History of MET's A Christmas Carol

2008 marks the 5th year of MET's production of A Christmas Carol. The script we use was adapted from the book by Charles Dickens by Theatricks (a theatre company founded by Sandy Murphy and MET Associate Artistic Director Julie Herber) over 11 years ago.

Dancing at Fezziwigs!

Theatricks and then The Fun Company (another Julie Herber founded company) produced the show for about six years, performing at Frederick Community College and the Weinberg. The very first Scrooge was Tom Dougherty.

The ghost of Jacob Marley (James McGarvey) rattles his chains.

MET began producing A Christmas Carol when Julie - and The Fun Company - joined MET. Not much has changed in the past 11 years - we use the same original script from Theatricks, Julie has directed every year except one, when she was part of the cast.

The Ghost of Christmas Past (Gené Fouché) greets Scrooge (Tad Janes)

There have been cast changes, of course, but most of the people you see on stage have been doing the show for years. Tad Janes, MET's Artistic Director, has played Scrooge for the past 5 years. For many years, the part of Tiny Tim was played by Ensemble School student Karli Cole. This year the role is double cast, played by Elissa Dalimore and Lena Janes.

Scrooge (Tad Janes) and Ghost of Christmas Present (Karen Paone) watch the Cratchit family.

We've gone through several sets, most of them designed by our good friend Ira Domser. The current set was designed by Tad. We store the set, along with tubs of props and costumes, separately from the rest of our stock. We do our best to use Christmas Carol props and costumes only for that show, which makes getting ready for performances much easier!

Our fabulous set.

This year you can see A Christmas Carol in Wesminster at the Carroll County Arts Center or in Downtown Frederick at The Weinberg Center. In addition to public matinee and evening performances, the cast will also perform 5 daytime shows for school children.

Scrooge and company

Tiny Tim (Karli Cole) and Scrooge (Tad Janes). "God bless us, everyone!"

Reiner Prochaska talks about The Snow Queen

When--in the summer of 2008--Julie Herber first asked me to write a stage adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, I had to admit that I had actually never read it. Having grown up in Germany, I was thoroughly familiar with the fairy tales the Brothers Grimm had woven from centuries of central European folklore--but reading Andersen's work was a new experience. The critics seemed to agree that Snow Queen was his best and most complex work. But why?

Snow Queen combines a range of compelling themes: good, evil, love, friendship, loyalty, religion, nature, compassion, and ambition. Adapting so complex a story for an audience of children--as well as for their parents and grandparents (since children rarely come to the theater by themselves)--seemed a daunting task. I wanted to write a play that was relevant to a twenty-first-century audience. After I re-read the text several times, two prevalent themes--dichotomies, rather--that seemed to me both modern and timeless emerged: Intellect versus Emotion and Civilization versus Nature.

Both themes have been represented in literature for as long as humans have recorded their experience through the written word. We find them in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Their timelessness intrigued me. Too often, the Snow Queen is a representation of evil and wickedness. I see her as a Force of Nature, rather than a Force of Evil. When Gerda asks Grandmother whether the Snow Queen can come inside, Kai responds, "Let her try! I'd put her on the stove and she'd melt!" If we can accept the Snow Queen as a representation of nature, could Kai's comment be a modern metaphor for human interference with our environment? So, I chose to write this play as a cautionary tale about the precarious balance between Man and Nature, but also about the power of love and loyalty in the face of adversity.

Because I am also directing this production, staging it for visual impact was a big consideration for me. Since so many of the scenes take place in the vast landscapes of Scandinavia, a traditional set seemed hardly appropriate. While as an actor I love the immediacy of the stage, as a filmmaker I'm thrilled by the excitement of moving pictures. But why not combine the two? I decided to use--instead of a stage set--two large screens onto which still and video images could be rear-projected. These images will serve as set interiors as well as interactive outdoor videos. A combination of stock video clips will create the illusion of the Snow Queen's sleigh flying over glaciers and mountains and above the clouds. This past Tuesday, I traveled to Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, to tape footage from a moving horse-drawn carriage driving through a snowy forest for a scene in which Gerda is captured by a band of robbers.

