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Exclusive Interview: The Christmas Spirits of Meadow Brook Theatre's 'A Christmas Carol' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Nothing says the holiday tradition like the return of A Christmas Carol at Meadowbrook Theater.
• 0:03
  This classic tale from Charles Dickens has been a staple for this local theater for 43 years.
• 0:08
  In this season, we get to speak to the three spirits within the show.
• 0:11
  ah Mary, Tamara, and Sean, thank you so much for being here.
• 0:16
  And for joining me, we are so excited to talk to the three of you.
• 0:19
  How are you three doing?
• 0:21
  doing great!
• 0:22
  Good.
• 0:23
  I'm also doing well.
• 0:24
  Thank you.
• 0:25
  Perfect.
• 0:26
  think, yeah, know Sean, thank you for getting on there.
• 0:28
  Despite all the technical difficulties sometimes we just roll with the punches.
• 0:35
  So, you know, this is definitely a very widely known story.
• 0:38
  This has been done so many times, so many different ways.
• 0:41
  Tamara, what is it like to kind of step into a show such as A Christmas Carol?
• 0:45
  Well, I mean, it's always fun, right?
• 0:48
  Dickens, as a writer, he always kind of writes, even now, he writes these evergreen stories about people and class and situations.
• 1:01
  um
• 1:05
  and how we interact with each other, good, bad, or ugly.
• 1:10
  And so to step into a play or a version of Christmas Carol, because this is actually like my third version of Christmas Carol I've done.
• 1:19
  And so...
• 1:23
  This one is probably, well, this one is one of my, like, I like this one.
• 1:26
  This is one of my favorites because of just how it is crafted and how close it is, how really close it is to the original, too.
• 1:36
  Absolutely.
• 1:37
  Mary, how's that for you?
• 1:38
  Because this is a holiday, you know, classic.
• 1:41
  This is one that so many people know.
• 1:43
  yeah, and kind of what Tamara said, there are so many different versions.
• 1:48
  And so I actually, as a kid, was first introduced to the story through the Muppets.
• 1:56
  And so it's a Christmas tradition for me to watch that every year and then to finally be in the production and.
• 2:06
  um
• 2:07
  Ghost of Past was always my favorite, so I was just super excited um to have the honor to play uh Christmas Past.
• 2:16
  And this is actually my fourth year in the role.
• 2:20
  And so...
• 2:20
  um
• 2:22
  Yeah, I just, think it can speak to everybody, no matter what level of life that you're at, whether you're, you know, a kid with young Scrooge um and his relationship with his
• 2:36
  sister or like, um teenager midlife Scrooge, you know, there's just so many different things that a person can pull from and learn from.
• 2:46
  It's just a story for the ages.
• 2:50
  What I do love about this story too is that, like you said, you're kind of exploring a person's whole life and the three of you are kind of the conduits for that.
• 2:57
  And that's really kind of such a cool way of exploring like all of the past transgressions that we've had.
• 3:02
  And then also what are the consequences of what those mean.
• 3:05
  So to have that in A Christmas Carol is just, it's a really cool story.
• 3:10
  And Sean, last but not least, what about you?
• 3:12
  How is it like for you to kind of step into this show?
• 3:15
  It's been a lot of fun.
• 3:17
  ah I, unlike Mary, have never seen a Christmas carol in my life.
• 3:22
  I have relatively known the story, know, like there's three ghosts, everybody knows the pieces of the story, but ah it was really interesting.
• 3:35
  Last year was my first year, so this is my second year doing it, and...
• 3:39
  just piecing them together through rehearsals and figuring it out.
• 3:44
  And then finally, when we were going on stage, just hearing it all go chronological order when we started doing full runs.
• 3:54
  And they're like, hey, this is a really awesome narrative.
• 4:02
  And I've been really happy and fortunate to be a part of it.
• 4:06
  So you've never seen a production of A Christmas Carol before?
• 4:09
  Okay.
• 4:12
  Tamara what about you?
• 4:13
  Because I Mary mentioned the Muppets.
• 4:15
  What was your kind of first foray into the story?
• 4:18
  oh I forget like the original of course that used to come on PBS every year we watched that.
• 4:25
  Then of The Muppets followed like Close Second because I was little, just watched all the time so we watched that one.
• 4:33
  And um yeah I think those are my first ones and of course you have like other iterations you watch later but those are my early ones, early memories of it.
• 4:43
  I actually just heard of a new, well, I don't know how, how new or old um this play is, but someone was talking about it the other day.
• 4:52
  It was called Marley's Christmas Carol.
• 4:55
  And I thought that was interesting.
