PORT ANGELES — Charles Dickens could not have conceived of a wireless machine that would use sound waves to transmit his novella “A Christmas Carol” to willing listeners.
But that is exactly what happens in the Port Angeles Community Players Children’s Theater production of “Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Radio Show” playing today, Saturday and Sunday at the playhouse, 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The play opens at 7 tonight and continues Saturday with performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and one final performance Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for children younger than 18 and $10 for adults; general admission tickets can be purchased online at www.pacommunityplayers.com or at the door.
The playhouse is handicapped-accessible and hearing devices are available.
The play, written by Tony Polermo, is a condensed but complete telling of the classic tale, staged as a radio play. Actors will be on stage reading the play as though they were in a 1940s radio studio with sound effects created on stage. “A Christmas Carol” recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
“These kids got the concept of a radio show immediately and using only their voices to tell a story, and they do it beautifully,” said director and Children’s Theater founder Barbara Frederick. “The story is the same classic we love and the cast will have you in tears at times.”
The production also includes two commercials written and directed by student ShyAnn Welch.
The entire cast members are Isaac Rutledge, Molly Kussin, Zeek Richards, Lillie Commeree, Leilani Thomason, Mathew Pritchett, Kaelyn Herring, Finn Waknitz, ShyAnn Welch, Henry Wendell, Julia Rutledge, Cohen Seiler, Kaloni Mayfield, Michael Herring, Brooklyn Sorenson, Veronica Schaefermeyer, Olivia Wray, Piper Weikert, Lily Mosley, Zoie Harris, Mabel Waknitz, Isabelle Robinson, Malachi Newitt, Isaac Wendel, Hugh Waknitz, Roslyn Crowe and Avonlea Lawrence.
