A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Date of Run: December 19-23, 2014
ROLE: Bob Cratchit

My final show of 2014 was a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol. After Dracula closed, I assumed I was done doing shows for the year. But then, the day before Thanksgiving, I received an email from the director of the show, Aiden O'Reilly. He stated that they had lost the actor playing Bob Cratchit and they were in need of a replacement. As I found out later, the reason they considered me was because Nellie Cravens, my director from Dracula, and Richard Thomas, who helped to build the set of Dracula and was cast in this show, spoke very highly of me and suggested they ask me for the part.

Admittedly, I was excited by the opportunity to play such a well-known character, but my excitement quickly died because there were a few things to consider before taking the role. First there was the fact that there were five dates between then and the show opening where I would not be available, I there would be rehearsal because I made plans to either see a show or go to an audition. I had made these plans weeks in advance since I thought I would be done with shows for the year after Dracula. So, I sent an email saying I would be interested, but there was that. To my surprise they messaged me saying it was not a problem.

Even with that out of the way I was not relieved because there was one other obstacle: work. In order for me to do this show I had to get the Sunday show off. I was worried because it would be the weekend before Christmas and also, only one person could have that Sunday off. I knew that because some weeks earlier two workers asked for the same Saturday off, but the boss said she could not do that. However, it all worked out, with one person agreeing to work in exchange for a homemade cheesecake from me.

Upon accepting the role, I was told that the show would only be one hour long and to top that, I would also be paid. It would be my first paid acting job in almost a year. It would be fairly relaxing process for me: Only four rehearsals, then tech week and six shows. However, there was a price to doing this show. I had intended to go home for Christmas that Monday after work, but since the show ended on Tuesday I would have to wait until after the show to go home and I would have only two days at home instead of three.

The cast included Bob Smith, Aiden O'Reilly, Richard Thomas, Moises Chavez, Morgan Harrington, Jocelyn Joy Murphy, Daniel Jimenez, Lori Bailey, Julia and Rich Holsworth, Ava Castro, Gianna Sanfilippo, Dominic Sanfilippo, and Danny Banales.

During the four rehearsals we decided that the other actors would just go along with whatever I did during the scene. Aiden kept telling me he liked what I was doing in the scene, and he felt my choices and instincts were very good. We had a few conversations about the character, and I found this character to be fairly easy to navigate through. It's hardly surprising because I've seen many adaptations of A Christmas Carol and I'm more than familiar with the characters.

In the beginning scene

During the four rehearsals where I was called, we only rehearsed the scenes I was in (of which there were only four) along with anyone else who was in the scene. I could tell that the casting was going to be a little strange from the beginning. Then when we moved to tech week, we never had everyone in the cast in the same room at once until the night before we opened. For this show, Nellie Cravens donated part of the set from Dracula to be used in this show. It was nice to be around familiar surroundings.

I admit now that the casting was a little odd, at least for the Cratchit family. I knew from the beginning that my four children would be teenagers, but three of them were as tall as I was and they were also portly, while I was thin. And Lori, who played my wife was middle-aged. To help with this, I designed my makeup to make me look older and put a few streaks of gray in my hair. I also grew (or tried to grow) sideburns because I always think of that when I think of Bob Cratchit. They didn't grow long enough by the time the show began so I had to color them in.



With Mrs. Cratchit (Lori Bailey)





The Cratchit Family (I know it's blurry, but this was taken on a cellphone and there isn't better one)

In this show I had four scenes: the beginning, the Ghost of Christmas Present and Future scenes and the very last scene. I also had no costume changes. After my first scene I had a decent break before going on again. It was one of my more relaxing roles, though this was the first time in nearly a year when I had two shows in one day (in this case, Sunday). And the audiences were always a decent size, and it was never less than half full.

The first audience on Friday had about fifty or so and the one on Saturday was 3/4 full. The first Sunday show almost had the house full, and it was a very responsive audience for a Sunday matinee. In between shows it was tough since I didn't want to go all the way home afterward, so I grabbed dinner and spent some time in the bookstore just down the street. The second show on Sunday was probably the smallest with about 40-50 people. For the Monday show we had a full house and on Tuesday we were nearly full. A very successful run, I think.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened even once during the run, except once, but no one knew about it until afterward. On Monday after the show was over, I was backstage getting out of my costume when I noticed that my pants were missing. I must've looked everywhere in that dressing room about fifty times, but I couldn't find them. My pants were black and many other things in there were black, such as covers and the changing screens, so that didn't help matters. I thought maybe the costumer took them by mistake. As it turned out Bob had picked them up thinking they were his and wore them in the show. He didn't ruin them or stretch them or anything and we all had a good laugh about it afterward.



Prior to this show I never thought I would get a major supporting part like this for some time. Looking back, I was at least 20 years too young for the role, but whatever. I made it work the best I could.