.Recommended

for middle school and up

Ames-Amzalak Memorial Trust in Memory of Henry Ames, Semon Amzalak and Dan Amzalak

Canandaigua National BankCornell/Weinstein Family FoundationDonald F. & Maxine B. Davison FoundationLouise W. EpsteinExcellus BlueCross BlueShieldFeinbloom Supporting FoundationMr. & Mrs. John F. Lausin

M&T BankDavid & Sharon MathiasonGuido & Ellen Palma FoundationTarget StoresMr. & Mrs. Michael & Ellen TuoheyElaine P. & Richard U. Wilson FoundationLouis S. & Molly B. Wolk FoundationWollner Charitable TrustThe Xerox Foundation

P.L.A.Y. Student Matinee Series SponsorCanandaigua National Bank

Passport Program SponsorExcellus BlueCross BlueShield

Leadership support for the Passport Program provided

by The Elaine P. and Richard U. Wilson Foundation

Executive ProducerNocon & Associates,

A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

Associate ProducerDawn & Jacques Lipson, MDTime Warner CableElaine P. and Richard U.

Wilson Foundation

Assistant ProducerThe Cannan GroupCOMIDAKenron Industrial Air

Conditioning, Inc

DirectorDixon-SchwablESL Federal Credit UnionSuzanne GouvernetJoanna & Michael GrosodoniaHome PropertiesJack & Barbara Kraushaar

LaBella Associates, PCLawley AssociatesLLD EnterprisesMengel, Metzger,

Barr & Co. LLPREDCOM Laboratories, Inc.Rochester Red Wings

With additional support fromConolly PrintingFioravanti FloristFull Belly DeliHarold & Christine Kurland, MD

LeChase ConstructionLeo's Bakery & DeliMoonlight CreameryJulie Emily PetitThe Simon School of BusinessJoshua Stubbe &

Katherine BaynesTasteful Connections CateringUSA Payroll

Summer Curtain Call Supporters

Thank you to the supporters of the 2013 Summer Curtain Call Event, our annual gala in support of our education programs.

Education PartnersThank you to our corporate and foundation donors who support our education programs.

(Donors are listed for the time period 8/1/2012 through10/7/2013

Interested in sponsoring Geva’s Educational

programming? Contact Bonnie Butkas at

(585) 420-2041