• 4:57
  You know, I had never heard of it.
• 4:59
  And so it's, guess, Marley's take on like what his Christmas Carol would look like.
• 5:04
  And I thought, oh, that's so interesting.
• 5:07
  Cause you just don't think about it, but he's definitely a, you know,
• 5:13
  I don't know.
• 5:13
  I thought that was
• 5:17
  So speaking of Bob Marley, he's kind of the first ghost that visits um Scrooge.
• 5:22
  But Mary, you're the first of the three Christmas spirits that arrive in Scrooge's doorstep in a way.
• 5:29
  What is it like being the ghost of Christmas past?
• 5:32
  Yeah, I don't get to have as much fun as Tamara does, but I do have a little bit of uh button poking and really kind of just.
• 5:43
  ah
• 5:45
  digging deep into the emotional feels with him and trying to get the wheels turning.
• 5:52
  Cause we all have roles to play and I think no one ghost can really get the job done.
• 5:58
  Although our director likes to make it a competition.
• 6:02
  He says a lot, he's like, well, she couldn't get him to change.
• 6:06
  So now we got to bring in Tamara and then Tamara couldn't do it.
• 6:09
  So now we need to bring in future.
• 6:10
  But I think we all have equal parts to share.
• 6:14
  And so I think I
• 6:15
  get his emotional wheels turning and kind of bringing up past things that he suppressed.
• 6:21
  Um, so it gets, it gets a little deep, but there's also some fun moments too with Fezziwig and, and, uh, big dance scene.
• 6:32
  Uh, so yeah.
• 6:35
  I was gonna say, only do you, you kind of have an upward battle too though, because you're like the, besides uh Marley, but like you're the first ghost and he doesn't quite believe
• 6:44
  what's happening, you know?
• 6:45
  And by the time the other two come around, he's buying into it a little bit more.
• 6:48
  So you have the uphill battle of having to convince him you're real and also exploring his past.
• 6:53
  Yeah, yeah, and not to mention all the fun theater magic that goes into it.
• 6:58
  um I do, I don't know how much spoilers we want to give away, but there's lots of theater magic, so ghostly magic.
• 7:08
  scene.
• 7:08
  I won't say which scene, but it gets me every time.
• 7:11
  And I know it's coming and I still will jump.
• 7:13
  oh
• 7:16
  I can think of a couple.
• 7:19
  And then Tamara you're kicking off, you know, come in in the beginning of act two, you kind of kick off the second part of the show.
• 7:26
  I guess that, you know, you're you're starting the new adventure of him in the present.
• 7:31
  What is it like for you to step into that role?
• 7:34
  Well, for one, I loved it because he also was still very doubtful, like, because he's meeting people that he absolutely does not know, right?
• 7:43
  Because he has never gone, he has never ever visited his nephew, Fred, ever at his home.
• 7:52
  He has no idea about his clerk's life at all.
• 7:57
  what the present also solidifies for Scrooge
• 8:03
  is how insulated he has made himself.
• 8:07
  He has insulated himself with money and wealth.
• 8:11
  um
• 8:15
  to the point that he has no interest in meeting other people, right?
• 8:21
  He even tells, in present scene, there's a lot of repetition of what he has said in the opening scene.
• 8:29
  He has said, well, what about the prisons?
• 8:32
  Who wants to go to a debtor's prison?
• 8:35
  Historically, Dickens writes these stories.
• 8:39
  One thing that's really interesting, in case nobody knows this, which I love historically about Dickens, is Dickens wrote these stories originally
• 8:45
  not as full books.
• 8:47
  They were written as chapters that were released monthly.
• 8:50
  So people would rush to the bookstore like, my goodness, let's get this next chapter.
• 8:56
  So of course now we see these big massive books, but that is not how they were originally handed to the public.
• 9:02
  They were handed to the public as almost like monthly subscriptions of like the story, right?
• 9:11
  So imagine that you had just read about Past
• 9:14
  And now you're like, good, let me get to present.
• 9:17
  So present's whole job and whole present, it's like, now you're gonna meet the people of today that you have failed immensely, okay?
• 9:28
  And...
• 9:29
  And also all this beauty, you have all this food and all this wealth, all these things.
• 9:35
  And even though they don't have a lot, you know, like there's a line that sometimes I think people, I don't know if they miss or whatever, there's a line that Cratchit scenes.
• 9:44
  And she says it twice when that doorbell knocks.
• 9:47
  Like, is that the bailiff?
• 9:50
  You know, back in the day, you owed rent to the landlord.
• 9:53
  They would come and take you and your whole family, the children too, to the debtor's prison.
