presents a christmas carol - south coast repertory · giulia bencivenga, jessica perlman mrs. ......

CHARLES DICKENS’

A CHRISTMAS CAROLadapted by JERRY PATCH

SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGNThomas Buderwitz Dwight Richard Odle Donna and Tom Ruzika

based on the original design of Cliff Faulkner

SOUND DESIGN MUSIC DIRECTOR CHOREOGRAPHERGarth Hemphill Dennis Castellano Linda Kostalik

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PRODUCTION MANAGER STAGE MANAGERLaurie Woolery Jeff Gifford *Scott Harrison

DIRECTED BY

JOHN-DAVID KELLER

HONORARY PRODUCERS

PAUL, DARANNE AND COURTNEY FOLINO

CORPORATE PRODUCER

THE CITIGROUP PRIVATE BANK

SEGERSTROM STAGE / NOVEMBER 29 THROUGH DECEMBER 27, 2003

David Emmes Martin BensonPRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

presents

A Christmas Carol • SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P1

CAST OF CHARACTERS(In order of appearance)

LENA, a vendor of second-hand goods .................................................................... *Julia CoffeyJOE, a cider salesman and a receiver of stolen goods ............................................. *Art KoustikTOY LADY .......................................................................................................... *Hisa TakakuwaPUPPETEER .......................................................................................... Dennis Alexander GarciaUNDERTAKER ................................................................................................ *Jonathan Del ArcoCHIMNEY SWEEP ........................................................................................... *Timothy LandfieldELIZABETH SHELLY ............................................................................................... Christine YaelTHOMAS SHELLY, a vendor of second-hand goods ................................................ Sean DurrieOLIVER SHELLY ............................................................................. Alex Wherritt, ▲Kevin RussellEBENEZER SCROOGE, a grasping covetous old man ........................................ *Hal Landon Jr.RICH WOMAN ................................................................................................... *Devon RaymondGIRL ABOUT TOWN ................................................................ Hannah Stafford, ▲Kaylin MillerCONSTABLE .................................................................................................................... John SiskBOB CRATCHIT, clerk to Scrooge ..................................................................... *Daniel BlinkoffFRED, nephew to Ebenezer .......................................................................... *Howard ShangrawSOLICITORS .................................................................. *John-David Keller, *Martha McFarlandWREATH SELLER ............................................................................................................. John SiskJACOB MARLEY’S GHOST, a spectre of Ebenezer’s former partner in business ...... *Don TookTHE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PAST, a phantom showing things past ................ *Richard DoyleEBENEZER AS A BOY .................................................................... Alex Wherritt, ▲Kevin RussellFAN, the sister of Ebenezer .............................................. Giulia Bencivenga, ▲Jessica PerlmanMRS. FEZZIWIG ............................................................................................ *Martha McFarlandMR. FEZZIWIG, a kind hearted, jovial old merchant ............................................... *Art KoustikJACOB MARLEY AS A YOUNG MAN ............................................................................. John SiskEBENEZER AS A YOUNG MAN ..................................................................... *Jonathan Del ArcoBELLE, an old sweetheart of Ebenezer ..................................................................... *Julia CoffeyTHE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT, a spirit of a kind,

earthy and generous nature ..................................................................... *Timothy Landfield“TINY” TIM CRATCHIT ........................................................ Mason Acevedo, ▲Conner ThomsenMRS. CRATCHIT ................................................................................................ *Devon RaymondBELINDA CRATCHIT ............................................................. Julia Ostmann, ▲Katie WesterhoutPETER CRATCHIT .................................................................... Mikey DeBenedetto, ▲Liam LodgeMARTHA CRATCHIT ............................................................... Brina Dokich, ▲Austen WianeckiMR. TOPPER, a bachelor ..................................................................... Dennis Alexander GarciaPURSUED MAIDEN ................................................................................................. Christine YaelSALLY, the wife of Fred ...................................................................................... *Hisa TakakuwaTHE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS YET-TO-COME, an apparition

showing the shadows of things which may yet happen ...................................... *Don TookWANT ........................................................................................ Hannah Stafford, ▲Kaylin MillerIGNORANCE ................................................................................... Alex Wherritt, ▲Kevin RussellGENTLEMEN ON THE STREET ......... *Richard Doyle, *John-David Keller, *Howard ShangrawTHE SCAVENGERS .................................... *Martha McFarland, *Hisa Takakuwa, *Julia CoffeyBOY ON THE STREET ............................................................... Nicholas Walker, ▲Bryce SteevesPOULTERER ..................................................................................................................... John Sisk

P2 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY • A Christmas Carol

Please Note: Children’s roles are double cast. Actors with ▲ appear Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at noon. Others appear in balance of performances.

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

SETTING 19th Century London

LENGTHApproximately two hours, including one 15-minute intermission

PRODUCTION STAFFAssistant Stage Manager ...................................................................................... *Vanessa J. NoonCasting Director ..................................................................................................... Joanne DeNautStage Management Intern ............................................................................................ Nina EvansDeck Crew ................................. David Gallo, Jeff Ham, Robert Harrison, James Ray, Joe SmithFollow Spot Operators .................................................................... Nina Evans, Wendy RadfordChild Wrangler .................................................................................................. Lisamarie GoodellDresser ......................................................................................................................... Stacy NezdaCostume Shop Assistants ...................................... Catherine Esera, Tracy Gray, Amber Johnson

Peggy Oquist, Cynthia Shaffer-ThompsonCostume Design Assistant .............................................................................................. Julie Keen

Cellular phones, beepers and watch alarms should be turned off or set to non-audible mode during the performance. Please refrain from unwrapping candy or making

other noises that may disturb surrounding patrons.

The use of cameras and recorders in the theatre is prohibited.Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the theatre.


Official Airline

Hal Landon Jr. as Scrooge and Timothy Landfield as the Ghost of Christmas Present in 2002.

Media PartnerMedia Partner

He was a sympathizer with the poor, the suffering andthe oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.

Inscription on Dickens’ tombstone at Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey

The eldest son of Johnand Elizabeth Dickens,Charles Huffman Dick-

ens was born in Landport(now part of Portsmouth),England, February 7,1812. In 1824, he wasgiven his first posi-tion in business inthe employ of War-ren’s Blacking Fac-tory, Chatham.For six months,the young Dick-ens adhered la-bels to contain-ers of blacking,and perhaps un-knowingly, col-lected materialfor what wouldbecome world fa-mous portrayalsof Victorian Eng-land’s workingclass.

