presents CHARLES DICKENS’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL · his year’s revival of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is SCR’s 26th staging of the play. With each ... – Emily Dickenson,

CHARLES DICKENS’

A CHRISTMAS CAROLadapted by JERRY PATCH

SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGNThomas Buderwitz Dwight Richard Odle Donna and Tom Ruzika

MUSIC ARRANGEMENT/COMPOSER SOUND DESIGN VOCAL DIRECTOR CHOREOGRAPHERDennis McCarthy Drew Dalzell Dennis Castellano Linda Kostalik

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PRODUCTION MANAGER STAGE MANAGERLaurie Woolery David Leavenworth Erin Nelson*

DIRECTED BY

JOHN-DAVID KELLER

Paul, Daranne and Courtney Folino Bank of AmericaHONORARY PRODUCERS CORPORATE PRODUCER

SEGERSTROM STAGE / NOVEMBER 26 THROUGH DECEMBER 24, 2005

David Emmes Martin BensonPRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

presents

A Christmas Carol • SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P1

CAST OF CHARACTERS(In order of appearance)

LENA, a vendor of second-hand goods ....................................................... *Madison DunawayJOE, a cider salesman and a receiver of stolen goods ............................................. *Art KoustikTOY LADY .......................................................................................................... *Hisa TakakuwaPUPPETEER ........................................................................................................ Joshua CampbellUNDERTAKER ......................................................................................................... *Travis VadenCHIMNEY SWEEP ........................................................................................... *Timothy LandfieldELIZABETH SHELLEY ................................................................................................ Sara BashorTHOMAS SHELLEY, a vendor of second-hand goods ............................................ Michael IrishOLIVER SHELLEY ........................................................................... Zach Martin, ▲Matt CardozaEBENEZER SCROOGE, a grasping covetous old man ........................................ *Hal Landon Jr.RICH WOMAN .................................................................................................... *Jennifer ParsonsGIRL ABOUT TOWN ............................................................. Rachel Teague, ▲Lauren BuanganTEEN GIRL ABOUT TOWN ...................................................... Cheryl Robinson, ▲Mandy SholdCONSTABLE ........................................................................................................ Cyrus AlexanderBOB CRATCHIT, clerk to Scrooge ..................................................................... *Daniel BlinkoffFRED, nephew to Ebenezer .......................................................................... *Howard ShangrawSOLICITORS ........................................................................ *Richard Doyle, *Martha McFarlandWREATH SELLER ................................................................................................ Cyrus AlexanderJACOB MARLEY’S GHOST, a spectre of Ebenezer’s former partner in business ...... *Don TookTHE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PAST, a phantom showing things past ................ *Richard DoyleEBENEZER AS A BOY .................................................................... Zach Martin, ▲Matt CardozaFAN, the sister of Ebenezer ....................................................................................... Sara BashorMRS. FEZZIWIG ............................................................................................ *Martha McFarlandMR. FEZZIWIG, a kind hearted, jovial old merchant .................................... *John-David KellerJACOB MARLEY AS A YOUNG MAN ................................................................ Cyrus AlexanderEBENEZER AS A YOUNG MAN ............................................................................. *Travis VadenBELLE, an old sweetheart of Ebenezer ........................................................ *Madison DunawayTHE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT, a spirit of a kind,

earthy and generous nature ..................................................................... *Timothy Landfield“TINY” TIM CRATCHIT ....................................................... Edward Swanson, ▲Elisabeth SmithMRS. CRATCHIT ................................................................................................. *Jennifer ParsonsBELINDA CRATCHIT ...................................................... Alexandra Mullin, ▲Alexandra McCuePETER CRATCHIT ............................................................................. Chas Hume, ▲Will PetersonMARTHA CRATCHIT ................................................................. Megan Blanco, ▲Chloe MercadoMR. TOPPER, a bachelor ................................................................................... Joshua CampbellPURSUED MAIDEN .................................................................................................... Sara BashorSALLY, the wife of Fred ...................................................................................... *Hisa TakakuwaTHE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS YET-TO-COME, an apparition

showing the shadows of things which may yet happen ...................................... *Don TookWANT ..................................................................................... Rachel Teague, ▲Lauren BuanganIGNORANCE ................................................................................... Zach Martin, ▲Matt CardozaGENTLEMEN ON THE STREET .......... *Richard Doyle, *John-David Keller, *Howard ShangrawTHE SCAVENGERS ....................... *Martha McFarland, *Hisa Takakuwa, *Madison DunawayBOY ON THE STREET ................................................................. Akshay Sharma, ▲Joel WagnerPOULTERER ........................................................................................................ Cyrus Alexander

P2 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • A Christmas Carol

Please Note: Children’s roles are double cast. Actors with ▲ appear Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at noon. Others appear in balance of performances.

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

SETTING 19th Century London

LENGTHApproximately two hours, including one 15-minute intermission

PRODUCTION STAFFAssistant Stage Manager ....................................................................................... *Chrissy ChurchCasting Director ..................................................................................................... Joanne DeNautStage Management Intern .............................................................................................. Kris KelleyDeck Crew ........................................... Chris Deckner, Jeff Ham, Robert Harrison, Bobby WeeksFollow Spot Operators ........................................................................ Julie Farris, Deanna KeefeChild Wrangler ....................................................................................................... Lisa AckermanDresser ....................................................................................................................... Stacey NezdaCostume Shop Assistants ....................... Lauren Jess Brown, Bronwen Burton, Catherine Esera,

Peg Oquist, Amanda SeymourCostume Design Assistant .......................................................................................... Merilee Ford

Cellular phones, beepers and watch alarms should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance. Please refrain from unwrapping candy or making

other noises that may disturb surrounding patrons.

The use of cameras and recorders in the theatre is prohibited.Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the theatre.


Official Airline Media PartnerMedia Partner

BY JERRY PATCH

This year’s revival of Charles Dickens’ A ChristmasCarol is SCR’s 26th staging of the play. With eachrenewal it has become more of a tradition both

for this theatre and for Orange County. And, as withany tradition, it changes and it stays the same.

Since we began, Hal Landon Jr. has playedEbenezer Scrooge, and John-David Keller has been ourdirector. SCR founding members Richard Doyle, ArtKoustik, Martha McFarland and Don Took have reprisedtheir parts in virtually every season.

John Ellington, who played Bob Cratchit for nearly20 years, is now the Rev. Dr. John Ellington, pastor ofLos Alamitos Congregational Church. David Whalen re-placed him for several seasons, returned east with hisfamily and took up the role of Bob at Hartford Stage.Daniel Blinkoff, a protean actor in recent SCR shows, isour current Cratchit.

Noreen Hennessey, Marilyn Fox, and Devon Ray-mond all spent years in their turns as Mrs. Cratchit. Thisyear Jennifer Parsons, a long-term member of SCR’s cre-ative family, returns for her second run in the role.