Below is a short "teaser" with images from the show. Check it out. And, come see the show. I think it will be exciting for children of all ages. See you at the MET!

- Reiner Prochaska

Box Office Humor (from Joann!)

Crank Yankers: OCD Theater

Crank Yankers

OCD Theater

More Funny Videos
Comedians on Tour

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Stand-Up Comedy

For those not familiar with this Comedy Central show, it's a show with real 'crank' phone calls to real victims. Puppets are added as the 'actors' to give visual support to what is happening in the phone calls. So yes, some poor box office guy actually had this conversation! (please don't do this to us!)

The MET Furniture Line

Since we moved into our new offices, ensemble member Mark Barnhart has been hard at work, building us our own furniture line! We call it the 'Maärk Collection':

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His first project was a bookshelf for the back hallway. Mark did the construction and staining in the scene shop, but brought the shelves into the classroom for assembly.

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Done! The shelves are completely full of books, plays and set models now.

Next Mark built some desks for our company office, they match the look of the book shelves above.
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Once the desks were done, and the A Doll's House set finished, Mark moved on to a large table for our conference room.
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It makes me nervous with all the sparks flying around!

The table was moved into the conference room yesterday, Reiner helped! First they set up the legs and base. Then they attached the table top.
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Our beautiful new conference table! We're very excited about having a dedicated space for meetings. No longer will the Board of Directors be squished into the Greene Room, or the Technology Committee be forced to meet in the lobby, with Ensemble School students working on scenes close by. Yay!
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Mark has also built a new fabulous work table and wood storage unit in the scene shop. Next time you're at the MET, ask for a tour of the Maärk Collection!

Another Christmas Carol Video

Karen says I missed one! Here's Mr. Magoo, with Tiny Tim and Razzleberry Dressing!

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, was born on February 7, 1812.

His early life began idyllically, but due to his father's imprisonment in Marshalsea Debtor's Prison, Dickens was forced at the age of twelve to leave school and work at Warren's Shoe Blacking Factory. The rest of his family moved into the prison, but Dickens was sent to live with a family friend so he could was to work.

Many of his books are based on his experiences as a child factory worker and the effects of being abandoned by his family.

Fortunately for Dickens (and us!), when his father was released, he made sure Dickens was able to return to school, saving him from a life of factory work.

As an adult, Dickens held several jobs, including working as a clerk at a law office and for a newspaper as a political journalist. His first published work for fiction was Sketches by Boz, which was published in 1836 and led to the serialization of his first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

Also in 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. They had 10 children.

Dickensian characters—especially their typically whimsical names—are among the most memorable in English literature. The likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, Fagin, Mrs Gamp, Charles Darnay, Oliver Twist, Micawber, Abel Magwitch, Samuel Pickwick, Miss Havisham, Wackford Squeers and many others are so well known and can be believed to be living a life outside the novels that their stories have been continued by other authors.

Most of Dickens's major novels were first written in monthly or weekly instalments in journals such as Master Humphrey's Clock and Household Words, later reprinted in book form. These instalments made the stories cheap, accessible and the series of regular cliff-hangers made each new episode widely anticipated. American fans even waited at the docks in New York, shouting out to the crew of an incoming ship, "Is Little Nell dead?"

Charles Dickens died on June 9, 1870. Contrary to his wish to be buried in Rochester Cathedral, he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on his tomb reads: "He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world."

For more on Dickens, including TONS of analysis of every word he wrote, visit here.

A Christmas Carol Fast Facts

- John Leech provided eight illustrations, four woodcuts and four hand colored etchings, for the first edition of A Christmas Carol published in December 1843. This image, Mr. Fezziwig's Ball, appeared as the the frontpiece for that edition. See more illustrations here.