At 15, he en-tered the professions,taking a position asclerk at Ellis and Black-more, attorneys. In be-tween his clerking andevening shorthand lessons, hewooed his first love, Maria Bead-nell, a flirtatious young lady whosedeep impressions on Dickens would bereflected in Little Dorrit, written nearly 30 yearsafter their courtship. Forsaking Miss Beadnell, in 1836he met and married Catherine Hogarth, who would bearhim ten children, and began the publication of ThePickwick Papers.

With the birth year of nearly each of his children

came the writing or publication of a major work. In1837, with the birth of his first son, Charles Jr., cameOliver Twist. In 1838, with the arrival of Mary,

Nicholas Nickleby was begun. In 1843, just prior tothe birth of Francis Jeffrey, A Christmas

Carol was created. The first of his Christ-

mas books, A Christmas Carolquickly became a favorite of

the people. It would befollowed by The Chimes,

Dombey and Son andChristmas Stories.

Shortly afterthe publication of AChristmas Carol,Dickens movedhis family fromtheir Londonhome to settle,briefly, inGenoa, Italy,and later movedon to Switzer-land and Paris.During theseyears away fromLondon, his bestknown works in-cluded Cricket on

the Hearth, TheBattle of Life and

the first installmentsof David Copperfield.

Once again backin England, Dickens

would spend his lateryears creating some of his

most internationally acclaimedworks. These include Bleak

House (1859), A Tale of Two Cities(1859) and Great Expectations (1861). In

1870, the first installment of The Mystery ofEdwin Drood was published, and the author made hislast public appearance. He died in his home at Gad’sHill Place on June 9, 1870.

Who was Charles Dickens?

The Illustrated London News depicted Dickens giving hislast public reading of the Carol in March 1870.


That the original “meaning” ofChristmas has been lost is acommon complaint. Those

voicing it are usually referring to thecelebration of the birth of Christ. Infact, our Christmas customs havemuch less to do with the Nativitythan with midwinter paganagricultural and solar obser-vances dating centuries be-fore Christ’s birth.

The Roman worldinto which Christwas born celebrat-ed the Festival ofSaturn from December17-24, a week of partiesand exchanging of gifts.The fact that Christmas wascelebrated at the time of thewinter solstice (December 22,the day on which the sun is atits greatest distance south ofthe equator – hence, the short-est day of the year for thenorthern hemisphere) con-nected it with festivals for theunconquered sun. Houseswere decorated with greenery andlights, and presents were given to children and thepoor.

Germanic and Celtic Yule customsworked their way into Christmas tradi-tions as well. Special foods andfeasts, fellowship, the Yule logand Yule cakes, wassailing,greenery and fir trees allcommemorated different as-pects of the season.

Two things were com-mon to all European midwinterfestivals in earlier times. Firesand lights, symbols of warmth andthe endurance of life, were a part ofboth pagan and Judeo-Christian cele-brations. Evergreens, as symbols ofsurvival, had particular meaning forNorthern Europeans who faced ex-

tremely harsh, longwinters. An ever-green tree placed in-doors at Christmas

was a reminder thatthe suffering of winterwould be followed by

seasons of rebirthand fullness in thecoming spring andsummer.

This experi-ence is difficult to

appreciate in ourdry, temperateSouthern Californiaclimate. Our Yule

trees stand more oftenas fire hazards than re-

minders of spring. Butwinter for much of the world is a sea-son of dormancy and death in nature;and in earlier centuries it was even morea time of frailty fatal to human beings.

Charles Dickens’ recognition ofhuman mortality pervades A ChristmasCarol. The deaths of Marley and Fan,the Ghosts, and the possible passing of

Tiny Tim, as well as the suffering ofthe poor and the Cratchits’ leanChristmas are the shadows to be dis-pelled by the light of human love and

the season’s spirit.More than a century later, Octavio

Solis in his La Posada Mágica foundsimilar substance in the predicament of

his young and reluctant heroine, Gracie.The transforming power of love that Dick-

ens found in 19th-Century London remainsconstant in Solis’ southwestern barrio at the

beginning of the 21st. The value of love and human life is mea-

sured by the fact that it doesn’t last forever. It isthe equation Scrooge comes to know, and one

which Dickens fully appreciated.–Jerry Patch

The Real Meaning of Christmas


Bob and Tim Cratchit, by Frederick Barnard

“Avarice and happiness never saw each other, howthen should they become acquainted?”

– Benjamin Franklin,Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1734

“Remorse is memory awake.”– Emily Dickenson, Poems, Pt. I, No.69

“Why should I sorrow for what was pain?A cherished grief is an iron chain.”

– Stephen Vincent Benet, King David

“I dreamt the past was never past redeeming; But whether this was false or honest dreaming I beg death’s pardon now. And mourn the dead.”

– Richard Wilbur, The Pardon

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a greatlight: They that dwell in the land of the shadow ofdeath, upon them hath the light shined.”

– Isaiah, 9:2

“At Christmas I no more desire a roseThan wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;But like each thing that in season grows.”

– Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost

“Dickens is a terrible writer. In the original, Scroogewas mean and stingy, but you never know why.We’re giving him a mother and father, an un-happy childhood, a whole backgroundwhich will motivate him.”

– President of Screen Gems, 1968

“I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez,and Rembrandt: in the might of de-sign, the mystery of color, the re-demption of all things by beauty ever-lasting and the message of Art that hasmade these hands blessed.”– George Bernard Shaw

“Create in me a clean heart, O God: andrenew a right spirit with me.”

– Psalms 51:10

“Dickens was a mythologist rather than a novelist; hewas the last of the mythologists, and perhaps thegreatest. He did not always manage to make hischaracters men, but he always managed, at the least,to make them gods.”

– G.K. Chesterson 1906

Malcolm Kushner relates the story of a man whochaired the charity committee of his local hospital. Hereviewed all the fundraising records, and he discoveredthat the richest person in town had never made a dona-tion. So he went to visit him. He said, “Our recordsshow that you’re the richest person in town, but you’venever contributed to the hospital.” And the rich mansaid, “Do your records also show that my widowedmother was left absolutely destitute? Do they show thatmy brother is totally disabled? Do they show that mysister was abandoned with four young children?” Bynow the chairperson felt really ashamed. He said,“Well no, our records don’t show that.” And the richman said, “Well, I don’t do anything for them, so whyshould I do anything for you?”

Other Voices at Christmas


Art Koustik and Martha McFarlandas Mr. & Mrs. Fezziwig.

Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at thegrindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing wrench-ing, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous,

old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from whichno steel had ever struck out generous fire;secret, and self-contained, and solitaryas an oyster. The cold within himfroze his old features, nipped hispointed nose, shrivelled his cheek,stiffened his gait; made his eyes red,his thin lips blue; and spoke outshrewdly in his grating voice. Afrosty rime was on his head, andon his eyebrows, and his wirychin. He carried his own lowtemperature always about withhim; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degreeat Christmas.

External heat and cold had little in-fluence on Scrooge. No warmth couldwarm, no wintry weather chill him. Nowind that blew was bitterer than he, nofalling snow was more intent upon itspurpose, no pelting rain less open to en-treaty. Foul weather didn’t know whereto have him. The heaviest rain, andsnow, and hail, and sleet, could boast ofthe advantage over him in only one re-spect. They often “Came down” hand-somely, and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped him in thestreet to say, with gladsome looks, “Mydear Scrooge, how are you? When willyou come to see me?” No beggars im-plored him to bestow a trifle, no chil-dren asked him what it was o’clock, noman or woman ever once in all his life in-quired the way to such and such a place, ofScrooge. Even the blindmen’s dogs ap-peared to know him; and when they sawhim coming on, would tug their owners intodoorways and up courts; and then wouldwag their tails as though they said, “No eyeat all is better than an evil eye, dark master!”

But what did Scrooge care! It was thevery thing he liked. To edge his way along

the crowded paths of life, warning allhuman sympathy to keep its distance,

was what the knowingones call “nuts” to

Scrooge.– Excerpted fromA Christmas Carol


“It’s a great part I enjoy doing. Iactually work on it during thecourse of each year, so I can comecloser to nailing it. You’d think Iwould have figured it out after 23years; but it keeps my imaginationand my mind fresh to know Ihaven’t gotten it all yet. I’ve triedit a lot of ways: where he’s nastyand snarly, where he’s cold andaustere, and they all basicallywork, but I just haven’t found theone that clicks and feels like,‘That’s it!’ I’m still experimenting.”

– Hal Landon Jr. on playing Ebenezer Scrooge

A Miser’s Miserby Charles Dickens

*DANIEL BLINKOFF (Bob Cratchit)appeared at SCR in last season’s TheIntelligent Design of Jenny Chow andMajor Barbara (Robby Award nomi-nation – Best Supporting Actor), andpreviously in The School for Wivesand Nostalgia. Other theatre creditsinclude The Imaginary Invalid andA Kiss for Cinderella at the Cleve-land Playhouse, A Christmas Carolat McCarter Theatre, Are We ThereYet? at Williamstown Theatre Festi-val, Stepping Out with Mr. Markhamat Ensemble Studio Theatre in NewYork, The Summer in Gossensass(Maria Irene Fornes, director) atTheatre Row, Dinosaur Dreams andThe Last 60 of 99 at New York Stageand Film, The Beaux Strategem andTwelfth Night at Yale Repertory The-atre, as well as the title role in Lean-der Stillwell at Stage Left (Joseph Jef-ferson Award – Best Ensemble) andFlesh and Blood at Chicago’s Baili-wick Theatre (Joseph JeffersonNomination – Best Actor). His filmand television credits include Rock-abye, With Honors, Wally’s Walk,

Crossing the Bridge, “NYPD Blue,”“Law and Order” and “Missing Per-sons.” Mr. Blinkoff received hisMFA from the Yale School of Dramaand is a founding member of YaleCabaret Blue in Los Angeles.

*JULIA COFFEY (Lena/Belle/Scav-enger) made her SCR debut as Heroin Much Ado about Nothing. Localtheatre credits include Lady Macbethin Macbeth at A Noise Within, Ros-alind in As You Like It and Viola inTwelfth Night for the KingsmenShakespeare Festival, Peter Hall’sMeasure for Measure and A Mid-summer Night’s Dream at the Ah-manson Theatre and Cecelia in TheLast Tycoon at the Fountain Theatre.She also originated the role ofCharmille in John Strand’s new playThe Diaries at the Signature Theatrein Washington, DC. Televisioncredits include appearances on“Yes, Dear.” Ms. Coffey trained atFlorida State University and the Lon-don Academy of Music and Dramat-ic Art.

*JONATHAN DEL ARCO (Undertak-er/Young Ebenezer) returns for athird year in A Christmas Carol. Hisother theatre credits include six sea-sons of the Hispanic PlaywrightsProject at SCR, the one-man showAlways Running (Cornerstone The-atre), Blood Wedding (La Jolla Play-house), Spoils of War (Broadway),Torch Song Trilogy (Broadway/FirstNational Tour), Roosters (PublicTheater/INTAR), The Virgin Molly(EST), Amulettes Against the DragonForces (Circle Rep), Elegies for An-gels Punks and Raging Queens(Canon Theatre), House Arrest (MarkTaper Forum) and Common Infrac-tions/ Gross Injustices (AmericanRepertory Theatre). He also spenttwo summers as a member of theacting company at The Institute onthe Arts and Civic Dialogue, a Har-vard program under the direction ofAnna Deavere Smith. On televisionhe is a recurring character on thecritically acclaimed “Nip/Tuck.” Hehas guest starred on “The Division,”“First Monday,” “Grosse Point,” “Star


Artist Biographies

JULIA COFFEY

Lena/Belle/ScavengerJONATHAN DEL ARCO

Undertaker/Young EbenezerDANIEL BLINKOFF

Bob Cratchit

Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: The NextGeneration” (recurring as HughBorg), “Pearl,” “The Mommies,”“Miami Vice,” “True Colors,” “Sis-ters,” The Wonder Years,” “Blos-som,” “Boy Meets World” and “Pa-cific Blue.” His film credits includeThe Mambo Kings, Lost Angels andTrue Rights. For the last severalyears Del Arco has also pursued hisother passion, politics. Currently heis working on Howard Dean’s presi-dential campaign.

