'Tis the season…

Wow, what a change of scenery! Last week I was performing in the stormy Caucasian mountains and now I’m rehearsing on Dicken’s streets of London. The timing is perfect and marks the advent of my holiday season. I love the holidays: the cool air and warm hearts, the general buzz of goodwill and family-time. And what a better way to immerse in the season than rehearse and perform in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol every day? The cast of Ford’s A Christmas Carol has jumped right into staging and after four days of rehearsal we already have the show on its feet.

The first day of rehearsal the entire company and staff joined together to introduce themselves and share memories of past CC seasons. Many of the cast members are reprising their roles, some going on their fifth year, and welcomed us newbies with open hearts. The veterans spoke of community, stability, family, artistic integrity and exploration. They shared what is means to return to this production every year as actors who have little pattern aside from change and as people returning home to friends. I already feel very much a part of them. I am eager to celebrate with audiences the sense of redemption, charity and forgiveness that Dicken’s so aptly penned and still remains so powerful today (ten times a week!).

Ford’s A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas December 2nd-December 28th, ten shows a week at Shakespeare’s Lansburgh Theatre in downtown Washington DC (Ford’s Theatre re-opens after renovations in 2009). Tickets.