FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, interviews, or press passes, please contact:
Leigh Allen, Marketing Director
leigh@humanracetheatre.org
(937) 461-3823, ext. 3112
THE SPIRITS OF CHRISTMAS TO SOAR IN THE LOFT
DAYTON, OH - November 19 - What better way to celebrate the holidays than with A Christmas Carol? What better place to enjoy the Charles Dickens classic than the intimate Loft Theatre? And what better things to add to A Christmas Carol than a holiday party and traditional Christmas carols?
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Travis Horseman and Jacob Boyd in Photo: Scott J. Kimmins |
It’s guaranteed to take the bah and humbug out of your holidays and raise your spirits of Christmas. And one day Santa will even be there.
The Human Race, Dayton’s own professional theatre company, will be bringing all that festivity to The Loft December 4 -21 in a production that’s completely true to Dickens, but with some added attractions. A new adaptation, by Human Race Resident Artist Scott Stoney and former Dayton Daily News columnist Leigh Allan, makes the traditional play part of a family’s Christmas party tradition.
To add to the atmosphere, noted composer Gregg Coffin (Convenience, Five Course Love) has created new arrangements of carols popular in the 19th century especially for this production. The show isn’t a musical, but has many moments when caroling is the natural thing to do.
Evening performances of A Christmas Carol have been moved to 7pm to accommodate families, though the possibly scary nature of some spirits makes the show most suitable for ages 8 and above.
An extra performance has been added to the schedule at 1pm Saturday, December 20, and Santa will be in The Loft lobby beginning at noon to hear the wishes of those going to the show. Tickets are available by calling (937) 228-3630 or toll-free (888) 228-3630 or via www.humanracetheatre.org.
Human Race Executive Director Kevin Moore, who is co-directing the play with Stoney, explains, “What makes this A Christmas Carol so unique is it has been adapted especially for The Loft. Like listening to a story from a favorite uncle, the well-known tale of Ebenezer Scrooge will unfold fresh and new before your eyes – only an arms-reach away.”
Scrooge is played by Chicago-based Mark Douglas-Jones, who has performed the role at Chicago’s Metropolis Performing Arts Center. Douglas-Jones is new to The Human Race, but has appeared in The Wizard of Oz and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Cincinnati.
The nine other adults in the cast all play multiple roles. They include Human Race Resident Artists Kay Bosse (Big River, Ambition Bird) and Alan Bomar Jones (Take Me Out, more than 50 professional productions); Fred Blumenthal, who has appeared on area stages for half a century, including Human Race productions of West Side Story and Noises Off; Miami U. adjunct faculty member Christine Brunner, who received a Cincinnati Entertainment Award nomination as Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and has appeared in many regional and national commercials; Peter Fitzkee, a recognized combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors who has appeared in Human Race productions of Seascape and Crimes of the Heart; Travis Horseman of Columbus, recently in Muses at the Abingdon Theatre Company in New York and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; Jennifer Johansen of Indianapolis, Lady Capulet in last year’s HRTC presentation of Romeo and Juliet; HRTC Company Manager Claire Kennedy, a Wright State grad who appeared in numerous 2007-08 productions as a Human Race artistic apprentice; and John Joseph Tiemeyer, a WSU senior who was recently in Human Race productions of Shenandoah and Take Me Out.
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Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at the 219-seat Loft Theatre. In addition to the Eichelberger Loft Season, The Human Race produces for the Victoria Theatre’s Broadway Series, the Musical Theatre Workshop series, and special event programming. The Human Race, under the direction of Artistic Director Marsha Hanna and Executive Director Kevin Moore, also maintains education and outreach programs for children, teens and adults, as well as artist residencies in area schools, The Muse Machine In-School Tour, Youth Summer Stock, and The Human Race Conservatory. Human Race organizational support is provided by Culture Works, Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District, Shubert Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.