*RICHARD DOYLE (Spirit of Christ-mas Past/Gentleman) is an SCRFounding Artist who appeared earli-er this season in The Last Night ofBallyhoo. Last season he appearedin Relatively Speaking, Proof, MajorBarbara and A Christmas Carol andthe previous season in The Schoolfor Wives and The Homecoming.Additional appearances include theworld premieres of The Beard ofAvon, On the Jump (Robby Award),But Not for Me, BAFO, The Interro-gation of Nathan Hale, She Stoops toFolly, Wit, Hospitality Suite andHighest Standard of Living. Othercredits include Much Ado aboutNothing, A Delicate Balance, OfMice and Men, Ah, Wilderness!,What the Butler Saw, Pygmalion,Six Degrees of Separation, Arms andthe Man, The Cherry Orchard, Wait-

ing for Godot, Our Country’s Goodand Intimate Exchanges, for whichhe earned a Los Angeles Drama Crit-ics Circle Award nomination. Hewon LADCC Awards for his roles inSally Nemeth’s Holy Days and asReverend Hale in The Crucible.“Cheers” fans will remember him asWoody’s snooty father-in-law WalterGaines. Other film and televisioncredits include Air Force One,“NYPD Blue,” “Sisters,” movies ofthe week, “The Practice” and gueststar appearances on “The Pretender”and “The Lot.” He is a voice-overactor in animation, CD ROMS, tele-vision, radio commercials, books ontape and documentaries, includingthe Emmy-winning series The LivingEdens, Impressions of California, therecent documentary reenactmentThe Bismark and the soon to be re-leased Green and Green, an archi-tectural documentary on the cre-ation of the craftsman design move-ment.

*JOHN-DAVID KELLER (Solicitor/Gentleman) is a member of SCR’sresident acting company. He hasbeen with the company since 1973working as both an actor and direc-tor. Most recently he directed SCR’sinaugural Theatre for Young Audi-ences Series production of The Em-peror’s New Clothes. He has directed

A Christmas Carol for its entire 24-year history. He is responsible fordirecting SCR’s Educational TouringProduction of The Pride of Weed-patch Camp, which will begin tour-ing in January 2004. Among hisother SCR directing credits are God-spell, Jacques Brel, In Fashion, TheReal Inspector Hound (SCR’s firstEquity show), Peg O’ My Heart andTomFoolery, to name a few. He hasalso acted in over 100 plays at SCR.He has been the concert host for thefifth grade concerts for the OrangeCounty Philharmonic Society for 19years. He has performed with theNational Symphony Orchestra andthe Sydney Philharmonic. He waspart of the Sundance PlaywrightsFestival for 10 years. He tries tostay busy.

*ART KOUSTIK (Joe/Mr. Fezziwig) isan SCR Founding Artist who has ap-peared in scores of productions, in-cluding Much Ado about Nothing,The Hollow Lands, Of Mice andMen, Tartuffe, Ah, Wilderness! andPygmalion. He also appeared inBAFO, Six Degrees of Separation,She Stoops to Folly, The Taming ofthe Shrew, The Cherry Orchard, TheMisanthrope, A Streetcar Named De-sire, Loot, Lettice & Lovage, The ManWho Came to Dinner, The Miser,Shadowlands and Hospitality Suite.


RICHARD DOYLE

Spirit of Christmas Past/GentlemanJOHN-DAVID KELLER

Solicitor/GentlemanART KOUSTIK

Joe/Mr. Fezziwig

His other appearances include ThePhiladelphia Story, Twelfth Night, AMidsummer Night’s Dream, A Cho-rus of Disapproval, Hard Times, TheCrucible, Prelude to a Kiss, Glengar-ry Glen Ross, Galileo, The Foreigner,Rum and Coke, The Show-Off, SaintJoan, Playboy of the Western World,The Seagull, Coming Attractions,American Buffalo, The ElephantMan, Anything Goes, Time Was,Time of Your Life, Comedians, Rub-bers, That Championship Season andThe Last Meeting of the Knights of theWhite Magnolia and most annualproductions of A Christmas Carol.Outside SCR, he has been in Any-thing Goes, Chapter Two, Guys andDolls, Brigadoon, numerous com-mercials, and film and televisionsuch as La Bamba, “Valerie,” “HillStreet Blues,” “Moonlighting,” “Gold-en Girls,” “Dallas” and “The Youngand the Restless.” “With my wifePeggy, I am at last a happy man. Asthe years go by I am more awarehow important faith, family andfriends are. ‘GOD BLESS US EVERY-ONE.’

*TIMOTHY LANDFIELD (Spirit ofChristmas Present) is delighted to re-turn to SCR, where he was previous-ly seen in The Norman Conquests:Round and Round the Garden andHay Fever. He recently appeared in

The Miser at A Noise Within and inthe Broadway revivals of Companyand The Sound of Music. He alsoappeared opposite his Hay Fever co-star Kandis Chappell in The Guards-man at the Huntington Theatre inBoston. Mr. Landfield appeared onBroadway in Rumors, Arsenic andOld Lace, Wild Honey, The Cruciferof Blood and Tartuffe. Off-Broad-way, he was in the original produc-tion of Sister Mary Ignatius and TheActor’s Nightmare as well as the mu-sical Charlotte Sweet. Television andfilm credits include “Six Feet Under,”“Without a Trace,” “Monk,” “Frasier,”“Boston Public,” “C.S.I.,” “FamilyLaw” and “Law and Order” and TheCooler with William H. Macy andAlec Baldwin. Mr. Landfield hasplayed major roles in regional the-atres across the country includingPhileas Fogg in 80 Days at La JollaPlayhouse in San Diego. While inAfrica filming Disney’s Cheetah, Mr.Landfield met his wife, actress BreonGorman. They have two angels, Mi-randa and Bianca.

*HAL LANDON JR. (EbenezerScrooge) is an SCR Founding Artistwho recently appeared in The Draw-er Boy, Two Gentlemen of Verona,Major Barbara, Getting FrankieMarried—and Afterwards, TheSchool for Wives, Much Ado about

Nothing, Entertaining Mr. Sloane,The Hollow Lands, True West, PlayStrindberg, Tartuffe and Ah, Wilder-ness! Other credits include Arcadia,Our Town, Sidney Bechet Killed aMan, BAFO, Six Degrees of Separa-tion, An Ideal Husband, A Mess ofPlays by Chris Durang, The ThingsYou Don’t Know , Faith Healer ,Ghost in the Machine , GreenIcebergs, Morning’s at Seven, Danc-ing at Lughnasa, The Miser, OurCountry’s Good and Waiting forGodot . He created the role ofEbenezer Scrooge in SCR’s A Christ-mas Carol, and has performed it inall 23 annual productions. He ap-peared in Leander Stillwell at theMark Taper Forum and in Henry Vat the Globe Theatres in San Diego.Other resident theatre roles includeSalieri in Amadeus , Malvolio inTwelfth Night and Gordon Miller inRoom Service. Among his film cred-its are Trespass, Pacific Heights, Al-most an Angel, Bill and Ted’s Excel-lent Adventure and Playing by Heart.Television credits include a recentepisode of “Frasier.”

