From the Rehearsal Hall [Children of All Ages]

One of the best things about being an actor is you’ll get to work with people of all ages. And the ages of the actors in A Christmas Carol span seven decades! From the smallest tweens to veteran actors, our cast has quite the breadth of experience. The greatest aspect of working with actors of a certain age is not only their wisdom (which we all expect), but their personalities! These artists are not the fuddy-duds of our society – they’re actors! They’ve lived their lives as performers and all bring such a spectacular energy to our lives, onstage and off. Every stereotype is blown out of the door, with constant humor, brilliance and WIT! Just the other day, we heard one of the best jokes about The Simpsons from a completely unexpected source, and it brought the entire cast to our knees! Let me tell you, at a time when you’re getting used to the set and trying to remember your lines, some good humor goes a long way.

But the world of A Christmas Carol is not a world populated only by adults. We all know the adage of showbiz is “never work with kids!” And to be completely honest, whenever I’ve worked with children, that thought has crossed my mind. Multiple times. But not here. The younger actors we are lucky enough to work with in this production blow that idea out of the water. I have never seen more honest and less precocious performances from children than the ones our kids are bringing. It’s more than merely refreshing, it’s exciting. And they’re all pros! I’ll admit, whenever someone gets confused as to where they’re supposed to be – they can just ask one of our kids, because they will know the answer.

Every day in rehearsal I feel truly blessed not only to witness and learn from everyone’s work ethic, but also because I get to spend time with such wonderful people. I have not experienced such warmth in rehearsals in my entire life. It’s a lovely thing to experience at all, much less during the holidays.

Come see the show and you’ll see what I mean! A Christmas Carol is playing at The Group Rep. Tickets are available now.

Happy Holidays!

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