Souza's ‘Christmas Carol' will be Dickens of a show

Harriman - In the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, the Robert W. Souza Scholarship for the Performing Arts will offer its latest fund-raising presentation, “Mr. Dickens Reads ‘A Christmas Carol.’” Based largely on Charles Dickens’ own adapted “reading script,” this presentation will star Monroe-Woodbury School Board President Jon Huberth. Accomplished actor and director Cynthia Topps is directing Huberth in this production. And seasonal story-appropriate choral music for the show will be coordinated by M-W music teacher Michele George. “There are several challenges,” said Huberth, who also is a trained actor and director. “Attempting to carry an evening’s entertainment as the only person on stage means that I will not have the stimulus of acting ‘opposite’ other actors who would share focus with me. “So, I think having music and carolers organized by Michelle George will not only help give great variety to the evening,” Huberth added, “but give me an occasional break to catch my breath.” Dickens was keenly interested in acting and performing on stage from childhood. Based on his early love of theater, he had formed a small acting company of his friends as a schoolboy. Later, in parallel with his prolific writing career, he engaged in amateur theatricals throughout much of his adult life, as actor, stage manager, and director. In fact, his amateur troupe even performed twice for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1853, Dickens began doing public readings of his many literary works. At first, he would present his readings for charity, but in 1858, began doing them for profit. It is said that, in his lifetime, he made more money from his public readings than from his writing. Often including his “Christmas books” - A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and Cricket on the Hearth - he expanded his repertoire to include specially adapted excerpts from many of his other works, such as The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickelby and David Copperfield. But A Christmas Carol was always his own and his public’s favorite. He toured both in his native England and in 1867-1868, toured the U.S., during which he earned a reported 19,000 pounds, something of a fortune at that time. While not really a fortune, with the help of fund-raising shows like this, the Souza Scholarship has awarded more than $200,000 to award to local M-W students in annual scholarships have been awarded. Returning to the acting challenges of the piece, Huberth said, “I have to come up with about a dozen voices for the variety of characters in the story, and I sometimes have to have a dialogue between two at a time.” Huberth joked: “So, essentially I have to have a dialogue with myself.” This staged reading will be presented in five performances at the Sapphire Elementary Little Theater, 159 Harriman Heights Road, in Harriman. Show times are 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15, 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16, and Sunday, Dec. 23, and 7 p.m. on both Saturday, Dec. 15 and 22. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. For more information about “Dickens Reads ‘A Christmas Carol,’” performances and tickets, call 928-2613.