*MARTHA McFARLAND (Mrs. Fezzi-wig/Solicitor) is an SCR FoundingArtist who served as the theatre’sCasting Director for 11 years. Mostrecently she appeared in Two Gen-tlemen of Verona and as Mrs. Baines


TIMOTHY LANDFIELD

Spirit of Christmas PresentHAL LANDON JR.Ebenezer Scrooge

MARTHA MCFARLAND

Mrs. Fezziwig/Solicitor

in Major Barbara, Georgette in TheSchool for Wives, Ursula in MuchAdo about Nothing, Mom in TrueWest, Alice in Play Strindberg andreprised her role as Norah in Ah,Wilderness! Other roles at SCR in-clude appearances in Our Town,Pygmalion, Private Lives, An IdealHusband, as Dr. Charlotte Wallacein Beyond Therapy and as part of theDrama-Logue Award-winning en-sembles of TomFoolery and Side bySide by Sondheim. She also ap-peared as Pope Joan and Louise inboth the SCR and Westwood Play-house engagements of Top Girls.She has appeared in 17 of the 23productions of A Christmas Carol,having missed the first year whenshe was on a U.S. tour with JamesMason in A Partridge in a Pear Tree.Ms. McFarland is also a director,having staged Sly Fox and The For-

eigner at the Laguna Playhouse, TopGirls at UCI and the world premiereof City with the Circle X Company inLos Angeles. She is a teacher withthe SCR Professional Conservatoryand privately in the L.A./OrangeCounty area. Ms. McFarland is alsoa popular voice-over artist, a pub-lished poet and the Southern Califor-nia Casting Director with the OregonShakespeare Festival in Ashland.

*DEVON RAYMOND (Mrs. Cratchit)returns to SCR for her 14th season ofA Christmas Carol. Other SCR ap-pearances include She Stoops toFolly, Our Country’s Good, Heart-break House, Holy Days and HardTimes. Regionally she has appearedat the Ensemble Theatre Company ofSanta Barbara in The Secret Raptureand in the world premiere of Cast-away. Most recently, Ms. Raymond

appeared in On Approval at PacificResident Theatre in Los Angeles,where she is a company member.She can be seen in the CameronCrowe film Singles, and the film ver-sion of Holy Days, directed by Mar-tin Benson. Television credits in-clude the movie of the week “EmptyCradle” and a recurring role in theDabney Coleman series “The SlapMaxwell Story.” She is a graduate ofThe Juilliard School.

*HOWARD SHANGRAW (Fred/Gen-tleman) returns to his role as Fred inA Christmas Carol. He was seen inthe Mark Taper Forum’s productionof Arcadia and Travels with My Auntat the Laguna Playhouse. His SCRcredits include Algernon in The Im-portance of Being Earnest, Russell inLoose Ends, Lonnie in Coming At-tractions, and as young Ebenezer in


HOWARD SHANGRAW

Fred/GentlemanHISA TAKAKUWA

Toy Lady/Sally/ScavengerDEVON RAYMOND

Mrs. Cratchit

Don’t miss the rest of SCR’s exciting 40th Season!Subscriptions are still available for

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A Christmas Carol, a role he createdin 1980. He also appeared in SCR’sA Mess of Plays by Chris Durang,Wild Oats, The Contractor, The Timeof Your Life and The Sorrows of Fred-erick. He will also be rememberedfor his performances as Mick Connerin Comedians, Androgyno inVolpone and Lonnie Roy McNeil inThe Last Meeting of the Knights of theWhite Magnolia. Mr. Shangrawplayed Madame Nash in the MarkTaper Forum’s Romance Language,C.A. Rolander in the Odyssey The-atre’s In the Matter of J. Robert Op-penheimer, Aubrey Piper in the GemTheatre’s production of The Show-Off and Norman in The Dresser atSanta Barbara’s Garvin Theatre. Hisrecent television appearances in-clude “Frasier,” “Chicken Soup forthe Soul” and “Star Trek: DeepSpace Nine.” Mr. Shangraw is amember of the Pacific Resident The-atre where he serves as both anactor and director.

*HISA TAKAKUWA (Toy Lady/Sally/Scavenger) returns for the twelfthtime in A Christmas Carol. Ms.Takakuwa also appeared at SCR inThe Man Who Came to Dinner andin the Educational Touring Produc-tions Bad Water Blues, Face2Face,My Mom’s Dad, Finding Home, TheFitness Game, Rhubarb Jam, The

Day after Evermore, Power Play andIndian Summer. Other theatre cred-its include Masha in The Seagull,Agnes in The School for Wives andEmily in Our Town at A Noise With-in; Hero in Much Ado about Nothingat the Grove Shakespeare Festival;the Playwright’s Lab at the SundanceInstitute; the inaugural season of the

Sundance Children’s Theatre; andRomeo and Juliet at the IndianaRepertory Theatre. Ms. Takakuwa isa Resident Artist at the classical the-atre company A Noise Within and ison the faculty of SCR’s Young Con-servatory. She holds a BA fromSmith College and an MFA from theCalifornia Institute of the Arts.

DON TOOK

Marley/Spirit of Christmas Yet-To-Come


SEAN DURRIE (Thomas Shelley) ismaking his SCR debut after havingrecently complet-ed SCR’s Profes-sional Conserva-tory Program.Theatre credits in-clude StonewallCountry at The-atre at Lime Kiln;Dark Rapture,Family Circles,Once a Catholic, Hot L Baltimore,Waiting for Lefty and A MidsummerNight’s Dream at the AADA StudioTheatre; The Pajama Game at theKendall Theatre; and Joseph and theAmazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,The Tempest and A Funny ThingHappened on the Way to the Forum atthe Mount Michael Theatre. Filmcredits include This is Encino, P.S. IKnow You Love Me and Ultimatum.

DENNIS ALEXANDER GARCIA (Pup-peteer/Mr. Topper) is making his SCRdebut after hav-ing recently com-pleted SCR’s Pro-fessional Conser-vatory Program.Theatre credits in-clude The YorkCrucifixion, Menin White and TheEarly Girl atColumbia College Theatre; The RedCoat and A La Carte at the River For-est Theatre; The Telephone Pole Manat the Victory Garden Theatre; andThe Rabbit Trap and Butterflies areFree at the John Ruskin TheatreSchool.

JOHN SISK (Constable/Wreath Sell-er/Young Jacob Marley/Poulterer) ismaking his SCR debut after havingrecently completed SCR’s ProfessionalConservatory Program and graduat-

ing from theAmerican Acade-my of DramaticArts. His favoriteparts so far havebeen Peck inHow I Learned toDrive, himself inhis one personshow How toLose Friends Without Really Trying,and Tevye way back in high school.He is honored to be a part of thisgroup and hopes to do his granddad-dy in Valhalla proud.

