Scrooge, Long Lake Theater promise ‘Dickens’ of a play
Jean Ruzicka, Reporter
Park Rapids Enterprise, 11/29/2003

Hubbard’s Long Lake Theater will once again herald the holiday with “A Christmas Carol.”

A more traditional version than last year’s  Charles Dickens’ classic will entertain this season, according to Mark Colbenson of the Lone Wolf Players/Long Lake Theater.

Seventeen cast members, including several young people, will engage the audience with Colbenson’s adaptation of the traditional tale. Performances will be staged Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 4-14 with 7 p.m. performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. matinees Sunday.

The characters come to life through Dickens himself (Dan Harris) this year. The story line is less tongue in cheek than the 2002 production, Colbenson said.

“I love the story,” he said of Dickens’ most popular piece of fiction, emerging during England’s 1843 holiday season. “The message of Christmas comes through so nicely. It’s a classic of all time.”

Dickens was involved in social issues and charities throughout his life. At the time he wrote “A Christmas Carol” he was concerned with impoverished children who had turned to crime and delinquency in order to survive.

“At some level everyone can identify with Scrooge,” Colbenson said of the greedy, selfish miser. “I can identify,” he jokes. “I’ve been called Scrooge myself.”

The story, he said, is a gentle admonition that “we need to take a moment and remember what Christmas is all about. It’s more than money and gifts. It’s how we treat people.”

Scrooge’s transformation from the chuff who states “…every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart” is legendary.

And the universal message has endured. “We can tell the story over and over,” Colbenson said. “People never tire of it.”

The theater may consider a comedy version in the future, he said.

The cast includes a bespectacled Joseph Holt of Park Rapids as Scrooge, a man for whom Christmas is a humbug.

Herman Brocupp of Park Rapids assumes the role of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s faithful employee who wishes to bless him at the dinner table while struggling for a single day off.

William Case of Sebeka is Fred, Scrooge’s only living relative, who never gives up on his uncle, asking him to dinner every year.

Colbenson is Old Joe and Jacob Marley. Dead seven years, Scrooge’s old partner, Marley, returns to save his friend.

Colter Uscola of Menahga is Young Scrooge and Peter Cratchit, Bob’s son.

Lexi Trauger of Park Rapids will arrive on stage as Belle, Scrooge’s former fiancé, and a laundress. Allison Meyer of Menahga is Fan, Scrooge’s deceased sister, who lives in “shadows” shown to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Rachael Calderon of Park Rapids plays the role of Martha Cratchit, Bob’s daughter, and a charity woman. Rod Romer of Nevis is Fezziwig, Scrooge’s old employer, who celebrates Christmas the old-fashioned way.

Kay Rossbach of Menahga is the Ghost of Christmas Past, who shows Scrooge his lonely and difficult childhood and his gradual decline into the miser he’s become.

The Ghost of Christmas Present/Future is Lynne Presson of Park Rapids. She shows Scrooge the joy Christmas brings, both at the poor household of the Cratchits and Fred’s.

Mrs. Cratchit, Sarah Holt of Park Rapids, is not as forgiving of Scrooge as her husband, but deeply loving to her husband and children.

Seven-year-old Marshall Holt of Park Rapids is Tiny Tim, Cratchits’ youngest son who teeters on the brink of death but harbors good will in his heart.

Mary Harrison of Sebeka is Charwoman, Kate Hanisch of Park Rapids is a charity woman and a street girl, and Catherine Holt of Park Rapids plays the role of a shopping girl.

The production is a family event, although Jacob Marley scares some younger children, Colbenson said. Goodies will be served following the play. The audience is invited to mingle with cast members. “It’s a nice family night out.”

All tickets are $8 and may be reserved by calling 732-0099 or through the Web site at www.longlaketheater.net

I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book to raise

the Ghost of an Idea,

which shall not put my readers

out of humour themselves, with each other,

with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one

wish to lay it.

Faithful friend & servant,

Charles Dickens

December 1843