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- The full title is: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas

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- A Christmas Carol was the subject of Dickens' first ever public reading, given in Birmingham Town Hall to the Industrial and Literary Institute on 27 December 1852.

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- A Christmas Carol has been made into about a million different adaptations, from musicals, movies, radio shows and TV shows. For a complete list (almost!), go here.

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- A Christmas Carol was immediately very popular, though at the time it was published it created a great religious controversy! The story's lack of babes, wise men, stars, mangers and other icons of the Christian nativity inspired a multitude of sermons and pamphlets at that time.

A Christmas Carol is almost here...again!

Once again, MET will be performing the traditional A Christmas Carol, adapted from the book by Charles Dickens. To get us all in the mood, I'll be posting several items relating to this most classic of all holiday classics.

For starters, let's look at some other A Christmas Carol adaptations:


The Muppets!



Scrooge McDuck!


annnnd...Barbie!

MET in the Community: Buckingham's Choice

For the past three years, MET Associate Artistic Director Julie Herber has been working with the Buckingham's Choice Players. The group's next show opens on Monday, November 17th. BC Players president and long time MET patron Marvin Fink shares his thoughts on the upcoming show and the rehearsal process:

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BC Players present…..

“THE CEMETERY CLUB”
By Ivan Menchell

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This play was originally produced by the Yale Repertory Theatre on January 13, 1987 and was subsequently produced at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Eisenhower Theatre on March 30, 1990. It was then moved to the Brook Atkinson Theatre in New York on May 12, 1990 and it was finally produced as a movie in 1993.
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The play is a comedy-drama concerned with the serious subjects of death, love and renewal of life. There are three widow ladies who have been visiting their husbands’ graves for a number of years. However, a certain amount of unrest has developed within two of the ladies who feel life may have some other purpose for them. The third lady remains devoted to her husband memory and is steadfast in her visits. This sets up a conflict when, by chance, a man appears to visit his wife’s grave and they all accidentally bump into each other. Apparently two of the ladies know this man and the complications and intrigue that develop will both sadden and amuse you. How does one begin anew and should they, are the basic questions that are asked, and does anyone have the right to interfere. The play has some very funny lines in a Jewish New York flavor but the play does more than represent the ethnicity of New York. The problems presented to senior citizens who have lost a loved one are universal and this play will prove very meaningful to many of us.
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The cast and director: Marianne, Jill, George, Anne, Julie Herber and Bryce

The Buckingham’s Choice Players are in their final weeks of rehearsal for their 5th presentation of plays given for and by the residents of Buckingham’s Choice, a senior citizen retirement community in Adamstown, Maryland. The plays are directed by a professional actress and director, Ms. Julie Herber, Associate Artistic Director of the Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) in Frederick, Maryland.
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Our performers are senior citizens with many years of life’s experience behind them to guide their understanding of the characters they play. They are used to being natural and real in real-life situations and it just needs a little prompting and coaching from Ms. Herber to make them appear this way before an audience.
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Bryce as Lucille and Anne as Ida

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A typical rehearsal day starts as the actors assemble, hopefully on time. Julie arrives and we check to see what Julie has in mind for a rehearsal today. “We’ll start with Act 1”, she says, and George, (our one and only man in the play starts to improvise the living room in Ida’s home in New York City). Since we are rehearsing in the library extension at Buckingham’s Choice we don’t have a couch or a cocktail table, but George quickly puts together a couple of chairs and finds a large cardboard container which will serve as the cocktail table for serving the tea which our three leading ladies, will be drinking from during the scene.
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George as Sam and Jill as Mildred

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Since we don’t have any props for a doorbell ring at the moment, Julie says “ding, ding” and Ida enters from the kitchen, stage left and says “I’m coming, I’m coming”. She opens the door and Lucille enters, flamboyant and aggressive, as only she can be and our rehearsal has started. Although the play will be presented as a staged reading, the actors already know most of the lines and they can relate to each other quite well with good eye contact. This can be dangerous, however, since the actors can be carried away by the scene and start to improvise to maintain the pace, and this, of course, throws off the cue that the other actor requires to respond correctly and he or she may loose their place in the script. Some one says,” Excuse me, I’ve lost the place”, and so we go back and play the scene again, This is why we rehearse so much. Hopefully this kind of error will be eliminated, but the actor who must respond must also understand the sense of the scene so he or she can respond appropriately if required, and not say “excuse me, I’m sorry”.