CHRISTY YAEL (Elizabeth Shelley/Pur-sued Maiden) is making her SCRdebut after hav-ing recently com-pleted SCR’s Pro-fessional Conser-vatory Program.Theatre creditsinclude TheRimers of Eldritchat the Matrix The-atre; Dark Rap-ture, Measure for Measure, ThePhiladelphia Story, The Dining Room,Waiting for Lefty and Journey to theDay at the American Academy ofDramatic Arts; Vinegar Tom at EquityShowcase Theatre; The Baby Danceand Crimes of the Heart at the PlayersAcademy; and A Midsummer Night’sDream and Twelfth Night at the Ed-monton Fringe Theatre Festival.

The children’s roles are performed bystudents in South Coast Repertory’sYoung Conservatory: MASON ACEVEDO,GIULIA BENCIVENGA, MIKEY DEBENEDETTO,BRINA DOKICH, LIAM LODGE, KAYLINMILLER, JULIA OSTMANN, JESSICA PERLMAN,KEVIN RUSSELL, HANNAH STAFFORD, BRYCESTEEVES, CONNER THOMSEN, NICHOLASWALKER, KATIE WESTERHOUT, AUSTENWIANECKI and ALEX WHERRITT.

ENSEMBLE

*DON TOOK (Marley/Spirit ofChristmas Yet-To-Come) is an SCRFounding Artist who recently ap-peared in Two Gentlemen ofVerona, The School for Wives, TheBeard of Avon, Much Ado aboutNothing and The Countess. In pre-vious seasons, he was seen in TheHollow Lands, A Christmas Caroland The Philanderer. Other SCRproductions include Play Strind-berg, Tartuffe, Ah, Wilderness!, Pyg-malion, Our Town, Arcadia, BAFO(for which he won a Drama-LogueAward), She Stoops to Folly, ThreeViewings, A Streetcar Named Desire,The Misanthrope and Pterodactyls.He also appeared in the world pre-miere of Hospitality Suite and therevival of The Philadelphia Story.Mr. Took is proud to be an SCRFounding Artist with 39 years of ex-perience in a wide variety of roles.He enjoyed playing the role of Gregin a record-breaking run of A.R.Gurney’s Sylvia at the Laguna Play-house; and his latest venture isShakesperience – a high schooltouring production he conceivedand co-authored with Hal LandonJr., SCR’s resident Scrooge – some-what loosely based on the CarlReiner-Mel Brooks “2000 Year-OldMan” concept; Don interviews Halas Shakespeare and invites the stu-dents on stage to participate inscenes from the Bard’s works.Television credits include appear-ances on “Roseanne,” “Cheers,”“General Hospital,” “ER;” and hecan currently be seen in his recur-ring role as the evil Agent Grey inthe ABC spy series, “Alias.”

PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR& DESIGNERS

JERRY PATCH (Adaptor) has been af-filiated with South Coast Repertorysince 1967. He has served as dra-maturg on more than 125 new playsseen here since 1980, including theworld premieres of Abundance,Freedomland, Golden Child, Searchand Destroy, Sight Unseen, ThreeDays of Rain and Wit. His dramaticwriting has been produced at SCRand other theatres and on television.He co-conceived The Education ofRandy Newman with Michael Rothand Mr. Newman (SCR, 2000). Forseven years he was Artistic Directorof the theatre program of the Sun-dance Institute. He serves as con-sulting dramaturg for the Round-about Theatre Company in NewYork.

*JOHN-DAVID KELLER (Director) Seebiography on page P9.

THOMAS BUDERWITZ (ScenicDesign) previously designed Proof, ADelicate Balance and But Not for Meat SCR. His recent stage designs in-clude Romeo & Juliet, the inauguralproduction at the new Boston CourtTheatre, Toys in the Attic for theColony Theatre, Sunday in the Parkwith George for the West Coast En-semble and Agnes of God for the In-ternational City Theatre. His designsfor A Noise Within, where he is aresident Scenic Designer, includeMeasure for Measure, The Triumphof Love, Bus Stop, The Imaginary In-valid, Hay Fever, The Taming of the

Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing,Richard III, So It Is ...If So It Seems ToYou, A Christmas Carol, The GlassMenagerie, Great Expectations, Ah,Wilderness! and Tartuffe. Other no-table designs include Under TheBlue Sky for the Geffen Playhouse,Death of a Salesman for the InteractTheatre, Titanic for Civic LightOpera of South Bay Cities, Campingwith Henry & Tom and SwingtimeCanteen for McCoy/Rigby at the LaMirada Theater, Jack Fletcher’s pro-ductions of A Midsummer Night’sDream for the P.C.P.A. Theatrefestand the Westwood Playhouse, 2 atTheatre Forty, The Blue Dahlia andSouth Central Rain for the PacificResident Theatre Ensemble, D-Girl atthe Century City Playhouse, HeathenValley at the Grove Shakespeare Fes-tival, Great Expectations at the Ari-zona Theatre Company, Arms andthe Man at the Denver Center The-atre Company, Broadway Bound forthe Portland Repertory Theatre andLoot for the San Diego RepertoryTheatre. Mr. Buderwitz’s currentand recent television designs in-clude: “The Hollow Men” and “Bat-tlebots” for Comedy Central; “SundayMorning Shootout” for AMC; “TheInside World of Martial Arts” for Dis-covery; and “Mr. Show,” “Def Come-dy Jam,” “Sketch Pad” and “HBOComedy Hour” for HBO.

DWIGHT RICHARD ODLE (CostumeDesign) has dressed SCR’s A Christ-mas Carol annually since 1980.Over 21 seasons, working in bothscenery and costumes, he designednearly 90 productions including


many Young Conservatory and Edu-cational Touring Productions.Presently in his ninth season as resi-dent scenic and costume designerfor the Laguna Playhouse, his latestcostume credits include The Quilt-maker’s Gift, The Secret Order andThe Spitfire Grill (both West Coastpremieres) and The Wizard of Oz.Latest scenic credits include Mr.Shaw Goes to Hollywood (world pre-miere), Lovers at Versailles and Mov-ing On (both American premieres),Rounding Third and Always PatsyCline. More than 50 Playhouse pro-ductions include Who’s Hot, Who’sNot, Kevin’s Bed, Spinning Into But-ter, Communicating Doors, Moon forthe Misbegotten, Old Wicked Songs,Travels with My Aunt, Charlotte’sWeb and The Velveteen Rabbit. Hiscostumes for the West Coast pre-miere of I Love You, Your Perfect,Now Change and The Last Session atthe Playhouse transferred to extend-ed Los Angeles runs. Regionally, Mr.Odle has designed for the Geffenand Pasadena Playhouses, BalletPacifica and the Fullerton Civic LightOpera (scenery for Jekyll and Hydeand Camelot). He just costumedGunmetal Blues for Burbank’sColony Theatre and All My Sons, hiseleventh production for McCoy-Rigby Entertainment in La Mirada.His long association with the OrangeCounty Performing Arts Center as aproducer/designer/lecturer. Mr.Odle has a long list of industrialclients and has also designed forDisney Theatricals, Universal Stu-dios, Princess Cruises, two World’sFairs and theme parks in Seoul and

