From TimberBeast Productions:
Due to popular demand TimberBeast Productions proudly presents the triumphant return of a Gravenhurst Christmas Carol – the immersive theatrical event of the holiday season. Join Ebenezer Scrooge as he traverses the town on his quest to find community, charity and the true meaning of Christmas.
About the Company:
TimberBeast Productions is the only professional immersive live performance/theatre company in the Muskoka Region. We are dedicated to elevating and celebrating the Muskoka narrative through adaptations and new work by sharing them with a wider audience. As we enter our third season we are thrilled to return to the streets of Gravenhurst with this reimagined “Muskoka ized” version of the Dicken’s Classic adapted by our Artistic and Executive Director Autumn Smith. Past productions have included: Souls of the Shield, (a 12 part musical exhumation of Muskoka’s most famed ghosts), Citronella: A Muskoka Pantomime (In collaboration with the Gravenhurst Opera House) and The LumberYard Lament/Twelfth Night at the Gravenhurst Wharf. In addition, TimberBeast Productions has produced an annual Music for A Muskoka Night series at both the Gravenhurst Wharf and the Gull Lake Rotary Barge.
About the Director/Adapter:
Autumn is a director, writer, educator and innovator and is the current Artistic and Executive Director of TimberBeast Productions, a company dedicated to creating and sharing immersive live performance focused on the unique stories of the Muskoka area. Autumn holds an MFA from York University in Theatre Direction with an Emphasis on Teaching and is a conservatory trained actor (Oxford School of Drama/UK). Ms. Smith is a Professor of Theatre at U of T, AMPD (York University) Memorial University (Newfoundland) and Centennial College. She also serves as the Drama Dept External Examiner for the Sharjah Academy of Performing Arts in the UAE. Most recently Autumn directed Eurydice (Grenfell Theatre/Newfoundland) and the World Premieres of Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz for 4th Line Theatre and No One is Special at the Hot Dog Cart for Theatre Passe Muraille. She has also directed for The Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage, The Druid Theatre and served as the Artistic Director of the Dora Award winning company MacKenzieRo: The Irish Repertory Theatre Company of Canada.
About the Production:
Gravenhurst Christmas Carol has solidified itself as the newest annual Muskoka holiday tradition. The immersive, site-specific piece awards the audience the opportunity to physically follow Lumber Mill owner Ebenezer Scrooge as he travels a turn of the 20th century Gravenhurst grappling with his personal ghosts to find a future kindness and generosity. The production fuses professional artists, local storytellers and collective history to make a night of magic the whole family can enjoy.
This year’s production will start in front of the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce (by Norman Bethune Statue) and make its way through town finishing at Sawdust Brewery. We are thrilled to welcome Sawdust as a new collaborative partner this year and will toast them (wink wink) appropriately when we alight there at the end of the play each evening.
Gravenhurst Christmas Carol features: Kenneth Northfield in the titular role of Ebenezer Scrooge (Ken was last seen in Souls of the Shield and Twelfth Night for Timberbeast Productions and in the in the award winning short film, Low Water Pressure); Mark Hiscox as The Ghost of Christmas Present (Souls of the Shield/TimberBeast Productions, Peterborough Walk of Fame Inductee); Carina Salajan as Mrs Cratchitt (TimberBeast debut, World Premiere of Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes/4th Line Theatre and rochdale/Summerworks Theatre Festival), Zack Radford as Bob Cratchitt (UTM/Sheridan 2028, Jim Watts Girl Reporter and Cavan Blazers/4th Line Theatre).
Local Artists include: Earl Sacrey/Jacob Marley (Dragonfly Productions and Rotary Bracebridge), Lauren Rodrigues/Judith (Huntsville Theatre Company and Monarch Productions), James Currie/Mr Fezziwig, Paula McIssac/Mrs. Fezziwig, Kristen Rybacki/Scrooge’s Mother, Fritz Ruttan/Minnie (Prism Theatre), Jeremy Rand/John (Ignite Gravenhurst), Greyson McPherson/Tiny Tim, Lisa Evans/Martha Cratchitt, and Emjay Warne (Billy).
Adapted and Directed by: Autumn Smith
Musical Direction: Justin Hiscox
Costume Design: Barb Hartwick
Stage Management: Sarah Hiscox and Hannah Gostlin
This production is generously supported by The Town of Gravenhurst Tourism Fund, Morley and Associates, Trinity United Church, St. James Anglican Church and Sawdust City Brewery.
Dates: Outdoor Immersive Performances
December 11-14 and 18-21
7:30pm start time
(meet at Norman Bethune Statue in front of Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce)
Indoor Accessible Performances
December 15 and 22
7:30 start time
Trinity United Church
Tickets: $25 in advance
Email [email protected] or call 416-471-8930 to reserve $30 cash at door
All outdoor shows are limited to audience capacity of 50. Book ahead of time.
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