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Marianne as Doris, Anne as Ida and Bryce as Lucille

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I would like to cite a few examples of some of the instruction Julie has given our senior actors during our rehearsals that are good examples of the style and techniques that make a play enjoyable to listen to and watch.
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a) The importance of appearing natural and relaxed. The actors must believe they are in a real-life situation and adapt their own personality to the character they play. The actors must whole heartedly believe in their “imaginary circumstances”.
b) Also, the importance of learning to listen to what the other actor is saying and responding in a meaningful and appropriate way.
c) The need to be responsive to the things about them and to feel familiar with the immediate environment and to relate to the articles (props) that are about them.
d) Allow themselves to show emotional response to changes in events, circumstances and other actors as their personality-character dictates.
e) Showing memory of past events so that their responses (lines) reflect and color the manner of their response. This is achieved by having a full character history developed through the rehearsal process.
f) The importance to remember that every line has a meaning and should be motivated by the feelings of the actor.
g) Once the actors have established their character, they must remain consistent with that part, especially if it is a character that is distinct from their own personality.
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Marvin S. Fink, President, BC Players
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Want to see the show?

When: Monday, November 17th and Tuesday, November 18th at 7:15pm

Where: Buckingham's Choice, Adamstown, MD

Contact info: 301-874-5630

Crumpet the Elf a.k.a. Rona Mensah

Longtime Ensemble Member Rona Mensah will star in the one-person show, The Santaland Diaries, this holiday season. Who is Rona and how did she come by this amazing opportunity to memorize a 40 page monologue? Here, in her own words, is Rona's life story...the Reader's Digest version:

I came to Frederick to study at Hood College. While there, I participated in the Hood Theatre group. At the time, there were no Theatre Arts courses at Hood so I chose something equally creative: Interior Design and Retail Management.

Even though I was studying something different, I spent much of my free time working on the theatre productions and helping to build the sets, coordinating the properties and acting. Since I didn't stray too far from the campus, I was clueless to the number of theaters in Frederick's bustling arts scene.

After I graduated, I moved to Frederick and quickly learned there were a number of theatre groups in the area and saw a few productions. After about 2 years, I knew I wanted to get back into the theatre scene and wanted to hit the stage again.

I began working for Key 103 radio in Frederick and came into contact with an audition notice for Fredericktowne Players' production of Camelot. It was exactly the jolt I needed to return to the stage. I was lucky enough to get roles onstage with Fredericktowne Players, Other Voices, and Feste Productions theatre groups.

While performing in Feste's Skin of Our Teeth, I came in contact with Maryland Ensemble Theatre founder, Tad Janes who approached me about taking acting classes with The Ensemble School...MET's Educational arm. I started taking classes in Acting and Improvisation with the MET, and in the process grew to learn much more about Theatre Arts and the Ensemble Theatre model.

In 1997, we debuted our premier piece, an original work called "Finally Heard: Feminine Heroes of an Uncivil War". In the 10 years that I've been involved with the MET, we've created 5 original shows and have another one we are creating for the 2008-2009 season. The group has grown and continued to expand our boundaries by creating new original plays, and adapting classic plays with a new twist. It's such a great group to be involved with.

I really love living and working in Frederick. It's such an interesting and eclectic town. There's so much to explore in the arts, from music, to visual and performing arts, one could always be occupied with experiencing the arts in Frederick!

A Doll's House interview on WYPR

Today, WYPR's Maryland Morning show aired an interview with A Doll's House director Tad Janes and translator Vibeke Havre.