The actors in the younger roles have changedmore frequently because they outgrow them (save forour ageless Fred: Howard Shangraw). And the childrenchange every year, but they almost always come fromSCR’s Young Conservatory program, which supplies im-portant new generations to our ever-evolving family.

Cliff Faulkner’s original design has been augment-ed and rejuvenated annually—this year, for example,Fred will entertain his guests in a new home—but theessential spirit of it remains. Original costumer DwightRichard Odle oversees the redesigning or enhancement

of the period clothing each year. Tom and Donna Ruzi-ka, who did the lighting design for the first production,are doing the 26th. Our senior technician, JonLagerquist, has done technical direction since 1985.

And though the sound design has changed, ele-ments of the first one, a glorious collection of music ofthe season beautifully woven through the production byStephen Shaffer, remain. A terrific sound designer whoyears ago died suddenly and young, Steve lingers inmusic and memory for those of us who knew him.

While so many of the original contributors and ele-ments have stayed, the show has advanced from our first1980 production into a genuine treasure. The artists in-volved and their performances have grown as they builtdistinguished careers in the theatre. Each year theysearch for a better way, a search enriched by years ofcraft and invention. It’s a great story we’re telling, onewe don’t take lightly.

We’ve been a family. We’ve added and subtractedfrom our core—like any family—for 26 years. We gatherannually in November to do our work—better thanwe’ve ever done it, we hope. New folks are made kinby our veterans; the veterans are invigorated by thenewcomers. By December we’ve recreated our clan(and our show) anew.

But we’re not complete until joined by our greaterfamily: our audiences. There are a few people whohave seen the show every year since 1980. And second-and third-generation offspring of those first audienceshave now taken up the tradition. SCR’s A Christmas


How We Keep Christmas

Ebenezer Scrooge (Hal Landon Jr.) is visited by hisnephew Fred (Howard Shangraw), left. Scrooge is visitedby the Spirit of Christmas Past (Richard Doyle), center andMarley’s ghost (Don Took), right.


Carol has endured here because itbrings families together. We are re-minded to celebrate the season andto consider together EbenezerScrooge’s redemption, and how, tosome degree, each year it should beour own.

Human mortality pervades AChristmas Carol. The deaths of Mar-ley and Fan, the Ghosts, and thepossible passing of Tiny Tim furtherdarken the suffering of the poor andthe Cratchits’ lean Christmas. Theseare the shadows to be dispelled bythe light of love and the season’sspirit in Dickens’ classic.

The value of love, life andfamily is heightened by the fact thatthey don’t last forever. It is theequation Scrooge comes to know,and one our family appreciates againeach year.

“Avarice and happiness never saweach other, how then should they be-come acquainted?”

– Benjamin Franklin,Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1734

“Remorse is memory awake.”– Emily Dickenson, Poems, Pt. I, No.69

“Why should I sorrow for what waspain? A cherished grief is an ironchain.”

– Stephen Vincent Benet, King David

“I dreamt the past was never pastredeeming;

But whether this was false or honestdreaming

I beg death’s pardon now. Andmourn the dead.”

– Richard Wilbur, The Pardon

“The people that walked in darknesshave seen a great light: They thatdwell in the land of the shadow ofdeath, upon them hath the lightshined.” – Isaiah, 9:2

“At Christmas I no more desire a roseThan wish a snow in May’s

new-fangled mirth;But like each thing that in season

grows.”– Shakespeare,

Love’s Labour’s Lost

“Dickens is a terrible writer. In theoriginal, Scrooge was mean andstingy, but you never know why.We’re giving him a mother and father,an unhappy childhood, a wholebackground which will motivatehim.”

– President of Screen Gems, 1968

“I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez,and Rembrandt: in the might of de-sign, the mystery of color, the re-demption of all things by beauty ev-erlasting and the message of Art thathas made these hands blessed.”

– George Bernard Shaw

“Create in me a clean heart, O God:and renew a right spirit within me.”

– Psalms 51:10

“Dickens was a mythologist ratherthan a novelist; he was the last of themythologists, and perhaps the great-est. He did not always manage tomake his characters men, but he al-ways managed, at the least, to makethem gods.”

– G.K. Chesterson 1906

Malcolm Kushner relates the story ofa man who chaired the charity com-mittee of his local hospital. He re-viewed all the fund-raising records,and he discovered that the richestperson in town had never made a do-nation. So he went to visit him. Hesaid, “Our records show that you’rethe richest person in town, but you’venever contributed to the hospital.”And the rich man said, “Do yourrecords also show that my widowedmother was left absolutely destitute?Do they show that my brother is to-tally disabled? Do they show that mysister was abandoned with fouryoung children?” By now the chair-person felt really ashamed. He said,“Well no, our records don’t showthat.” And the rich man said, “Well, Idon’t do anything for them, so whyshould I do anything for you?”

Other Voices at Christmas

Bob Cratchit (Daniel Blinkoff) andTiny Tim (Mason Acevedo) collectgifts, above. Below, Joe (ArtKoustik) and Lena (Madison Dun-away) barter for stolen goods.


Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing wrenching,grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from whichno steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an

oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek,stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his gratingvoice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried hisown low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thawit one degree at Christmas.

External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintryweather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent

upon its purpose, no peltingrain less open to entreaty. Foulweather didn’t know where tohave him. The heaviest rain,and snow, and hail, and sleet,could boast of the advantageover him in only one respect.They often “Came down” hand-somely, and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped himin the street to say, with glad-some looks, “My dear Scrooge,how are you? When will youcome to see me?” No beggarsimplored him to bestow a tri-f le, no children asked himwhat it was o’clock, no man orwoman ever once in all his lifeinquired the way to such and

such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen’s dogs appeared to know him; and when they sawhim coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag theirtails as though they said, “No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!”

But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along thecrowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowingones call “nuts” to Scrooge.

– Excerpted from A Christmas Carol

A Miser’s Miser

John-David Keller, Martha McFarland and Hal Landon Jr.


He was a sympathizer with the poor, the suffering andthe oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s great-est writers is lost to the world.

Inscription on Dickens’ tombstone at Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey

The eldest son of Johnand Elizabeth Dickens,Charles Huffman Dick-

ens was born in Landport(now part ofPortsmouth), England,February 7, 1812. In1824, he was givenhis first position inbusiness in theemploy of War-ren’s BlackingFactory,Chatham. Forsix months, theyoung Dickensadhered labelsto containers ofblacking, andperhaps un-knowingly, col-lected materialfor what wouldbecome world fa-mous portrayals ofVictorian England’sworking class.

At 15, he enteredthe professions, taking aposition as clerk at Ellis andBlackmore, attorneys. In be-tween his clerking and eveningshorthand lessons, he wooed his firstlove, Maria Beadnell, a flirtatious younglady whose deep impressions on Dickens would be re-flected in Little Dorrit, written nearly 30 years aftertheir courtship. Forsaking Miss Beadnell, in 1836 hemet and married Catherine Hogarth, who would bearhim ten children, and began the publication of ThePickwick Papers.

