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Theatre Prof Takes Center Stage In 'Christmas Carol' Production
Dec. 9, 2014
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
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| Tom Prior as the "Narrator," a stand in for Charles Dickens in J.J. Johnston's rendition of "A Christmas Carol," currently on stage (through Dec. 23) at the Chelsea Market in Houston. —Submitted photo |
There are certain holiday staples that have become a part of American family traditions. Movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” or TV specials like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” are as much a part of many families’ holidays as their Christmas tree or big Christmas Day meal.
Tom Prior, associate chair and associate professor of theatre and musical theatre at Sam Houston State University, is bringing to life another of those holiday staples through the Classical Theatre Company’s rendition of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” which is taking stage through Dec. 23 at the Chelsea Market in Houston.
Prior plays the narrator and Bob Cratchit in the debut of the classical tale-turned contemporary production.
Written by CTC artistic director J.J. Johnston and colleague Matthew Keenan, “A Christmas Carol” intersperses large parts of Dickens’s novella for a play that focuses on the minimal and contemporizes the storyline for today’s audience, according to Prior.
“J.J. just made it a leaner story; he’s cut out the extraneous things. But also, with the narrator, he’s added a lot of text,” Prior said. “In one part, at the beginning of the third act, he has the narrator come out and talk about the food and atmosphere of Christmas time, and it’s just him on stage talking about all that.
“I think it’s a really great message for today, with all the things that are happening with religious persecution and in the Middle East,” he said. “It’s a great, heartwarming story.”
The CTC version of the play still includes the spirits who visit Scrooge and the Fezziwigs but utilizes a minimalistic approach in setting the scene, according to Prior.
“It’s pretty exciting because like with Shakespeare, it’s about the words and hearing the words,” Prior said. “We use flashlights instead of the Victorian candles and things like that so that the audience can hear the story and then relate it to live action on the stage; we want the audience to use their imaginations more.”
In playing the narrator, Prior takes on a Dickensian role, speaking as the original author in a way he believes creates a “clearer thread” of Scrooge’s redemption at the end.
“There’s hope for Scrooge because of his relationship with the narrator,” Prior said.
“I also play Bob Cratchit, so the narrator goes into that character and they interact with each other. It’s the narrator saying, ‘What are you going to do, Scrooge? How are you going to react and how are you going to make the world a better place?’”
Prior, who is a founding member of and internship director for the Classical Theatre Company, has been working on the project for over a year.
It is among the projects many faculty members in SHSU’s Department of Theatre and Musical Theatre participate in as part of their creative accomplishments, which are considered research in the fine arts and also ultimately benefit students in the classroom.
“Students see a professor in front of them teaching a course who is also practicing what they preach. My perspective as being a professional actor—I’m part of the Actor’s Equity Association, too—they get that perspective, and I can give them examples from my own professional life in relation to what we’re learning about in class,” Prior said. “I think it’s highly beneficial to them.
“Our faculty feel it’s important that we’re out there working in the professional field and bring that back to the classroom,” he said. “It allows me and other faculty members to bring our students with us.”
The Classical Theatre Company comprises five to six members who produce three plays a year. Recently, the group traveled overseas to collaborate with Prague Shakespeare in productions of “King Lear” and “As You Like It.” Prior also recently directed Johnston’s version of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
“J.J.’s mantra is we will not do plays that are under 100 years old. What are they trying to do is reinvent and reimagine the classics for today’s audience,” Prior said.
“We did a production of ‘Tartuffe’ that was set in a River Oaks mansion in the 1990s. The head of the household was an oil baron and Tartuffe came in and was the hypocrite,” he continued. “J.J. tries to reimagine things so it’s not what people think of as the stale, staid classical theatre, old theatre. He tries to bring it to the forefront for today’s audience.”
Prior believes this approach makes these plays more relevant for contemporary audiences.
“The reviews we’ve gotten, for the most part, are very positive in that regard,” he said. “What J.J’s doing, and what we’re doing with Classical Theatre Company, is filling a niche that’s not in the Houston area right now; we’re a theatre company that just does classics.”
Show times are at 8 p.m. each evening, with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. The Chelsea Theatre, formerly the Main Street Theatre, at 4617 Montrose Blvd. in Houston.
Tickets are $25, or $10 for students.
For more information, or for tickets, visit classicaltheatre.org or call 713.963.9665.
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