Release Date: November 29, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — In an effort to forge a stronger partnership between Monmouth College and the community, the Monmouth College theater department and the Buchanan Center for the Arts have combined their talents and resources to present a stage adaptation of the Dickens holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol.”

Performances in the college’s Wells Theater will be on Dec. 8, 9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m., with a special matinee performance on Dec. 10 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $4 for MC students, $5 for students and senior citizens and $6 for adults. A special family ticket, good for up to four admissions, is also available for $15. Tickets may be reserved by contacting the Buchanan Center for the Arts at 309-734-3033 or by e-mailing bca@frontiernet.net. Tickets, if available, may be purchased at the door, but since seating is limited, patrons are encouraged to reserve tickets early.

According to Bill Wallace, professor of communication and theater arts (CATA) and director of the community production, the cast features more than 70 actors, dancers, carolers and musicians, and is “the largest cast anyone can remember” in college history. “This is a true college and community endeavor, and we think the Buchanan Center for the Arts and the MC theater make a great team.”

He added, “The show is a delight and is a wonderful way for families and friends to spend a bit of time together during the hectic holiday season.”

Providing set design for the show is Doug Rankin, CATA professor and resident designer and technical director. Serving as assistant directors are freshman Samantha Briones of Brookfield, sophomore Holly Sanders of Bartonville and sophomore Lauren Swanson of Oak Forest.

The show will feature a musical trio composed of sophomore Holly Butz of Des Plaines on violin, senior Holly Trotter of Elk Grove Village on viola and Monmouth-Roseville High School student Melissa O’Neal of Monmouth on cello. Featured players include junior Chris Walljasper of Donnellson, Iowa, as Scrooge; freshman Brain Rowe of Des Plaines as Bob Cratchet; and Kristin Larson, visiting assistant professor of psychology, as Mrs. Cratchet.

Adding appropriate airs of mystery are sophomore Traci Ratliff of Sterling as the Ghost of Christmas Past, sophomore Bryan Blanks of Kewanee as the Ghost of Christmas Present and sophomore Danielle Prince of Morris as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

“Everyone is working very hard on the show, and we hope our audience has as much fun with this as we have had putting it together,” said Wallace. “We look forward to sharing this message of hope and redemption with our community.”

When written in 1843, “A Christmas Carol” was heralded for rekindling the joy of Christmas in Britain and America. Its message is as clear today as when it was first published – that people need to cut through the materialistic trappings that have become so much a part of Christmas and get to the heart and soul of the holidays.

Dickens described his “Carol Philosophy” as “a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of other people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”