With the birth year of nearly each of his childrencame the writing or publication of a major work. In

1837, with the birth of his first son, Charles Jr., cameOliver Twist. In 1838, with the arrival of Mary,Nicholas Nickleby was begun. In 1843, just prior to thebirth of Francis Jeffrey, A Christmas Carol was created.

The first of his Christmas books, AChristmas Carol quickly became a fa-

vorite of the people. It would befollowed by The Chimes ,

Dombey and Son and Christ-mas Stories.

Shortly after thepublication of A

Christmas Carol ,Dickens moved hisfamily from theirLondon home tosettle, briefly, inGenoa, Italy,and later movedon to Switzer-land and Paris.During theseyears awayfrom London,his best knownworks includedCricket on theHearth, The Bat-

tle of Life and thefirst installments of

David Copperfield.Once again

back in England,Dickens would spend

his later years creatingsome of his most interna-

tionally acclaimed works.These include Bleak House

(1859), A Tale of Two Cities (1859)and Great Expectations (1861). In 1870,

the first installment of The Mystery of Edwin Drood waspublished, and the author made his last public appear-ance. He died in his home at Gad’s Hill Place on June9, 1870.

Who was Charles Dickens?

Engraving of Charles Dickens from A Portrait Gallery ofEminent Men and Women of Europe and America, with Bi-ographies, by Evert A. Duykinck.

*DANIEL BLINKOFF (Bob Cratchit) re-turns for a third year in A ChristmasCarol. He appeared at SCR previous-ly in Pinocchio, The Intelligent De-sign of Jenny Chow, Major Barbara(Robby Award nomination – BestSupporting Actor), The School forWives and Nostalgia. Other theatrecredits include The Imaginary In-valid and A Kiss for Cinderella at TheCleveland Play House, A ChristmasCarol at McCarter Theatre, Are WeThere Yet? at Williamstown TheatreFestival, Stepping Out with Mr.Markham at Ensemble Studio Theatrein New York, The Summer in Gossen-sass (Maria Irene Fornes, director) atTheatre Row, Dinosaur Dreams andThe Last 60 of 99 at New York Stageand Film, The Beaux Strategem andTwelfth Night at Yale Repertory The-atre, as well as the title role in Lean-der Stillwell at Stage Left (Joseph Jef-ferson Award – Best Ensemble) andFlesh and Blood at Chicago’s Baili-wick Theatre (Joseph Jefferson Nomi-nation – Best Actor). His film andtelevision credits include Rockabye,With Honors, Wally’s Walk, Crossingthe Bridge, “Charmed,” “NYPD Blue,”“Law and Order” and “Missing Per-

sons.” Mr. Blinkoff received his MFAfrom the Yale School of Drama and isa founding member of Yale CabaretBlue in Los Angeles.

*RICHARD DOYLE (Solicitor/Spirit ofChristmas Past/Gentleman) is an SCRFounding Artist. He appeared earlierthis season in Born Yesterday andThe Caucasian Chalk Circle, last sea-son in Habeas Corpus and as Eddiein A View from the Bridge; and theprevious season in Intimate Ex-changes, The Last Night of Ballyhooand A Christmas Carol. Additionalappearances include the world pre-mieres of The Beard of Avon, On theJump (Robby Award), But Not for Me,BAFO, The Interrogation of NathanHale, She Stoops to Folly, Wit, Hospi-tality Suite and Highest Standard ofLiving. Other credits include Rela-tively Speaking, Proof, Major Bar-bara, Much Ado about Nothing, ADelicate Balance, Of Mice and Men,Ah, Wilderness!, What the Butler Saw,Pygmalion, Six Degrees of Separation,Arms and the Man, The Cherry Or-chard, Waiting for Godot, Our Coun-try’s Good and Intimate Exchanges,for which he earned a Los Angeles

Drama Critics Circle Award nomina-tion. He won an LADCC Award forhis role in Sally Nemeth’s Holy Daysand was nominated for his role asReverend Hale in The Crucible.“Cheers” fans will remember him asWoody’s snooty father-in-law WalterGaines. Other film and televisioncredits include Air Force One, “NYPDBlue,” “Sisters,” movies of the week,“The Practice” and guest star appear-ances on “The Pretender” and “TheLot.” He is a voice-over actor in ani-mation, CD ROMS, television, radiocommercials and documentaries, in-cluding the Emmy-winning series TheLiving Edens and Impressions of Cali-fornia. He also narrates the Greenand Green “Art-in-Architecture” docu-mentary. Mr. Doyle currently playsthe villain Enoch on Cartoon Net-work’s Benten.

*MADISON DUNAWAY (Lena/Belle/Scavenger) returns to SCR tojoin the delightful cast of A ChristmasCarol for a second year. She madeher debut on the Segerstrom Stage asyoung Abigail in the premiere ofAmy Freed’s Safe in Hell. Her the-atre credits include Annelle in Steel


Artist Biographies

RICHARD DOYLE

Solicitor/Spirit/GentlemanMADISON DUNAWAY

Lena/Belle/ScavengerDANIEL BLINKOFF

Bob Cratchit

Magnolias, Agnes in Agnes of God(LADCC winner for Lead Actress,Ovation Award Nomination - LeadActress, Robby Award Nomination -Lead Actress), Helen in Machinal,Juliet in Measure for Measure, Erin inthe world premiere of RobertVaughn’s Praying for Rain (DenverCritic’s Circle Award Nomination -Best Production), Laura in The GlassMenagerie, Deirdre in I Hate Hamlet,Phoebe in As You Like It, Margaret inLittle Women , Janie in Quilters ,Gladys in By the Skin of Our Teeth,and Beatrice in Much Ado aboutNothing. Current film and televisioncredits include Princess Diaries 2,One Minute Soap Operas, ThinkAgain, Flowers, Carry On, August,Heart of the Possible, and The Drum-mer.

*JOHN-DAVID KELLER (Mr. Fezzi-wig/Gentleman) is a member of SCR’sresident acting company. He hasbeen with the company since 1973working as both an actor and direc-tor. Most recently he directed SCR’sTheatre for Young Audiences Seriesproductions of Pinocchio and TheEmperor’s New Clothes and acted inThe Wind in the Willows. Later thisyear he will direct The Adventures ofPør Quinly. He has directed AChristmas Carol for its entire 26-yearhistory. He has directed SCR’s Edu-cational Touring Productions for 32

years, and this year will direct Eure-ka!, which will begin touring in Jan-uary 2006. Among his other SCR di-recting credits are Godspell, JacquesBrel, In Fashion, The Real InspectorHound (SCR’s first Equity show), PegO’ My Heart and Tomfoolery, to namea few. He has also acted in over 100plays at SCR. He has been the con-cert host for the fifth grade concertsfor the Orange County PhilharmonicSociety for 19 years. He has per-formed with the National SymphonyOrchestra and the Sydney Philhar-monic. He was part of the SundancePlaywrights Festival for ten years. Hetries to stay busy. He is currentlyworking towards a cure for ennui.

