(Again, I wish I had my negatives to post pics for this one)

From Oct 1997 – Dec 2000 I was involved in A Christmas Carol at Glendale Centre Theatre.

OK. That’s only partly true. It was just during the holiday season those years.

I started doing theater at church and at school when I was pretty young. And we knew of GCT from going there on school trips, or with church. I actually still have my program (somewhere) from when I went to see A Christmas Carol in 7th grade.

Oct 1997 was my junior year. I was rehearsing See How They Run at school and was there until 4pm. I don’t really remember where the idea from that I should audition for this show, but luckily for me, my parents supported the idea.

It was totally scary – my first audition for community theatre. Total risk of rejection. You don’t really have that when you do church productions.

I read for a couple different things. I didn’t sing at all (their loss). And then about a week after the auditions/callbacks I got a phone call offering me the part! And the same thing the next three Octobers. Except starting with the 2nd year I got to sing.

I won’t go into all the details because that was a big (big) chunk of my life and it’d be a lot to tell. …
… but it definitely brought Christmas spirit into my life on a daily basis.

I know the book (A Christmas Carol) backwards and forwards. I still remember parts of the script. The other night, when we were watching Muppet Christmas Carol, I could still remember some of the lines (hint: GCT script different than Muppet movie). Bizarre.

Keep in mind, we rehearsed half of October and most of November 6 to 7 days per week. The performances starting Thanksgiving weekend. 7 to 8 performances each week. I was totally immersed in this show.

Counting driving time to Glendale it was at least 40 hours/week.

My characters:
1997: Martha Cratchit – oldest Cratchit daughter. I had SO much fun with those kids … For my scene I had to burst into the room and hug Bob Cratchit. I made friends with the guy playing my dad and tried to knock him down … well, as much as possible with out actually knocking him down on stage.

1998: Elizabeth Fezziwig – I don’t think this scene is in the book. I think it might have been just to add a little something. For teenagers to identify with. Elizabeth is the daughter of Mr. Fezziwig in the Christmas Past scenes … and she dances at the party and has a little flirty scene with Young Ebeneezer’s coworker. The best part about this year is one of my closest friends (Daniel Rettig) did the show with me and was cast opposite me. Loved it. So so fun.

Plus this year I got to sing. One of the sopranos in the choir. Also so fun. I learned so many more Christmas songs doing this show.

Plus my character had a little sister. This cute cute girl named Ryan played her and I just fell in love with her. I miss her.

1999: Martha Cratchit + Christmas Past – This year they did away with the Elizabeth Fezziwig scene … and I was still too young to play anything else, basically so I got put back with the Cratchits. Still fun. Plus the choir. Plus I was the understudy to the understudy of Christmas Past. And I actually ended up playing that role several times (maybe 4 or 5?). Kind of a big deal, considering the owner of the theatre was the primary Christmas Past.

2000: Fred’s Wife – Yes. My character’s name was totally lacking in individuality. I had a ridiculous amount of fun this year. One of my reall good friends (George Kralemann) did the show with me, and I made more friends (3 other awesome people in my scene). We had so much fun in that scene. So much fun! It’s one of the funnier parts of the show and we totally milked it. Plus the choir. Plus I feel like I MAY have done Christmas Past again this year, but I’m not sure.

Doing A Christmas Carol is embodies everything that is Christmasy for social groups. But for almost 3 months. We did decorations and exchanged Christmas cards. We did Secret Santa and brought holiday goodies. I learned several new songs from that show and got to wear gorgeous wintery costumes (complete with muffs even in SoCal).

I just LOVED doing that show. I am glad that I took a year off before I moved to AZ … and I haven’t really been able to since then (there’s a similar family theatre in Mesa). And I obviously can’t do the show now that I work nights.

But Glendale Centre Theatre’s A Christmas Carol is absolutely part of my holiday.

View all posts in the Journal your Christmas series

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