[NEohioPAL]Cleveland Public Theatre and Great Lakes Theater Festival present a big holiday menu!

[Dan Kilbane]

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Dan Kilbane,
Publicist, Cleveland Public Theatre
216/631-2727 ext. 203
dkilbane at cptonline.org <mailto:dkilbane at cptonline.org>
or Todd Krispinsky,
Marketing & Public Relations Manager,
Great Lakes Theater Festival
216/241-5490 ext. 317
tkrispinsky at greatlakestheater.org <mailto:tkrispinsky at greatlakestheater.org>
November 26, 2003
GREAT LAKES THEATER FESTIVAL AND CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE PRESENT A BIG
HOLIDAY MENU!

CLEVELAND, OH - The stages of the Ohio Theatre, home of Great Lakes Theater
Festival (GLTF) at Playhouse Square Center, and the Gordon Square Theatre at
Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT), will glow with good spirits, time-honored
tradition, and laughter when GLTF and CPT present two holiday shows in
November and December.  GLTF’s producing artistic director Charles Fee is
proud to present the fifteenth anniversary production of Charles Dickens’ A
Christmas Carol, November 28 - December 21, 2003.  CPT Executive Director
James Levin and Artistic Director Randy Rollison are proud to present the
second American production of Christopher Durang’s new comedy, Mrs. Bob
Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, November 28 - December 20, 2003.

Former GLTF artistic director Gerald Freedman’s heartwarming adaptation of A
Christmas Carol makes its milestone appearance, having delighted an
estimated 325,000 people in its fifteen year history.  Durang’s
award-winning history with biting stage comedy continues, as Mrs. Bob
Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge skewers A Christmas Carol, among other
classic holiday entertainments.  Clevelanders have the opportunity to go on
a theatre binge this holiday season with two charming stage productions,
both locally produced.

Freedman's adaptation of A Christmas Carol is presented as a story within a
story. The fictitious Cleaveland family gathers in its Victorian-era parlor
on Christmas Eve, to read Mr. Dickens' book. As Mrs. Cleaveland reads the
story to her family, her youngest child, Master William, reimagines familiar
faces as characters in the story: the Cleaveland’s crotchety manservant
becomes Scrooge, Father becomes Bob Cratchit, Mother becomes Belle, and the
Cleaveland children become the Cratchits, with Master William becoming the
beloved Tiny Tim. In all, more than 60 Dickens characters come to life on
stage.

In Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Obie Award winner Durang takes
on some of the holiday season’s sacred cows.  Gladys Cratchit has had it.
There are 21 foundlings in the basement and that whiney Tiny Tim just won’t
shut up.  One day she flips, takes to drink and tries to throw herself off a
bridge.  Sound familiar?  Meanwhile, Ebenezzer Scrooge gets a visit from the
Ghost of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, and a life lesson is not far
around the corner.  However, it seems something is wrong with the Ghost’s
abilities to do her job, and she and Scrooge go on a humorous ride that lets
several classic holiday tales have it.  Although this play with music is
based on A Christmas Carol, it quickly spins out of control, colliding with
It’s a Wonderful Life and The Gift of the Magi.

Gerald Freedman recounted his thoughts when developing the first production
of A Christmas Carol fifteen years ago.  “Now I know you may find this hard
to believe, but I was in my fifties and I had never read A Christmas Carol,
being a young Jewish fellow from Lorain, Ohio, and I had never seen it,”
admitted Freedman to the company of actors at the first rehearsal of the
fifteenth anniversary production.  “I’d never seen any version of it.  So
the first thing I had to do was read the book.  And it stunned me, which may
seem odd to many of you who grew up with it as children, and an oft-told
tale.  It just stunned me at what a beautiful work it was and how seriously
Dickens had invested in the story.  It has come to so many of us encrusted
with mythology, and holiday good spirit and sweetness and light - all of
which is part of it - but I hadn’t realized what a great, great story it
was.  What I saw in it was a story of redemption; that it is never too late
for any of us to find the kernel of compassion, of humanity within us.”

Christopher Durang is a playwright whose plays include A History of the
American Film (Tony nomination), Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For
You (Obie award), Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater, The Marriage of
Bette and Boo (Obie award), Laughing Wild, Durang/Durang, and Betty’s Summer
Vacation (1999 Obie award).  He’s acted in his own plays, in movies, and
performed in the Sondheim revue Putting It Together at the Manhattan Theatre
Club starring Julie Andrews.  In the early 80s he and Sigourney Weaver
performed in and co-wrote Das Lusitania Songspiel, a Brecht-Weill parody;
and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson he has performed his crackpot
cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne various places, winning a Bistro Award.  Most
recent work: a musical Adrift in Macao, optioned for off-Bway; and a new
play, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge at City Theatre in
Pittsburgh.  Since 1994 he and Marsha Norman have been co-chairs of the
Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School.  He’s a member of the
Dramatists Guild Council.

GLTF resident director Victoria Bussert stages former artistic director
Gerald Freedman’s heartwarming adaptation of this classic tale.  The
production features a multi-generational cast of actors, singers and dancers
led by veteran Cleveland actor Dudley Swetland, returning for his seventh
season in the role of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.  This season’s A Christmas
Carol cast is a mix of familiar and new faces.  The cast includes:  Lynn
Robert Berg, MaryAnn Black, Courtney Bohl, C.J. Bonde, John Buck, Jr., Aled
Davies, Aric Generette Floyd, Dylan Ford, Lissy Gulick, Jeffrey C. Hawkins,
Andrew Johnson, Meghan Kelley, Andrew May, Charlie May, Julia May, Tricia
O'Toole, John Payonk, Laura Perrotta, Scott Plate, Benji Reid, Lydia Simon,
Dudley Swetland, Emma Wahl, Gary Walker and Carie Yonekawa.

