119 W. North Bend Way, North Bend, WA 98045 http://valleycenterstage.org
"Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Interview with the Director: Tony Leininger
I had the pleasure of sitting down with the director of A Christmas Carol, Tony Leininger, to talk about his upcoming show.
Director Tony Leininger, Photo Credit: Rosalind Chaffee
VCS has done A Christmas Carol many times before. Why is it worth performing year after year? Why is it such a great show?
I think it’s because audiences really respond to this play. People like it and include it in their holiday traditions. This story has been a part of my holiday tradition for as long as I can remember - I never get tired of it. I think it's because it touches on the whole idea that it's never too late. It's a reminder that you can change, that you make choices, and you can do something to get back on track again; to get back to that authentic you, just the way Scrooge does.
The timing of the show is different this year, correct?
The fact that Thanksgiving falls so late in the year this year, it bumps right up against the Christmas holidays. It is much closer than in previous years so our opening night is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. After a day of crazy shopping, while family and friends are still visiting from wherever they've come from, it’s a great way to continue the excitement of the Thanksgiving holiday and the transition into the Christmas holidays.
Can you share you one of your favorite lines from the play?
The one I really like is Marley’s line, “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down?” Marley sets up for us the degree to which Scrooge may feel like he turned his back on what was important. If Scrooge doesn't change based on what happened, what Marley tells him, he's going to end up in Marley's shoes. And Marley's greatest regret, Scrooge's potential greatest regret, is that he turned his back on on people.
One of the things I really like about Brenden and Wynters’ adaptation of the story is that they have left almost all of the dialogue that Dickens wrote for these characters intact. Many adaptations of the story take Marley and cut away 2/3 or more of what Marley actually says. Playing Marley last year I was intimately aware of the fact that I'm probably one of the few actors who's ever actually been able to say everything that Dickens wrote for Marley; and there's so much there. Everything that’s going to happen in the other three ghost scenes; the sense of regret, the scenes that drive home Scrooge's remorse, his sense of loss. All of these things first come up in Marley's scenes with Scrooge.
How long have you been involved in Valley Center Stage?
Less than a year; A Christmas Carol last year was my first show. I knew Tim Platt, who is Scrooge. This is Tim's third year as Scrooge and we met the year that he was playing it for the first time; we were cast in another show together. I knew of the theater through Tim, and I wanted to be a part of this story.
Tell me about your background in Theatre and Music.
I have been acting since I was as young as the youngest people in this cast. I remember being cast as Rumpelstiltskin in a school room skit and falling in love with the ‘let's pretend’ and the idea that people come together to tell a story and act it out. That’s always been compelling to me. When I was a college student, I was involved in many of the theater productions and took theater classes. I didn't major in theater but I came very close. After college I worked with one of the country's best regional theaters, the Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis, and I worked there for three years. I now work, and have for the last 22 or 23 years, as a professional writer and a content strategist with a user experience firm, but in order to keep my interests alive, my love of performing, I have continued to act.
I haven’t done much directing in recent years but when Brenden and Wynter suggested that I consider directing A Christmas Carol this year, I jumped at the opportunity because it’s something that I have had experience doing and enjoy. It was an opportunity that I wasn't really looking for but it sort of fell in my lap and here I am and I’m excited about that.
As far as music, in addition to theater in college I was involved with the music department. I had studied piano from the time I was in grade school. When I went off to college, I continued to study. I studied the organ at that point and I also was in the choirs. That sort of laid the groundwork for me later in life. I sang with the Seattle Symphony Chorale for six seasons; I spent four years working with a professional vocal coach and as part of that experience I worked with Northwest Opera In Schools Etc, which is N-O-I-S-E, NOISE; I have sung with the Ladies Musical Society in Seattle, which is Seattle's oldest continuously operating Arts organization.
I've had experience in the music scene and the theater scene, so in directing A Christmas Carol, I personally felt that a play called A Christmas Carol ought to have some Christmas carols in it. There are so many different Christmas carols and so many different moods and themes in Christmas music that align with moods and themes in this story that it makes sense to bring in, if not the entire carol, snippets of those carols or even just the tune to set the scene, to set the mood, to help the story flow.
What character do you find most compelling and why?
For me it’s Scrooge; he has such a sweeping character arc. That arc - from extreme poverty into extreme greed, getting lost along the track and cutting himself off from the rest of the world - sets up what happens on stage during the story. The way Marley and the other Spirits intervene to show him where he's gone off track; how other people live, and what's really going on in the world because he's put up all these walls to cut himself off from society. So that whole arc of his character, the way that the story changes him and gives him a new opportunity, I think is an archetype. It's a great story.
- Margaret Zatloukal
A Christmas Carol Opens November 29 - Black Friday
Online tickets are available now for our traditional run of A Christmas Carol. Family in town for Thanksgiving? Bring them to the theater to kick off the Christmas season. This Snoqualmie Valley favorite plays to sold out houses every year and is key to supporting Valley Center Stage year round. Click here to buy tickets now while all dates are still available. Join us and make A Christmas Carol part of your holiday tradition.
Auditions for Murder on the Orient Express
Brush up your monologues and update your resume: directors Brenden and Wynter Elwood will be holding auditions for Agatha Christie's classic tale Murder on the Orient Express, adapted by Ken Ludwig. Auditions will take place at VCS on December 7th from 10 am - 1 pm and on December 8th from 11:30 am - 1 pm. No appointment needed for those times. More detailed information coming soon to the website - click here for more information.
Mystery Musical Announced
This June director Taylor Davis will be bringing the comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to Valley Center Stage. See the charming show that was nominated for six Tony Awards in 2005 and won two, including Best Book. Click here to learn more.
VCS is seeking Lighting Designers and Operators !!
We want to grow our technical team and are looking for additional help designing and operating both lighting and sound throughout our season. While experience is welcome and wonderful, we can and do train people. If this sounds like something you, or someone you know, would like to help with, please reach out to us at tech@valleycenterstage.org for more details today!
Support Valley Center Stage!
Having reached a point of presenting a fuller season and more variety in our shows we are committed on keeping ticket prices as low as possible to reach the widest possible audience in our beautiful area!
Donations are vital to allow Valley Center Stage to continue to produce community theater in the valley. We certainly hope you will contribute at this time to help with the expenses our local non-profit theatre faces.
Unless having requested to remain anonymous, all donors to Valley Center Stage will be listed in our program under the following categories: Patrons ($1000 and above), Director's Circle ($500 to $999), and Friends and Supporters ($25 to $499).
Thank you for your consideration and support!
PO Box 701 | North Bend, WA 98045 | (425) 200-8936 | valleycenterstage.org
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