Barcelona. For six years, he was theresident designer for Robert Red-ford’s Sundance Theatre in Utah andproudly served as art director forPope John Paul’s 1987 Mass inDodger Stadium. He holds an MFAdegree from the Yale School ofDrama and has been a professor ofdesign at Stanford University, Cal-State Fullerton and UC Irvine. Hehas been honored for a LifetimeAchievement in Scenic Design bythe Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.

DONNA & TOM RUZIKA (LightingDesign) celebrate their 24th year ofilluminating A Christmas Carol andtheir 31st year of marriage. Theyhave collaborated on a number ofSCR productions including Beyondthe Fringe and Coming Attractions.Ms. Ruzika has designed many pro-ductions for SCR’s Young Conserva-tory Players and several productionson SCR’s Second Stage. She is amember of the Artistic Staff of theUtah Shakespearean Festival whereshe has designed for the past fivesummer festival seasons. Ms. Ruzikahas designed more than 70 musicalsas the resident lighting designer forFullerton Civic Light Opera. Heraward-winning work has also beenseen in Bogota, Colombia,Barcelona, Spain and closer to homeat the Laguna Playhouse and LongBeach’s International City Theatre.She is the Production Manager forthe Pomona College Department ofTheatre & Dance. In his 29 seasonswith SCR, Mr. Ruzika has createdaward-winning lighting designs forover 75 productions. His designs

can be seen at Universal StudiosHollywood, Florida and Japan. Hislighting can also be seen at Knott’sBerry Farm, Disneyland, Las Vegascasinos and hotels and theme parksin Spain, Japan, Korea, Australia andGermany. His architectural lightingcan be seen at the new SCR FolinoTheatre Center and theme tower,South Coast Plaza, OCPAC’s FireBird sculpture, the Los AngelesMusic Center, and many retail cen-ters and restaurants. Other profes-sional associations include major re-gional theatre, opera, and balletcompanies throughout the UnitedStates and South America. Mr. Ruzi-ka is also the head of the GraduateLighting Design Program at UCIrvine.

GARTH HEMPHILL (Sound Design) isthe Resident Sound Designer forAmerican Conservatory Theater inSan Francisco. He has designedmore than 150 productions, includ-ing the American premieres of TomStoppard’s Indian Ink and Inventionof Love. Other shows include Rag-time, The Threepenny Opera, AChristmas Carol, Mary Stuart, TheGuardsman, Old Times and A Street-car Named Desire (for which he re-ceived a Bay Area Theatre Critics’Circle Award). He has earnedDrama-Logue Awards for his workon SCR’s Jar the Floor, A ChristmasCarol, The Things You Don’t Know,Blithe Spirit, New England, Lips To-gether, Teeth Apart, Fortinbras andthe world premiere of RichardGreenberg’s Three Days of Rain. Hismost recent projects were the World


Premiere of a new adaptation of LesLiaisons Dangereuses and a 50th an-niversary production of Waiting forGodot.

DENNIS CASTELLANO (Musical Di-rector) returns to SCR after musicallydirecting past productions of AChristmas Carol, Happy End, Sun-day in the Park with George and AChorus of Disapproval. He serves asthe Head of the Music Theatre Pro-gram at UCI and during the summerhe musically directs for the MusicCircus in Sacramento where he con-ducted their recent editions of Rag-time and Joseph and the AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat. Other cred-its include Grease, The UnsinkableMolly Brown, Guys & Dolls andAnnie Get Your Gun for McCoy/Rigby Entertainment and Me and MyGirl and A Funny Thing HappenedOn the Way to the Forum for MusicalTheatre West. His credits includemusical direction for The Civic LightOpera of South Bay Cities and theLaguna Playhouse. His musical di-rection has been cited by the Los An-geles Times; he has received nineDrama-Logue Critics Awards andThe Robby Award for Best MusicalDirection. He resides in Irvine withhis wife Peggy and their childrenLeslie and Jeffrey.

LINDA KOSTALIK (Choreographer) isa Professor in the Theatre Arts andDance Department at California StateUniversity Los Angeles and worksfor the award-winning Los AngelesCounty High School of the Arts aschoreographer for their Musical The-

atre Ensemble. Her career asdancer, choreographer and educatorhas spanned 39 years. She haschoreographed numerous produc-tions for professional theatres suchas SCR, Playwrights Horizons, theGoodman Theatre, the InternationalCity Theatre and others. “ProfessorK” has directed Grammy nomineeBobby Rodriguez: A Latin JazzChristmas Show for the past threeyears and continues work in videog-raphy and design. As always, it is apleasure to be back with the SCRfamily. The happiest holidays to ev-eryone!

LAURIE WOOLERY (Assistant Direc-tor) is an actor, director and play-wright who has worked at SCR,Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles The-atre Center, Cornerstone Theatre,Deaf-West Theatre, fofo Theatre,Highways Performance Space, ANoise Within, Sundance PlaywrightsLab as well as the Sundance Chil-dren’s Theatre. As a director andplaywright, she has created and col-laborated on many new works in-cluding Orphan Train: The Lost Chil-dren, The Snow Teen, BLISS, I Sleptwith Jack Kerouac, Lapin andLapinova, California Scenarios andadapted Eleanor Estes’ The HundredDresses. Her award winning produc-tion of Our Town won Best Scene atthe 2001 Kennedy Center’s AmericanCollege Theatre Festival and her pro-duction of A Sick World participatedin the O’Neill Summer Festival. Hersolo play, Salvadorian Moon/AfricanSky, was commissioned by the Cor-nerstone Theatre Company and per-

formed by Ms. Woolery in their city-wide Festival of Faith. She workedon the world premiere of LisaLoomer’s Living Out and AnnieWeisman’s A Totally Meaningful Rit-ual at the Mark Taper Forum. Ms.Woolery is an Associate Artist withCornerstone Theatre Company, anactive member of the Virginia Av-enue Project, playwright in residencefor Hollygrove Children’s Home inLos Angeles, Instructor at Citrus Col-lege and Director of SCR’s YoungConservatory. Currently, her pro-duction of Bryan Davidson’s Reflect-ing Back can be seen at the CentralLibrary as part of their AmericanOriginals exhibit. She is also aproud member of the Lincoln The-atre Center’s Directors Lab West.

