Carol Celebrates the Geary Theater Family

-
By A.C.T. Publications Staff 

Coming home for the holidays is a multi-generational affair for the cast of A.C.T.'s A Christmas Carol. Since 2005, this adaptation of the seasonal classic has united actors from the Young Conservatory, the Master of Fine Arts Program, and professionals on the Geary stage. It is crafted to showcase a variety of experience, and has roles for actors from an elementary school student to an A.C.T. veteran like Ken Ruta, who was part of A.C.T.’s original acting company in 1967. 

To make the familial bonds as strong as possible, the YC and MFA Program actors spend a week working together before rehearsals for A Christmas Carol start. During this time, each YC actor is paired with an MFA actor who guides them through the ins and outs of a professional rehearsal room, the bustle of backstage, and the bright lights of the Geary Theater. 

The cast of A.C.T.'s 2018 production of A Christmas Carol. Photo by Kevin Berne.

“The MFA performers share great advice, acting tips, and lots of support,” says Christophe Mitchell, a seventh grader in his fourth Carol who is appearing in multiple roles this year, including a clerk and a fruit seller. The YC actors learn from the professional actors too. “From the professionals, I learned how to be backstage, how to be a good cast member, and how to work with others,” says Sunil Mukherjee Maurillo, a two-time Carol veteran who is playing Peter Cratchit this year. “Through being part of Carol, it felt like I became part of a family in some way. It was super fun. I’ve made a lot of friends by acting in A Christmas Carol. It has been a great experience.” 

The evergreen winter production is also an invaluable opportunity for the third-year MFA actors, who are preparing to step into the professional acting world. “It was such a wonderful opportunity to watch seasoned actors such as James Carpenter and Sharon Lockwood reinhabit roles they’ve played for so long as if they’d never left them, with fresh and ever expanding energy,” says MFA Program alum Afua Busia. “It was also lovely to learn from the freedom and playfulness of the Young Conservatory.” 

Actors James Carpenter, Catherine Castellanos, Adam Donovan, and Afua Busia in A.C.T.'s 2018 production of A Christmas Carol. Photo by Kevin Berne.

“Working with the professional actors was great. Everybody was so gracious,” says MFA Program alum Avanthika Srinivasan, who played Beth in last year’s production (and who starred in Testmatch at the Strand this fall). “With such a big production, you really need to pull your own weight. One of my major takeaways was the sheer professionalism, from their punctuality for rehearsals to the way they discussed their characters with the director to the work ethic they showed every day.”

Even for the professional actors, some of whom have been in Carol for many seasons, the new cohort of YC and MFA Program performers breathes new life into the tale. “It’s wonderful to see these children growing up and developing as actors and human beings,” says the experienced Ken Ruta, who started off playing Scrooge at A.C.T. in the 1960s and now plays Jacob Marley in the current production of Carol. 

The holidays bring families together, yours as well as ours. Please join us in celebrating this holiday season at the Geary Theater with this year's production of A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol begins Friday, November 29. Click here for tickets!

Popular posts from this blog

“To Be or Not to Be”: The Iconic Speech’s Origins, Interpretations, and Impact

-
Image
By A.C.T. Publications Staff The opening line of Hamlet ’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy is theater’s most iconic, most referenced quote. What’s less known is the famous speech’s history, with Hamlet ’s earliest publications offering varying versions of its language. Also questioned is its meaning—is Hamlet contemplating suicide or is he weighing the consequences of murder? Though definitive answers are unlikely to arise, the questions “To be or not to be” asks have kept audiences, scholars, and actors engaged for centuries. Hamlet ’ s "To be or not to be" speech as it appears in the three original editions of the play. Photo by Georgelazenby. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. The first edition, or First Quarto (Q1), of Hamlet was published in 1603. Because the text is much shorter than later editions and its language is less poetic, it is nicknamed the “Bad Quarto” by scholars. “To be or not to be” in Q1 reads as: To be, or not to be—ay, there’s the point. To die, ...
Read more

The American Sound: The Evolution of Jazz

-
Image
By Cecilia Padilla There is nothing so uniquely American as jazz music. In its simplest form, jazz embodies the essence of the American people: bold and inventive. The improvisation of the jazz ensemble can even be seen as a metaphor for the American democratic ideal: musicians playing solos have the liberty to express themselves as long as they adhere to the overall structure of the tune—individual freedom but with responsibility to the group. The evolution of jazz music also carries with it the social development of our nation from slavery to the swinging songs of World War II. Musically, jazz contributed immensely to the way contemporary musicians approach instrumentation, composition, and vocal arrangements. It is difficult to find a popular tune today that does not derive from such jazz icons as Joe Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Thelonious Monk. Jazz is the great equalizer; for more than a hundred years, it has been the common ground between blacks and whites, me...
Read more

A Hell of a Businessman: A Biography of Joe Glaser

-
By Simon Hodgson Born in 1897, Joe Glaser was the son of a successful Russian Jewish physician in Chicago. He originally intended to follow a similar career and entered medical school, but after passing out in the operating room, he realized he wasn’t cut out to be a doctor. He started off in business selling used cars, but found better luck managing prizefighters. In his biography of Al Capone, Laurence Bergreen notes, “Glaser’s power to fix fights earned him a reputation as a sage of boxing, especially among reporters.” With advanced word as to which fights were fixed, Glaser could predict the results—and even the number of rounds—of many bouts in Chicago. His connections with organized crime continued in his next career change, when he began running nightclubs and whorehouses in the South Side for the Chicago Outfit, the powerful underworld gang led by Capone. Glaser’s tendency toward illegal action nearly ended his career. In 1928, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for ...
Read more