*ART KOUSTIK (Joe/Ensemble) is anSCR Founding Artist who has ap-peared in scores of productions, in-cluding Much Ado about Nothing,The Hollow Lands, Of Mice and Men,Tartuffe, Ah, Wilderness! and Pyg-malion. He also appeared in BAFO,Six Degrees of Separation, She Stoopsto Folly, The Taming of the Shrew,The Cherry Orchard, The Misan-thrope, A Streetcar Named Desire,Loot, Lettice & Lovage, The Man WhoCame to Dinner, The Miser, Shadow-lands and Hospitality Suite. Hisother appearances include ThePhiladelphia Story, Twelfth Night, AMidsummer Night’s Dream, A Chorusof Disapproval, Hard Times, The Cru-

cible, Prelude to a Kiss, GlengarryGlen Ross, Galileo, The Foreigner,Rum and Coke, The Show-Off, SaintJoan, Playboy of the Western World,The Seagull, Coming Attractions,American Buffalo, The ElephantMan, Anything Goes, Time Was, Timeof Your Life, Comedians, Rubbers,That Championship Season and TheLast Meeting of the Knights of theWhite Magnolia and most annualproductions of A Christmas Carol.Outside SCR, he has been in Any-thing Goes, Chapter Two, Guys andDolls, Brigadoon, numerous commer-cials, and film and television such asLa Bamba, “Valerie,” “Hill StreetBlues,” “Moonlighting,” “GoldenGirls,” “Dallas” and “The Young andthe Restless.” “With my wife Peggy, Iam at last a happy man. As the yearsgo by I am more aware how impor-tant faith, family and friends are.‘God bless us, everyone.’”

*TIMOTHY LANDFIELD (Spirit ofChristmas Present) is delighted to re-turn to SCR, where he was previouslyseen in Pinocchio, The Clean House,The Norman Conquests: Round andRound the Garden and Hay Fever.He recently appeared in A Midsum-mer Night’s Dream at the HollywoodBowl with the LA Philharmonic, TheMiser at A Noise Within and in theBroadway revivals of Company andThe Sound of Music. He also ap-


JOHN-DAVID KELLER

Mr. Fezziwig/GentlemanART KOUSTIK

Joe/EnsembleTIMOTHY LANDFIELD

Spirit of Christmas Present

peared opposite his Hay Fever co-starKandis Chappell in The Guardsmanat the Huntington Theatre in Boston.Mr. Landfield appeared on Broadwayin Rumors, Arsenic and Old Lace,Wild Honey, The Crucifer of Bloodand Tartuffe. Off-Broadway, he wasin the original production of SisterMary Ignatius and The Actor’s Night-mare as well as the musical CharlotteSweet. Television and film credits in-clude “Six Feet Under,” “Without aTrace,” “Monk,” “Frasier,” “BostonPublic,” “C.S.I.,” “Family Law” and“Law and Order” and The Cooler withWilliam H. Macy and Alec Baldwin.Mr. Landfield has played major rolesin regional theatres across the coun-try including Phileas Fogg in 80 Daysat La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.He is on the faculty at The AmericanAcademy of Dramatic Arts in Holly-wood. While in Africa filming Dis-ney’s Cheetah, Mr. Landfield met hiswife, actress Breon Gorman. Theyhave two angels, Miranda and Bian-ca.

*HAL LANDON JR. (EbenezerScrooge) is an SCR Founding Artistwho recently appeared in Born Yes-terday, The Caucasian Chalk Circle,A View from the Bridge, Habeas Cor-pus, Cyrano de Bergerac, Safe in Hell,Antigone, The Drawer Boy (LADCCAward nomination), Two Gentlemenof Verona, Major Barbara, Getting

Frankie Married—and Afterwards,The School for Wives, Much Adoabout Nothing, Entertaining Mr.Sloane, The Hollow Lands, True West,Play Strindberg, Tartuffe and Ah,Wilderness! Other credits includeArcadia, Our Town, Sidney BechetKilled a Man, BAFO, Six Degrees ofSeparation, An Ideal Husband, AMess of Plays by Chris Durang, TheThings You Don’t Know , FaithHealer, Ghost in the Machine, GreenIcebergs, Morning’s at Seven, Danc-ing at Lughnasa, The Miser, OurCountry’s Good and Waiting forGodot . He created the role ofEbenezer Scrooge in SCR’s A Christ-mas Carol, and has performed it inall 26 annual productions. He ap-peared in Leander Stillwell at theMark Taper Forum and in Henry V atThe Old Globe in San Diego. Otherresident theatre roles include Salieriin Amadeus, Malvolio in TwelfthNight and Gordon Miller in RoomService. Among his film credits areTrespass, Pacific Heights, Almost anAngel, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Ad-venture and Playing by Heart.

*MARTHA McFARLAND (Mrs. Fezzi-wig/Solicitor) is an SCR FoundingArtist who served as the theatre’sCasting Director for 11 years. Mostrecently she appeared in the ensem-ble of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, asMrs. Lipari in A View from the Bridge,

as Montfleury and Mother Marquèritede Jèsus in Cyrano de Bergerac(where, for the first time in her ca-reer, she played a man), as the Hostin Two Gentlemen of Verona, as Mrs.Baines in Major Barbara, Georgettein The School for Wives, Ursula inMuch Ado about Nothing, Mom inTrue West, Alice in Play Strindbergand reprised her role as Norah in Ah,Wilderness! Other roles at SCR in-clude appearances in Our Town,Pygmalion, Private Lives, An IdealHusband, as Dr. Charlotte Wallace inBeyond Therapy and as part of theDrama-Logue Award-winning ensem-bles of Tomfoolery and Side by Sideby Sondheim. She also appeared asPope Joan and Louise in both theSCR and Westwood Playhouse en-gagements of Top Girls. She has ap-peared in 20 of the 26 productions ofA Christmas Carol, having missed thefirst year when she was on a U.S.tour with James Mason in A Partridgein a Pear Tree. Ms. McFarland is alsoa director, having staged Sly Fox andThe Foreigner at the Laguna Play-house, Top Girls at UCI and theworld premiere of City with the Cir-cle X Company in Los Angeles. Sheis a teacher with the SCR TheatreConservatory’s Professional IntensiveProgram and privately in the L.A./Or-ange County area. Ms. McFarland isalso a popular voice-over artist, apublished poet and the Southern Cal-


HAL LANDON JR.Ebenezer Scrooge

MARTHA MCFARLAND

Mrs. Fezziwig/SolicitorJENNIFER PARSONS

Mrs. Cratchit

ifornia Casting Director with the Ore-gon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