• 10:00
  And so this is something that Scrooge believes in, that this family has a risk of going to because Bob has not paid the rent so they can have Christmas dinner.
• 10:12
  That is the payoff.
• 10:13
  So when he's in there with me, we're fooling around, we're looking at stuff, and he's like, this goose is so small and all that stuff.
• 10:20
  You pay him pennies.
• 10:21
  This is what he has.
• 10:24
  He has taken a risk that his family could go be locked up so they can have apples and oranges and chestnuts and potatoes and all these wonderful things because that is
• 10:37
  important for him, for his family.
• 10:39
  And so.
• 10:41
  to finally have want and ignorance come, these children come out that represent societal ills, right?
• 10:50
  Because he says, are these, no, who are these people?
• 10:53
  Are they yours?
• 10:54
  No, they are mankind's.
• 10:57
  This illness you have of greed is mankind's.
• 11:00
  It's not just yours.
• 11:03
  Mankind does this.
• 11:04
  Like our community does this to each other.
• 11:08
  Which is why I think it's so important when he is thrust into future, it's almost like words have been used up.
• 11:15
  So now it is all about the physicalization of what you have dug yourself for.
• 11:21
  I think when too when you go from the Ghost of Christmas past, mean, would say this, there's scary, there's there's like a scary underlying tone to all three of you.
• 11:30
  With Sean, we'll talk about how scary you can get in a little bit here.
• 11:33
  But uh the Ghost of Christmas past kind of has like a like a otherworldly feel to it.
• 11:39
  But the Ghost of Christmas present has like that there's the joyous part of that ghost.
• 11:46
  But there's also like there's there is a level of scariness to like the reality like
• 11:51
  kind what you're talking about here of just like, is what you're producing.
• 11:55
  I think that's a little bit of that horror that comes in there.
• 11:57
  And I'm sure that's as an actress, that's kind of really cool to play with that.
• 12:00
  Yeah, no it is.
• 12:02
  love digging into that and playing with that.
• 12:05
  Yeah, and playing with, you know, playing with Philip and playing, you know, having a partner to play with it in is always the best thing, part of it too.
• 12:11
  Because you can't, I mean, yes, you can play by yourself, but that's weird.
• 12:15
  So you, it's great to have somebody to bounce off of that also is like taking that in and it's like, oh, okay, well, I didn't know.
• 12:24
  You do know, like you absolutely, you have absolutely chosen this.
• 12:28
  But you know, here we go, we want you look at one more thing for you.
• 12:32
  You oh
• 12:33
  And then Sean, you have the honor of being the final ghost and perhaps the most terrifying.
• 12:37
  ah There's definitely an incredible level of spookiness with that.
• 12:42
  ah What is it like stepping into the role of ghost of Christmas future?
• 12:48
  Oh, it's a blast.
• 12:51
  I don't have any lines to memorize, so it's not a lot of work.
• 12:56
  I already knew how to walk on stilts, so that part's over.
• 13:01
  um Yeah, I just get to come out and scare the audience a bunch, and then, you know.
• 13:08
  Like Tamara said, I'm just gonna play with Phil on that fear level and bounce looks back and forth.
• 13:15
  Although this year I'm wearing a veil so he can't actually see the looks that I'm giving him which is a lot of fun.
• 13:22
  terrifying when you don't have a face to look into.
• 13:26
  You're just looking into the depths of nothing.
• 13:30
  And then you're like, okay, where am I?
• 13:34
  What is this?
• 13:35
  This is serious.
• 13:37
  But I'm giving him silly looks during these serious moments.
• 13:40
  And he just doesn't know it.
• 13:42
  m
• 13:44
  that also has to be such a different kind of challenge.
• 13:47
  for both Mary and Tamara, you have so many lines.
• 13:50
  There's a lot of dialogue going on.
• 13:53
  But Sean, you're trying to convey all that with no lines and like no physical emotion there.
• 13:59
  Well, so I actually have a background of I'm professionally trained as a mime.
• 14:04
  So it's actually a lot of fun for me to explore that role in that aspect, you know, and not having a face is like going completely neutral and then like showing that with your
• 14:17
  body language and all that fun thing.
• 14:20
  How do you develop a character like that then?
• 14:22
  Like you said, you have this background of my means.
• 14:24
  So like, how do you find a ghost of the spirit of Christmas future, you know?
• 14:29
  I I do my best to be ominous.
• 14:32
  I...
• 14:33
  With the new veil, I kinda keep my head down a little bit, like...
• 14:39
  and that way can like the hood will cover up the veil and there will be less light shining on the veil.
• 14:45
  Yeah, the lighting effects are pretty neat.