You can listen to the interview here. You have to scroll down a bit, we're the last item under "Tuesday, November 11, 2008."

David Sedaris on Letterman

David Sedaris reads an essay on the Letterman Show. Not Santaland related, but you get a sense of his humor.

David Sedaris

David Sedaris, author of one of MET's holiday shows - The Santaland Diaries, is a busy man:

For a brief bio, go here or here.

For a 2004 interview with Mr. Sedaris, go here. I think the highlight is at the end when he talks about finally getting a computer: "When I was working on a typewriter and I whited out a line, often I would choose a word to go in the space just because it fit. Now I don't have to do that."

For an interview about his 2001 book, Me Talk Pretty One Day, go here.

For a review of his latest book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, go here. You can also listen to Mr. Sedaris read from the book.

Other books by Daivd Sedaris:
Naked
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Barrel Fever
He has also co-written several plays with his sister, Amy Sedaris.

David Sedaris will be at the Weinberg Center in April, 2009.

Santaland Diaries First Read Thru

On Wednesday, November 5th we had the first read thru of The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. As usual, we had a potluck dinner first, then settled into the theatre to listen to the script.

The production team, plus a few others: Sarah Shulman (ASM), Mak Nichols, Suzanne Beal (Director), Karina Wright (Stage manager), Joann Lee (Set designer), Tom Majarov (sound designer) and Sarah Straw.

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The Santaland Diaries premiered on November 7, 1996 at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City. MET has produced this show once before, in 2004 (our first Christmas in our current space) with Kevin Corbett as the elf.

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Santaland director, Suzanne Beal, talks about the show.

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The playwright, David Sedaris, was discovered reading his diary (which he has kept since 1977) in a Chicago club by radio host Ira Glass, who asked Sedaris to appear on his weekly local program The Wild Room. Sedaris's success on The Wild Room led to his National Public Radio debut on December 23, 1992, when he read a radio essay titled "SantaLand Diaries", which described his experiences working as an elf at Macy's department store during Christmastime in New York. "SantaLand Diaries" was an immediate success with radio listeners, and launched Sedaris's career as a writer, playwright and comedian.

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Santaland is a one person show, and MET's version features ensemble member Rona Mensah. Rona basically has to memorize a 30 page monologue!

Words from Joe

Photographer Joe Williams helped document MET's production of A Doll's House. He attended rehearsals, from the very first read thru all the way through the final dress.

There are hundreds of moments in “A Doll's House,” instants of emotion and expression that, linked together, tell the story nearly as much as the words themselves. I have come to know this, because I have watched the play as it was created, from the first time it was read, through it's revisions (and revisions), rehearsals, direction, construction, and finally, performance. I have tried to capture those moments in the photographs I've taken over the past weeks as the author, director, designers, and cast created them. I know there are hundreds of moments; I have hundreds of photographs to prove it.

Brian Irons as Torvald. © 2008 Joe Williams

I started taking photos of MET productions when my wife, Kayte, appeared in “A Threepenny Opera.” I quickly found that theatre lighting is difficult, that many moments I try to capture are ruined by motion during an exposure that is too long, or the shadow on one side of an actor's face is matched by the bright light on their other cheek. Fortunately, I don't pay for film with a digital camera, so I can take some chances and try to capture some of those fleeting instances. It takes a lot of time to sort through all the files. It can be discouraging to see how many times I missed a moment, through a fault in composition, exposure, or movement, but there are also dozens of keepers that make me forget the frustration. Scroll down through the blog, and you'll see some of the results.

The cast and crew, along with Tad and Vibeke, welcomed me and allowed me to observe and document their work as they gave shape to Ibsen's words. By the time the play opened, I had heard some scenes 7 or 8 times, but it was never stale or repetitive. There was always either the drama of the play itself, or the drama (and occasional comedy) of the evolving production. One night soon, I look forward to being an ordinary member of the audience. That night, I'm going to leave the camera at home.