‘A Christmas Carol’ ready for the stage

Taijai Wallace, Contributing Writer

The Brookhaven theater department is set to return to stage with, “A Christmas Carol.”  Darise Error, Brookhaven theater department chair, said the show will be done with marionette style puppets .”

Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. The show will take place in the Black Box Theater in Room C205 at Brookhaven Campus. Tickets are free but seating will be limited.

The marionettes used in the upcoming production are on loan from the Dallas Puppet Theater. Pix Smith, Dallas Puppet Theater director, founded the Dallas Puppet Theater in 1983 and is one of the country’s leading experts on puppets and marionettes.

Previously, the Brookhaven theater department collaborated with the Dallas Puppet Theater to bring audiences the fairy tale story “Hansel and Gretel.” The classic was a successful show. The only problem was they could only perform for a week due to COVID shutting them down.

The Brookhaven theater department’s first show using puppets was titled “Avenue Q.” The show was about Sesame Street, a place where humans and muppets interact. What made it possible was Error’s friend Michael Robinson, co-owner of Dallas Puppet Theater, a former student and a current adjunct at Theatre Brookhaven. Robinson made and loaned the puppets for “Avenue Q.” 

The characters from “A Christmas Carol” are Jacob Marley, The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come; Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, and many more. The show primarily uses shadow puppets, hand puppets and marionettes. Performers will use voice-over techniques for vocals and impersonations for the puppets.

The show will feature a live character, Ebenezer Scrooge, while the rest of the characters will be puppets. The production will be family friendly. “If you are attending, feel their Christmas Spirit in their innovative way,” Error said.