GLTF’s production incorporates theatrical special effects to retain a strong
sense of the supernatural, emphasizing the novel's origins in folk tales and
myth. GLTF resident designer John Ezell and Gene Emerson Friedman designed
the scenery. Costumes are by James Scott, lighting is by Mary Jo Dondlinger
and is recreated this season by Cynthia Stillings. Sound design is by Tom
Mardikes and Stan Kozak. Music is by Robert Waldman, with Stuart Raleigh as
musical director. Dances for A Christmas Carol were conceived by David
Shimotakahara and staged by Pandora Robertson.

CPT artistic director Randy Rollison directs Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild
Christmas Binge.  This production is a reunion of sorts for Rollison and
Durang.  While in NYC, Rollison produced the premiere of Durang’s play Naomi
in the Living Room as part of the HOME Show Part 2:  The Living Room.
Rollison also presented the first performances of Chris Durang and Dawne.

The cast of Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge features Meg
Chamberlain as Gladys Cratchit, Nina Domingue as the Ghost, and Michael D.
Sepesy as Scrooge.  The cast also includes Jeffery Steven Allen, Liz Conway,
Will Crosby, David Hansen, Dan Kilbane, Douglas A. Kusak, Dan McCarthy,
Michael Regnier, Kevin C. Ritter, Lori Sommerfelt, and Elizabeth R. Wood.

Along with Rollison, the creative team putting together this loopy holiday
treat includes scenic design and properties by Donald J. Morrison (CPT:
costume design, Der Kaiser Von Atlantis; creation, direction, and design,
The Battle For Christmas; and puppet design, The Tale of the Emerald Bird);
costume design by Jenniver Sparano (Beck Center for the Arts:  Zombie Prom,
The Rocky Horror Show, and Floyd Collins); lighting design by Donald McCray
(CPT:  Wait!, and CPT’s technical coordinator); music direction by Michael
K. Seevers, Jr. (CPT:  cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch); choreography by
Hernando Cortez (artistic director, Verb Ballets); stage management by
Courtney Webb (CPT:  stage management, Wait!); and directorial assistance by
Jyana S. Gregory (TCG Grant recipient, CPT associate artistic director, and
director of our season finale, Dojoji).

Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge was commissioned and originally
produced by City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh, PA.

The mission of Great Lakes Theater Festival is to bring the pleasure, power
and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in northern
Ohio.

The mission of Cleveland Public Theatre is to inspire, nurture, challenge,
amaze, educate, and empower artists and audiences, in order to make the
Cleveland public a more conscious and compassionate community.

GLTF’s production of A Christmas Carol is produced with the generous support
of the the John P. Murphy Foundation, Heinen’s Fine Foods, and Moen.  The
production’s media sponsors are 90.3 WCPN/Ideastream and WKYC Channel 3.

Sponsors for Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge include Union Station
Video Café and The Free Times.

Cleveland Public Theatre and its artistic and education programs are funded
in part by funding from Cleveland Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Ohio
Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Nord Family Foundation, John
P. Murphy Foundation, Kulas Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, Doris
Duke Charitable Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Bruening
Foundation, Codrington Foundation, Giant Eagle Foundation, Thomas White
Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Lorain, Family Foundations of
Jewish Community Federation, Dolphin Trust, Saint Ann Foundation, Deaconess
Foundation, O’Neill Foundation, Stocker Foundation, Key Foundation, Nordson
Foundation, Wolf Foundation, Forest City, Alcoa, Third Federal, Huntington
National Bank, National City Bank, and other corporate and individual
contributors.

Fact Sheet
Production
A Christmas Carol
adapted by Gerald Freedman from the novel by Charles Dickens
restaged by Victoria Bussert

Performance Dates and Times
Opening		Friday, November 28, 2003 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Closing			Sunday, December 21, 2003
Run			November 28, 29, 30, December 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18,
19, 20, 21.
Times			Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
			November 28 at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.
			Saturdays at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.
			Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
Signed performance:	Sunday, November 30 at 3:00 p.m.
Audio-described perf.:	Sunday, December 7 at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets Information
Range from $16 - $45
Special rates available to students and educators:  $16 for any performance.
To purchase tickets, call 216/241-6000, order online at
www.greatlakestheater.org <http://www.greatlakestheater.org>, or visit the
Playhouse Square Center Box Office.  Tickets are also available at
tickets.com outlets located at all Tops Friendly Markets.



Production
Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge
written by Christopher Durang
original music composed by Michael Friedman
directed by Randy Rollison

Performance Dates and Times
Opening 		Friday, November 28, 2003	8:00 p.m.
Closing			Saturday, December 20, 2003	8:00 p.m.
Run			November 28, 29, 30, December 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, and
20.
Times			Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.
			Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

Ticket Prices
Regular Admission Thursdays and Sundays $15; Fridays and Saturdays $18.
Students and Seniors Thursdays and Sundays $13; Fridays and Saturdays $15.
To purchase tickets, call 216/631-2727.
Visa and Mastercard accepted.