*SCOTT HARRISON (Stage Manager)is pleased to be working on this, his13th production, of A ChristmasCarol. Mele Kalikimaka.

*VANESSA J. NOON (Assistant StageManager) has been the AssistantStage Manager on Terra Nova, Proof,Two Gentlemen of Verona, IntimateApparel, The Drawer Boy and hasstage managed Making It, Nostalgia,The Lonesome West and The Countessat SCR. She has stage managed forthe Mark Taper Forum’s New WorksFestival and P.L.A.Y. Tour, Shake-speare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Fes-tival/L.A., A Noise Within, BuenaVista Special Events at The El Capi-tan Theater and Universal Studios,Hollywood. Besides theatre, shehas worked on live television eventssuch as the Academy Awards, the


Primetime Emmy Awards, “America:A Tribute to Heroes” telethon, thePearl Harbor movie premiere on-board the USS John C. Stennis inHawaii and the Anaheim AngelsWorld Series Victory Celebration atEdison Field.

DAVID EMMES (Producing ArtisticDirector) is co-founder of SCR, oneof the largest professional residenttheatres in California. He has re-ceived numerous awards for produc-tions he has directed during SCR’s39-year history, including a 1999 LosAngeles Drama Critics Circle Awardfor the direction of George BernardShaw’s The Philanderer. He directedthe world premieres of Amy Freed’sThe Beard of Avon and Freedom-land, Thomas Babe’s Great Day inthe Morning, Keith Reddin’s Rumand Coke and But Not for Me andNeal Bell’s Cold Sweat; the Americanpremiere of Terry Johnson’s Unsuit-able for Adults; the West Coast pre-mieres of C.P. Taylor’s Good andHarry Kondoleon’s Christmas onMars; and the Southland premiere ofTop Girls (at SCR and the WestwoodPlayhouse). Other productions in-clude the West Coast premieres ofThree Viewings by Jeffrey Hatcher,The Secret Rapture by David Hareand New England by Richard Nel-son; and Arcadia by Tom Stoppard,Six Degrees of Separation by JohnGuare, The Importance of BeingEarnest by Oscar Wilde, Ayckbourn’sWoman in Mind and RelativelySpeaking and You Never Can Tell byGeorge Bernard Shaw, which herestaged for the Singapore Festival ofArts. His producing responsibilitiesinvolve the overall coordination ofSCR’s programs and projects. Hehas served as a consultant to the Or-ange County Performing Arts Centerand as a theatre panelist and onsiteevaluator for the National Endow-ment for the Arts. He has served on

the Executive Committee of theLeague of Resident Theatres, and asa panelist for the California ArtsCouncil. After attending OrangeCoast College, he received his BAand MA from California State Univer-sity, San Francisco, and his PhD intheatre and film from USC.

MARTIN BENSON (Artistic Director)shares co-founder credit and artisticleadership of SCR with his colleagueDavid Emmes. As one of SCR’s chiefdirectors, Mr. Benson has directednearly one third of the plays pro-duced here in the last 39 years. Hehas distinguished himself in the stag-ing of contemporary work, includingHorton Foote’s The Carpetbagger’sChildren and the world premiere ofhis Getting Frankie Married—andAfter-wards, the critically acclaimedCalifornia premiere of WilliamNicholson’s Shadowlands, Athol Fu-gard’s Playland, Brian Friel’s Danc-ing at Lughnasa, David Mamet’sOleanna, Harold Pinter’s The Home-coming, David Hare’s Skylight andthe West Coast premieres of PeterHedges’ Good As New and MartinMcDonagh’s The Lonesome West. Hehas won accolades for his directionof five major works by GeorgeBernard Shaw, including the Los An-geles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC)Award winners Major Barbara, Mis-alliance and Heartbreak House .Among the numerous world pre-mieres he has directed are Tom Stre-lich’s BAFO and Margaret Edson’sPulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which healso directed at Seattle RepertoryTheatre and the Alley Theatre inHouston. He has directed Americanclassics including Ah, Wilderness!, AStreetcar Named Desire, A DelicateBalance and All My Sons. Mr. Ben-son has been honored with theDrama-Logue Award for his direc-tion of 21 productions and receivedLADCC Distinguished Achievement

in Directing awards an unparalleledseven times for the three Shaw pro-ductions, John Millington Synge’sPlayboy of the Western World, ArthurMiller’s The Crucible, Sally Nemeth’sHoly Days and Wit. He also directedthe film version of Holy Days usingthe original SCR cast. Along withDavid Emmes, he accepted SCR’s1988 Tony Award for OutstandingResident Professional Theatre andwon the 1995 Theatre LA OvationAward for Lifetime Achievement.Mr. Benson received his BA in The-atre from California State University,San Francisco.

PAULA TOMEI (Managing Director)is responsible for the overall admin-istration of South Coast Repertoryand has been Managing Directorsince 1994. A member of the SCRstaff since 1979, she has served in anumber of administrative capacitiesincluding Subscriptions Manager,Business Manager and General Man-ager. She currently serves as Presi-dent of the Theatre CommunicationsGroup (TCG), the national serviceorganization for the professional not-for-profit theatre. In addition, shehas served as Treasurer of TCG, VicePresident of the League of ResidentTheatres (LORT) and has been amember of the LORT NegotiatingCommittee for industry-wide unionagreements. She represents SCR atnational conferences of TCG andLORT; is a theatre panelist and sitevisitor for the National Endowmentfor the Arts and the California ArtsCouncil; served on the AdvisoryCommittee for the Arts Administra-tion Certificate Program at the Uni-versity of California, Irvine; and hasbeen a guest lecturer in the graduateschool of business at Stanford. Shegraduated from the University of Cal-ifornia, Irvine with a degree in Eco-nomics and pursued an additionalcourse of study in theatre and dance.


The Actors and Stage Managers em-ployed in this production are mem-bers of Actors’ Equity Association, theUnion of Professional Actors andStage Managers in the United States.

The Scenic, Costume, Lighting andSound Designers in LORT theatresare represented by United ScenicArtists Local USA-829, IATSE.

The Director is a member of the So-ciety of Stage Directors and Chore-ographers, Inc., an independent na-tional labor union.

presents a christmas carol - south coast repertory · giulia bencivenga, jessica perlman mrs. ......

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