*JENNIFER PARSONS (Mrs. Cratchit)returns for a second year in A Christ-mas Carol. She most recently ap-peared at SCR in Bunnicula andboth the Pacific Playwrights Festivalreading and Segerstrom Stage pro-duction of Getting Frankie Married—and Afterwards. She also appearedin Cyrano de Bergerac, Our Town,She Stoops to Folly, The Importance ofBeing Earnest and Buried Child.Other stage credits include How ILearned to Drive at San Diego Reper-tory and Talley’s Folly at ICT in LongBeach. In New York she appearedon Broadway and Off-Broadway inQuilters, Steel Magnolias, Smoke onthe Mountain, Native Speech and Un-changing Love. Other regional the-atre credits span from the MarkTaper Forum, Denver Center,Kennedy Center, Chicago’s RoyalGeorge to The Abbey (Ireland).Among her most current televisionappearances are guest star roles on“The OC,” “Judging Amy,” “JAG,”“The West Wing,” “For the People,”“Philly” (recurring), “NYPD Blue,”“The X-Files” and “The Jersey” (re-curring). Film credits include Drag-onfly, Never Been Kissed and SelfMedicated. She is also a companymember at Theatre 40 where she hasdone a whole mess of plays.

*HOWARD SHANGRAW (Fred/Gen-tleman) returns to his role as Fred inA Christmas Carol. He was seen inthe Mark Taper Forum’s production ofArcadia and Travels with My Aunt atthe Laguna Playhouse. His SCR cred-its include Mrs. Gorf, Mr. Gorf, MissVallosh, Mr. Pickle, Ms. Zarves and ofcourse the Cow in Sideways Storiesfrom Wayside School; Algernon in TheImportance of Being Earnest; Russellin Loose Ends; Lonnie in Coming At-tractions; and as young Ebenezer in AChristmas Carol, a role he created in1980. He also appeared in SCR’s AMess of Plays by Chris Durang, WildOats, The Contractor, The Time ofYour Life and The Sorrows of Freder-ick. He will also be remembered forhis performances as Mick Conner inComedians, Androgyno in Volponeand Lonnie Roy McNeil in The LastMeeting of the Knights of the WhiteMagnolia. Mr. Shangraw playedMadame Nash in the Mark TaperForum’s Romance Language, C.A.Rolander in the Odyssey Theatre’s Inthe Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer,Aubrey Piper in the Gem Theatre’sproduction of The Show-Off and Nor-man in The Dresser at Santa Barbara’sGarvin Theatre. His television ap-pearances include “Frasier,” “ChickenSoup for the Soul” and “Star Trek:Deep Space Nine.” He is currentlyHead of Acting Studies at IdyllwildArts Academy in Idyllwild, California.

*HISA TAKAKUWA (Toy Lady/Sally/Scavenger) returns for the 14thtime in A Christmas Carol. Ms.Takakuwa also appeared at SCR inThe Man Who Came to Dinner and 13Educational Touring Productions in-cluding The Pride of WeedpatchCamp, Bad Water Blues, Face2Face,My Mom’s Dad and Indian Summer.Other acting credits include Masha inThe Seagull, Agnes in The School forWives and Emily in Our Town at ANoise Within; Hero in Much Adoabout Nothing at the Grove Shake-speare Festival; the Playwright’s Labat the Sundance Institute; the inaugu-ral season of the Sundance Children’sTheatre; and Romeo and Juliet at theIndiana Repertory Theatre. Ms.Takakuwa is a Resident Artist at theclassical theatre company A NoiseWithin. She is also a director, havingdirected SCR’s Junior Players produc-tion of The Trials of Alice in Wonder-land. Other recent productions in-clude Twelfth Night and Henry V atActors Co-op in Hollywood. She iscurrently serving as the Director ofSCR’s Theatre Conservatory. Sheholds a BA from Smith College andan MFA from the California Instituteof the Arts.

*DON TOOK (Marley/Spirit of Christ-mas Yet-to-Come) is an SCR FoundingArtist who recently appeared in Cyra-no de Bergerac, Safe in Hell, Two


HISA TAKAKUWA

Toy Lady/Sally/ScavengerDON TOOK

Marley/Spirit of Christmas Yet-To-ComeHOWARD SHANGRAW

Fred/Gentleman

Gentlemen of Verona, The School forWives, The Beard of Avon, Much AdoAbout Nothing and The Countess. Inprevious seasons, he was seen in TheHollow Lands, The Philanderer, PlayStrindberg, Tartuffe, Ah, Wilderness!,Pygmalion, Our Town, Arcadia,BAFO (for which he won a Drama-Logue Award), She Stoops to Folly,Three Viewings, A Streetcar NamedDesire, The Misanthrope and Ptero-dactyls. He also appeared in theworld premiere of Hospitality Suiteand the revival of The PhiladelphiaStory. Mr. Took is proud to be anSCR Founding Artist with 40 years ofexperience in a wide variety of roles.He enjoyed playing the role of Gregin a record-breaking run of A.R. Gur-ney’s Sylvia at the Laguna Playhouse.Recent television credits include ap-pearances on “ER” “AmericanDreams,” “Arrested Development”;and he recently had a recurring roleas the evil Agent Grey in the ABC spyseries, “Alias.”

*TRAVIS VADEN (Undertaker/YoungEbenezer) appeared at SCR earlier thisseason in Bunnicula and previouslyin Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Cir-cle and A Christmas Carol (as YoungMarley) and in the Educational Tour-ing Productions Birdman! and ThePride of Weedpatch Camp. He hasappeared at International City Theatrein My Boy Jack and Master Harold

and the Boys. He played in TwelfthNight and Most Happy Fella at ActorsCo-op and worked with CornerstoneTheater on Reflecting Back. He is agraduate of the American Academy ofDramatic Arts and SCR’s ProfessionalConservatory.

PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR& DESIGNERS

JERRY PATCH (Adapter) was affiliatedwith South Coast Repertory from1967-2005. He served as dramaturgon nearly 150 new plays seen and de-veloped at SCR, including the worldpremieres of Abundance, Freedom-land, Golden Child, Intimate Apparel,Search and Destroy and Wit. His dra-matic writing has been produced atSCR and other theatres, and on televi-sion. He was project director ofSCR’s Pacific Playwrights Festival fromits inception in 1998 through 2005,and for seven years was Artistic Di-rector of the theatre program of theSundance Institute. He was Professorof Theatre and Film at Long BeachCity College and taught at UCI,UCSD, CSULB and other institutions.He is consulting dramaturg for theRoundabout Theatre Company inNew York, and now serves as Resi-dent Artistic Director of The OldGlobe in San Diego.

*JOHN-DAVID KELLER (Director) Seebiography on page P9.

