Tallahassee’s Westminster Oaks Players present a unique adaptation of Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” next weekend. It will take the audience inside a recreated 1940s radio studio.
(Scrooge) “Why do spirits walk the earth and why do they come to me?!” (Marley’s ghost) “It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow man and travel far and wide. And if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.”
Those are two members of the Westminster Oaks Players, namely: “Suduth Ray Cummings playing Scrooge" and “Norma Vorce playing a number of characters, but my favorite one is Marley.”
They are among the some two-dozen performers and supporting cast of “A Christmas Carol on the Air,” which also includes:
“Alfred Joseph Hansley the Third, but I go by ‘Fred’ and in the play – it’s typecasting – I play ‘Fred’” as well as, “My name is Delores Rush and I actually have five parts in the play.”
Rush and a number of other players are relative newbies to community theatre.
“Back in junior high I was in some plays, but never had the opportunity. It’s been a blast!”, enthused Rush.
Sylvia Kelley, who has a total of three characters to portray, is likewise a dramatic newcomer.
“This is my first time ever doing a show and so I’ve learned a lot and I’ve got a lot to learn, but it’s been so interesting,” she said.
But there are also many well-known and experienced stagecraft practitioners like David and Mary Stevenson, Gary and Barbara Stillwell and the redoubtable Martha Stewart. All under the seasoned guidance of Director Dr. Ben Gunter, who collaborated on the production blue print.
“And I got to work with Maureen McCarthy, A. Thomas Caveno, and Gary Wilson on devising the script,” Gunter explained.
Even though that script is set in a 1944-era American radio studio, Gunter said the dialogue and overall concept is actually closer to the writer’s vision than most versions of “A Christmas Carol”.
“A classic story and hearing it in its original form because this script is based on a condensation that Dickens made for his own readings of “A “Christmas Carol” in the United States,” he said.
It’s a special treat for the audience, Gunter said, because they get a behind-the-scenes-as-it-happens look at the way radio drama and comedy shows were produced.
“And the audience will get to see the sound effects and watch all of the sound effects being created from keys rattling in locks to the sounds spirits make when they get disgruntled.”
The audience will even be part of the production by making certain sounds on cue. “A Christmas Carol on the Air” takes place at seven o’clock the evenings of December 11th and 12th at Westminster Oaks Maguire Center. Free tickets are available through December 9th at the Parry Center front desk.