Outside the Corbett Theatre, three twinkling Christmas trees stand tall, their branches adorned with dried oranges and popcorn, strung up with twine. Corn husk dolls dressed in bonnets peek between needles. Nestled near them lay paper rings crafted from the yellowing pages of old books, each decoration painstakingly made by the hands of actors. 

Inside, the theatre rings with the silvery sound of handbells, the soft notes of a familiar Christmas tune drifting through the air. The audience steps into Victorian England. With glowing gaslit lamps and wandering snowflakes, the world of Ebenezer Scrooge unfolds, as if turning the pages of a novel. 

“We chose this piece because we wanted to do something really great for our community, for people of all ages,” said director Michael Hatton. “And what better story to tell than ‘A Christmas Carol?’”

This holiday season, NKU’s Theatre & Dance Program brings Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to the stage, with a new spin on a classic tale. Hatton, an associate professor in theatre, aspires to make it a fully immersive experience for the audience, the cast and even the greater community. 

Hatton spent months researching the 1843 novella, combing through past adaptations of the popular holiday story to create the screenplay. Hatton’s version engages with the audience in numerous ways. For the first time, Corbett Theatre is being turned into a theatre-in-the-round, meaning audience members can purchase seats on the stage itself. 

Upon entering the auditorium, guests will have the option to choose from receiving a satsuma mandarin or a fruit-filled mince pie, of which the production has prepared over 3,000. 

“To get us immersed in the world, engage our taste,” Hatton said. “Because we’re also going to be engaging their ears, their eyes, their noses and their physical touch. So it’s just a way for us to get the audience into that world.”

The cast also took part in immersive dramaturgical work, such as watching renditions of “A Christmas Carol,” making authentic Victorian ornaments and baking gingerbread cookies. 

“I wanted our cast members to have that bonding experience, but also to hopefully learn something that they might do with their children and pass down some of these traditions,” Hatton said. 

For the ears, the play incorporates choral pieces and new musical arrangements. Music Director Jacob Priddy took traditional English carols already in the public domain and altered them to better suit the production’s needs. 

“With our production, this added element of music underneath it almost acts, to some degree, as a score in a movie where it kind of is just helping to heighten these emotions that are going on,” Priddy said. 

Priddy led cast members in learning how to use handbells, borrowed from a local church. To promote the performance, they also held a pop-up concert in Fountain Square in early November, located in downtown Cincinnati.

Continuing to bring the immersive experience to the community, the production has partnered with local businesses to give away free tickets, such as Carabello Coffee Company. They have also joined with the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky to run a donation drive. 

Guests are encouraged to bring donations to the show, which will be given to the shelter after the production ends. This includes food and clothing such as granola bars, socks and underwear. Specific items needed can be found here. 

Bob Allen, a faculty member within the theatre department, stars as Ebenezer Scrooge. The role has been on his bucket list for a long time. 

“I’ve always wanted to play Scrooge,” Allen said. “It’s a wonderful character, a character that takes such a journey from one side of his life to the other; it’s a great challenge for an actor.”

Scrooge is commonly imagined as a miserly old man, with a face etched in a permanent frown; someone who receives no affection and never gives it. As Hatton describes it, his adaptation explores more intricate themes, such as generational trauma, lending Scrooge’s character more complexity. 

“I always struggled with those reproductions that show Scrooge being scared into doing the right thing,” Hatton said. “Instead, I think it’s a much more powerful story for us to see Scrooge make the choice to change his life.”

To Allen, this version of Scrooge is rooted in humanity, something that makes the character more relatable. 

“I think audiences will find it refreshing,” Allen said. “Everyone has an idea, I think, of who Scrooge is, what his story is, but in our particular production, we’re seeing more deeply into why Scrooge is the way he is.”

Allen is one of two guest actors in the production. The other is Miles Stewart, a seven-year-old cast outside of NKU to play Tiny Tim, the son of Scrooge’s magnanimous employee, Bob Cratchit. As Tiny Tim notoriously sits on his dad’s shoulders, Hatton wanted someone who could physically capture that innocent image of a father and son. 

Cratchit is played by Wolf Singer, a BFA in musical theatre major. Initially, Singer was nervous to work with a child actor, but as rehearsals began, the cast realized how committed Stewart is. 

“[Stewart’s] putting some of us to shame,” Singer said. “He came to the first rehearsal off the book, he’s learning sign language, he’s learning to play the bells…he’s doing such a great job.”

Cratchit is a dream role for Singer. The character embodies love despite hardship, something that contrasts with the more morally ambiguous roles Singer has played in the past. Feeling tethered to his character, Singer believes he brings a more authentic performance to the stage. 

This emotional connection he feels towards the character is something that Singer claims is interspersed throughout the production, allowing the audience to relate more genuinely with the characters and the story. 

“In a way, Christmas Carol is sort of like a more modern fairy tale,” Singer said. And I think what we’re doing here is we’re making it less of a fairy tale, less of a ‘I’m going to see this show because it’s Christmas time; I’m going through the motions.’ We’re putting on a show that’s meant to truly express and teach about the reason why Christmas is actually important for us.”

“A Christmas Carol” will be shown in two segments, from Nov. 21 through 23 and again on Dec. 3 through 7 in the NKU Fine Arts Corbett Theatre. Tickets can be found here.