THOMAS BUDERWITZ (Scenic Design)previously designed Proof, A DelicateBalance and But Not for Me at SCR.His recent stage designs include PeraPalas for the Theatre @ Boston Courtand the Anteaus Company, PrivateLives for the Pasadena Playhouse, TheTurn of the Screw and Tuesdays withMorrie for the Rubicon Theatre andSleuth for the Falcon Theatre. Othernotable designs include Ladies of theCamellias and Toys in the Attic forThe Colony Theatre, Under The BlueSky for the Geffen Playhouse, Deathof a Salesman for the Interact The-atre, Titanic for Civic Light Opera ofSouth Bay Cities, Camping withHenry & Tom and Swingtime Canteen

for McCoy Rigby Entertainment at theLa Mirada Theatre, Jack Fletcher’sproductions of A Midsummer Night’sDream for the PCPA Theaterfest andthe Westwood Playhouse, Sunday inthe Park with George for the WestCoast Ensemble, Dinah Was! for theInternational City Theatre and adozen productions for A Noise With-in. Regional credits include designsfor The Grove Shakespeare Festival,San Diego Repertory, Portland Reper-tory, Denver Center Theatre Compa-ny, Arizona Theatre Company, ActingCompany of Riverside (FL) and Chica-go’s Apollo Theatre. Mr. Buderwitz’scurrent and recent television designsinclude: “Sunday Morning Shootout”for AMC; “Fight Science” for NationalGeographic; “Spying on Myself” forA&E; and “Mr. Show,” “Def ComedyJam,” “Sketch Pad” and “HBO Come-dy Hour” for HBO.

DWIGHT RICHARD ODLE (CostumeDesign) has dressed SCR’s A Christ-mas Carol annually since 1980.Over 21 seasons at SCR, working inboth scenery and costumes, he de-signed nearly 90 productions includ-ing many Young Conservatory andEducational Touring Productions.Currently in his eleventh season asresident scenic and costume designerfor the Laguna Playhouse, he most re-cently designed Bad Dates and theAmerican premiere of Bernard Far-rell’s Many Happy Returns. Over 100other production credits at the Play-house include the world premieres ofWho’s Hot, Who’s Not and Mr. ShawGoes to Hollywood and the Americanpremieres of Moving On, Stella ByStarlight, Kevin’s Bed, Lovers at Ver-sailles and What the Night is For. HisWest Coast premieres include Tues-days With Morrie (as a co-productionwith San Jose Repertory), The SpitfireGrill, The Shape of Things, The SecretOrder, The Last Five Years and Table-top. His costumes for the West Coastpremieres of I Love You, You’re Per-fect, Now Change and The Last Ses-sion transferred to extended runs inLos Angeles. Regionally, Mr. Odlehas designed for the Geffen andPasadena Playhouses, Ballet Pacifica,

TRAVIS VADEN

Undertaker/Young Ebenezer



CYRUS ALEXANDER(Constable/WreathSeller/Young JacobMarley/Poulterer)made his SCR debutearlier this season inThe Caucasian ChalkCircle after having re-cently completedSCR’s Professional Intensive Program.Theatre credits include The Merchant ofVenice at the Santa Monica Playhouse,Understand Misunderstandings at theScene Dock Theatre, Richard Roma at theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts andHis Honor at the 24th Street Theatre. Herecently finished filming a festival-boundindependent called Chum. Other filmcredits include the independent filmThrough Time and the student films Anxi-ety, Wrong Door and Walk Through. Heis also owner of T.H.I.N.K. Productionsand founder of Nameless Theatre Compa-ny which recently staged his play,Instinct.

SARA BASHOR (Elizabeth Shelley/Fan/Pursued Maiden) is making her SCRdebut after having recently completedSCR’s Professional Intensive Program.

Theater credits in-clude Caligula andThe Little Peasant atthe WilliamstownTheatre Festival;Sylvia, Hidden inthis Picture andCalire at the RubiconTheatre Company;Much Ado about Nothing at the OjaiShakespeare Festival; and Cabaret at theCamarillo Community Theatre.

JOSHUA CAMPBELL(Puppeteer/Mr. Top-per) made his SCRdebut earlier thisseason in The Cau-casian Chalk Circleafter having recentlycompleted SCR’sProfessional Inten-sive Program. Theatre credits include TheShadow Box and Slow Dance on theKilling Ground at Theatre 138; Harveyand Barnum at the Fred C. Adams The-atre; Hair at the Clark County CommunityTheatre; Ceremonies in Dark Old Men,Zooman and the Sign and The Amen Cor-ner at the Charleston Playhouse; Echoes at

the Weston Playhouse; and A Soldier’sPlay at the Las Vegas Little Theatre.

MICHAEL IRISH(Thomas Shelley)made his SCR debutearlier this season inThe CaucasianChalk Circle afterhaving recentlycompleted SCR’sProfessional Inten-sive Program. Theatre credits includeCabaret, Fig: R.O., The Diary of AnneFrank, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues,It’s A Wonderful Life, Company, Hang Upand Oedipus at Colonus at The ChanceTheater, where he is a proud companymember; Poona The F***dog and OtherPlays for Children at the Rude GuerrillaTheater; The Philadelphia Story, Folliesand Gypsy at No Square Theater; Gretel &Hansel, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Cori-olanus and Cinderella at ShakespeareSanta Cruz; Dancing at Lughnasa, NoisesOff and Our Town at the Artists Theatre;Damn Yankees, Twelfth Night and A Mid-summer Night’s Dream at Park AvenuePlayers; and Working and White as Snow,Red as Blood at Laguna Playhouse.

ENSEMBLE

Students in South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory provideall the young characters in A Christmas Carol. Two teams alter-nate performances. Beginning the week are, above, clockwisefrom left, JOEL WAGNER, LAUREN BUANGAN, WILL PETERSON, MANDY

SHOLD, CHLOE MERCADO, ALEXANDRA MCCUE, ELISABETH SMITH and MATTCARDOZA. Team two, above, clockwise from left are MEGAN BLAN-CO, CHERYL ROBINSON, ZACH MARTIN, AKSHAY SHARMA, CHAS HUME,ALEXANDRA MULLIN, EDWARD SWANSON and RACHEL TEAGUE.

Burbank’s Colony Theatre, elevenproductions for McCoy Rigby Enter-tainment and scenery for the Fuller-ton Civic Light Opera. He has a longassociation with the Orange CountyPerforming Arts Center as a produc-er/designer/lecturer. Mr. Odle alsohas an extensive list of industrialclients including Disney, UniversalStudios, Princess Cruises, twoWorld’s Fairs, and theme parks inSeoul and Barcelona. For six years,he was the resident designer forRobert Redford’s Sundance Theatrein Utah and proudly served as art di-rector for Pope John-Paul’s 1987Mass in Dodge Stadium. He holdsan MFA degree from Yale School ofDrama and has been a professor ofdesign at Stanford University, CalState Fullerton and UC Irvine. Mr.Odle has been honored for a Life-time Achievement in Scenic Designby the Los Angeles Drama Critics Cir-cle.

DONNA & TOM RUZIKA (LightingDesign) celebrate their 26th year ofilluminating A Christmas Carol, their33rd year of marriage together, andtheir 1st year of being separatelynominated for an Ovation Award.They have collaborated on a numberof SCR productions including Be-yond the Fringe and Coming Attrac-tions. Ms. Ruzika has designed manyproductions for SCR’s Young Conser-vatory Players and several produc-tions on SCR’s Second Stage. Shejust completed her 8th season withthe Utah Shakespearean Festival.She also has designed for the Alaba-ma Shakespeare Festival, LagunaPlayhouse, Fullerton Civic LightOpera and Long Beach’s Internation-

al City Theatre. Her award-winningwork has also been seen in Bogota,Colombia and Barcelona, Spain. Sheis the Production Manager for thePomona College Department of The-atre & Dance and is on the Board ofDirectors for the United States Insti-tute of Theatre Technology (USITT).In his 33 seasons with SCR, Mr. Ruzi-ka has created award-winning light-ing designs for over 85 productions.His lighting designs have been seenon Broadway, in national tours, atmajor regional theatres, and for manynational and international dance andopera companies. His entertainmentlighting can be seen at theme parksin six different countries and his ar-chitectural lighting can be seen inprestigious hotels, casinos, restau-rants, retail centers, and performingarts centers across the nation and inEurope and Asia. Mr. Ruzika has re-ceived numerous awards for his con-tributions to the art and craft of light-ing design. He is a member of theDrama faculty in the graduate light-ing design program at the Universityof California, Irvine.

DENNIS McCARTHY (Musical Ar-rangement) returns to SCR where hepreviously composed music forDumb Show, Getting Frankie Mar-ried—and Afterwards, The Beard ofAvon, Much Ado about Nothing andOf Mice and Men. He has been writ-ing music for television for morethan 20 years. His career began as aconductor/arranger for Glen Camp-bell, whose concert tours took him toevery state in the nation and over-seas. Once based back in Los Ange-les, he worked as musical director onseveral television variety productions

such as “The Barbara MandrellShow.” He then became an orches-trator for film composer Alex Northand began composing for episodictelevision. Over the years he haswritten music for numerous televi-sion films and many series including“V,” the long-running “MacGyver,”“Parker Lewis Can’t Lose,” “Star Trek:The Next Generation,” “Deep SpaceNine” and “Voyager,” “TwilightZone,” “Dynasty,” “Love Boat,” “Col-bys,” “Hotel,” “Birdland” and “Hous-ton Knights.” Mr. McCarthy has alsowritten music for “Star Trek: Enter-prise” “Project Greenlight,” “Daw-son’s Creek” and the movies-of-the-week Daddy, Kaleidoscope, Careand Handling of Roses, V the FinalBattle, Hidden in Silence, Armed andInnocent, Overkill, A Texas Tragedyand Having Our Say. He has wontwo Emmy Awards for his work on“Star Trek: The Next Generation” andcomposed the music for the series’first feature, Generations. He is a 12-time winner of ASCAP’s Most Per-formed Composer Award. He is aSouthern California native, the fatherof three and proud grandfather ofeight beautiful grandchildren.

DREW DALZELL (Sound Design) ishappy to be back at SCR having pre-viously designed Bunnicula, TheHoboken Chicken Emergency, Inti-mate Exchanges and Sideways Storiesfrom Wayside School. His recent de-sign work includes The Laramie Pro-ject at the Laguna Playhouse; JuliaSweeney’s Letting Go of God, Fen(Garland Award), The MoundBuilders, The Cosmonaut’s Last Mes-sage to a Woman He Once Loved inthe Former Soviet Union and As I Lay


Dying (Ovation nomination) at OpenFist; Songs for a New World (Ovationnomination) and Tick, Tick... Boomat Rubicon Theatre; and Side Show(Ovation nomination), Grand Hotel,The Laramie Project, Indoor/Outdoor,Fuddy Meers, Around the World in80 Days and The Grand Tour withThe Colony Theatre. The StrasbergTheatre, The Eclectic Company The-atre, the Sacred Fools Theater, TheEvidence Room, and The Echo The-ater Company are just a few of themany other theatres where his de-signs have been heard. His workhas also been heard at theme parksowned by Disney, Universal Studiosand Paramount. He won the 1998USITT Clear Com Sound Achieve-ment Award and holds an MFA inSound Design from CCM at the Uni-versity of Cincinnati.

DENNIS CASTELLANO (Vocal Direc-tor) has musically directed the pastSCR productions of A ChristmasCarol, Happy End, Sunday in thePark with George and A Chorus ofDisapproval. He serves as the Headof the Music Theatre Program at UCIand during the summer, he musicallydirects for the Music Circus in Sacra-mento (Ragtime and Crazy For You,most recently) and the Music Theatreof Wichita (Me & My Girl and A Cho-rus Line). Other credits include MyFair Lady, The Unsinkable MollyBrown, Guys & Dolls and Annie GetYour Gun for McCoy Rigby Entertain-ment; The King and I for MusicalTheatre West; and Enter the Guards-man at the Laguna Playhouse. Hismusical direction has been cited bythe Los Angeles Times; he has re-ceived nine Drama-Logue Awards

and The Robby Award for Best Musi-cal Direction.

LINDA KOSTALIK (Choreographer) isa newly retired Professor from theTheatre Arts and Dance Departmentat Cal State Los Angeles and hasworked extensively with the award-winning Los Angeles County HighSchool of the Arts as choreographerfor the Musical Theatre Ensemble.Her career as dancer, choreographer,and educator spanned 40 years. Shecontinues to choreograph produc-tions for professional theatres such asSCR, Playwrights Horizon, The Good-man Theatre, the International CityTheatre and others. “Professor K” hasdirected Grammy nominee BobbyRodriguez in “A Latin Jazz ChristmasShow” and is currently working on anew musical review The Tributewith Crissy Guerrero and Dave Foley.She continues to work in videogra-phy and design. As always, it is apleasure to be back with the SCRfamily. Happy Holidays!

LAURIE WOOLERY (AssistantDirector) is an actor, director andplaywright who has worked at SCR,Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles The-atre Center, Cornerstone Theater,Deaf West Theatre, fofo Theatre,Highways Performance Space, ANoise Within, Sundance PlaywrightsLab as well as the Sundance Chil-dren’s Theatre. As a director andplaywright, Ms. Woolery has createdand collaborated on many newworks at SCR including club/under-world, Bliss, California Scenarios,The Snow Teen, The Hundred Dress-es, Orphan Train: The Lost Children,1212 and The Beloved Dearly. Cor-

nerstone Theater commissioned hersolo play Salvadorian Moon/AfricanSky as part of their citywide Festivalof Faith. Ms. Woolery directed RickCoca’s The Day I Flipped Off JimmyCarter for SCR’s Hispanic PlaywrightsProject, Amor Eterno for the openingof the Ricardo Montalban Theatre, aswell as Lisa Loomer’s Living Out andAnnie Weisman’s A Totally Meaning-ful Ritual for the Mark Taper Forum.She is an active member of the Vir-ginia Avenue Project and playwrightin residence for Hollygrove Chil-dren’s Home in Los Angeles. Ms.Woolery is also a proud Member ofthe Lincoln Theatre Center’s DirectorsLab West, former Director of SCR’sTheatre Conservatory and the newAssociate Artistic Director at Corner-stone Theater Company.

*ERIN NELSON (Stage Manager) isthrilled to be putting her UCSD MFAto good use in her third season atSouth Coast Repertory. SCR creditsinclude The Caucasian Chalk Circle,A View from the Bridge and the The-atre for Young Audiences produc-tions of Bunnicula, The Little Prince,The Hoboken Chicken Emergency,The Wind in the Willows, SidewaysStories from Wayside School and TheEmperor’s New Clothes. Previouscredits include La Jolla Playhouse,The Old Globe, Idaho ShakespeareFestival, National Playwrights Confer-ence and Theatre IV.

*CHRISSY CHURCH (Assistant StageManager) was lucky enough to be apart of the 25th Anniversary produc-tion of A Christmas Carol here lastyear and is very pleased to be return-ing to SCR for another run. Previous


credits at SCR include the world pre-mieres of Mr. Marmalade, GettingFrankie Married—and Afterwards,Making It and Nostalgia and produc-tions of Born Yesterday, Pinocchio,The Little Prince, Intimate Exchanges,La Posada Mágica, Anna in the Trop-ics and Proof. She has also had thepleasure of working on Clutter: TheTrue Story of the Collyer Brothers(world premiere) at The Colony The-atre; La Perichole and Seven SmallOperas at Long Beach Opera; TheSpitfire Grill at Laguna Playhouse;and The King and I, Chicago, Ragtimeand She Loves Me at Maine StateMusic Theatre. She would like totake this opportunity to thank theACC crew for all of their dedicationand hard work. This show couldn’tbe done without them!

DAVID EMMES (Producing ArtisticDirector) is co-founder of SCR. Hehas received numerous awards forproductions he has directed duringhis SCR career, including a Los Ange-les Drama Critics Circle Award for thedirection of George Bernard Shaw’sThe Philanderer. He directed theworld premieres of Amy Freed’s Safein Hell, The Beard of Avon and Free-domland, Thomas Babe’s Great Dayin the Morning, Keith Reddin’s Rumand Coke and But Not for Me andNeal Bell’s Cold Sweat; the Americanpremiere of Terry Johnson’s Unsuit-able for Adults; the West Coast pre-mieres of C.P. Taylor’s Good andHarry Kondoleon’s Christmas onMars; and the Southland premiere ofTop Girls (at SCR and the WestwoodPlayhouse). Other productions in-clude the West Coast premieres ofThree Viewings by Jeffrey Hatcher,The Secret Rapture by David Hare andNew England by Richard Nelson; andArcadia by Tom Stoppard, The Im-portance of Being Earnest by OscarWilde, Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mindand You Never Can Tell by GeorgeBernard Shaw, which he restaged for

the Singapore Festival of Arts. Hisproducing responsibilities involve theoverall coordination of SCR’s pro-grams and projects. He has served asa theatre panelist and onsite evaluatorfor the National Endowment for theArts, on the Executive Committee ofthe League of Resident Theatres, andas a panelist for the California ArtsCouncil. After attending OrangeCoast College, he received his BAand MA from San Francisco State Uni-versity, and his PhD in theatre andfilm from USC.

MARTIN BENSON (Artistic Director),co-founder of SCR with his colleagueDavid Emmes, has directed nearlyone third of the plays produced here.He has distinguished himself in thestaging of contemporary work, in-cluding William Nicholson’s The Re-treat from Moscow, Horton Foote’sThe Carpetbagger’s Children and theworld premiere of Getting FrankieMarried—and Afterwards, the critical-ly acclaimed California premiere ofNicholson’s Shadowlands, the South-ern California premiere of MichaelHealey’s The Drawer Boy; and theWest Coast premieres of PeterHedges’ Good As New and Martin Mc-Donagh’s The Lonesome West. He haswon accolades for his direction offive major works by George BernardShaw, including the Los AngelesDrama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award-winners Major Barbara, Misallianceand Heartbreak House. Among thenumerous world premieres he has di-rected are Tom Strelich’s BAFO andMargaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-win-ning Wit, which he also directed atSeattle Repertory Theatre and theAlley Theatre in Houston. He has di-rected American classics includingAh, Wilderness!, A Streetcar NamedDesire, A Delicate Balance and AView from the Bridge. Mr. Bensonhas been honored with the Drama-Logue Award for his direction of 21productions and received LADCC Dis-

tinguished Achievement in Directingawards an unparalleled seven timesfor the three Shaw productions, JohnMillington Synge’s Playboy of theWestern World, Arthur Miller’s TheCrucible, Sally Nemeth’s Holy Daysand Wit. He also directed the filmversion of Holy Days using the origi-nal SCR cast. Along with Emmes, heaccepted SCR’s 1988 Tony Award forOutstanding Resident ProfessionalTheatre and won the 1995 Theatre LAOvation Award for Lifetime Achieve-ment. Mr. Benson received his BA inTheatre from San Francisco State Uni-versity.

PAULA TOMEI (Managing Director) isresponsible for the overall administra-tion of South Coast Repertory and hasbeen Managing Director since 1994.A member of the SCR staff since 1979,she has served in a number of admin-istrative capacities including Subscrip-tions Manager, Business Manager andGeneral Manager. She is the immedi-ate past President of the TheatreCommunications Group (TCG), thenational service organization for theprofessional not-for-profit theater andserves as a member of the Board. Inaddition, she has served as Treasurerof TCG, Vice President of the Leagueof Resident Theatres (LORT) and hasbeen a member of the LORT Negoti-ating Committee for industry-wideunion agreements. She representsSCR at national conferences of TCGand LORT; is a theatre panelist andsite visitor for the National Endow-ment for the Arts and the CaliforniaArts Council; served on the AdvisoryCommittee for the Arts AdministrationCertificate Program at the Universityof California, Irvine; and has been aguest lecturer in the graduate schoolof business at Stanford and U.C.Irvine. She graduated from the Uni-versity of California, Irvine with a de-gree in Economics and pursued anadditional course of study in theatreand dance.


The Actors and Stage Managers em-ployed in this production are mem-bers of Actors’ Equity Association, theUnion of Professional Actors andStage Managers in the United States.

The Scenic, Costume, Lighting andSound Designers in LORT theatresare represented by United ScenicArtists Local USA-829, IATSE.

The Director is a member of the So-ciety of Stage Directors and Chore-ographers, Inc., an independent na-tional labor union.

Documents

presents CHARLES DICKENS’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL · his year’s revival of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is SCR’s 26th staging of the play. With each ... – Emily Dickenson,