• 14:49
  I make all my movements as like slow as possible and kind of like, you know, try to keep but try to keep fluidity in it as well to give it that ominous feel of like It doesn't
• 15:06
  stop but it's so slow that you won't you don't notice it unless you're paying attention, you know
• 15:14
  for
• 15:15
  There's some new kind of like ensemble choreo with Londoners, umbrella people that is um kind of fun to play off too, I think.
• 15:29
  um And so it really does portray a world where Scrooge is just not missed.
• 15:38
  And so I think that's just another lesson that Scrooge
• 15:44
  learns that's so different from past and present is because he's gone and nobody cares.
• 15:51
  mean, like somebody literally crawls over his dead body and takes his bed curtains down.
• 15:57
  You know, that's, I remember, actually played that part eons ago and it was one of my favorite parts because it was always the shock that everybody in room would be like, how
• 16:07
  did you get these?
• 16:09
  he won't, he doesn't need them.
• 16:11
  He did, like he gone, like he's never come back.
• 16:15
  And the thing is, if he had friends, I wouldn't have been able to take them.
• 16:20
  Cause they would have been there to mourn him and wrap his body and make sure he was buried correctly and his things would take care.
• 16:28
  No, it was open season.
• 16:31
  The thieves were like, hallelujah.
• 16:34
  Okay, let's go and make this happen.
• 16:37
  And even in...
• 16:40
  Right?
• 16:40
  So he wouldn't get buried in it.
• 16:42
  Like they were like, you can bury him naked.
• 16:44
  Nobody cares.
• 16:45
  Nobody cares.
• 16:46
  Okay.
• 16:46
  another kind of um dialogue exchange.
• 16:50
  People are laughing almost.
• 16:52
  Like I didn't know the guy from which whichever, you know, and just kind of laughing about it.
• 16:58
  And it's like, if someone close to you passed, you, you are sad, you mourn, you don't laugh about it.
• 17:05
  And so it's just, it's interesting contrast.
• 17:08
  is that of loneliness, which we already see starting really in the beginning, is this insulation, right?
• 17:20
  And so future is the epitome of the insulation.
• 17:25
  This is it.
• 17:27
  Of course there's gonna be a funeral.
• 17:30
  And then just the black of it, the black of the umbrellas, the fact that it is a veil, which represents mourning and loss.
• 17:42
  But it's like, then you have the Cratchit family that's all, because it is a dual loss that is experienced in future.
• 17:53
  We also possibly see what is the future of Tiny Tim.
• 17:58
  in that future, which is still very much connected to poverty and not having access and things like that.
• 18:09
  And so if you don't have access to these things, what is the possible future?
• 18:14
  What is the possible hope for you to get better and to heal or to have food and nourishment and things like that?
• 18:21
  reason of just how relatable this story is for the ages.
• 18:26
  I mean, everybody experiences that.
• 18:29
  Everybody is experiencing that today.
• 18:31
  Yeah.
• 18:32
  Truly.
• 18:33
  Yeah.
• 18:35
  And I think that scene that you're talking about, know, Tamara, you're kind of talking about this as an audience member, it feels like a void when you're looking at like, like
• 18:42
  you said, like it's just so, it's like dark, both like tonally and on stage of just like the, is what life could boil down to and people could not care about you.
• 18:52
  I think it takes a lot of reflect, like you're reflecting as an audience member of just like the impact that a legacy of a person can have.
• 18:59
  Right, that one person can have, right?
• 19:02
  And we often, as a society, especially today, we feel like we may not be able to impact other people.
• 19:13
  We are just as insulated as Scrooge is, if not more so.
• 19:21
  And the truth is, is that we have an impact.
• 19:25
  We leave a mark, no matter
• 19:29
  good, bad, or ugly.
• 19:30
  You do.
• 19:31
  Your life leaves an imprint on society, on the tapestry of life.
• 19:37
  It does.
• 19:39
  And because it's a tapestry, that means it touches other people.
• 19:43
  And so the question is, you know, it's not, you for me being in this play, it's not just the end being in the play.
• 19:53
  It's about the impact.
• 19:54
  You know, as an artist, it's always the impact.
• 19:57
  it has on today.
• 19:58
  Like when you walk out of this audience, walk out into, you you go home, what changes will you make?
• 20:05
  Or what will you reflect on?
• 20:08
  Absolutely.
• 20:10
  I mean, there is a level of like you leave and you almost want you're almost like you want to be hopeful that you can make a better impact on the world and for the people around
• 20:17
  you.
• 20:18
  And that there's still time, know, cause Scrooge does get that too.
• 20:22
  He gets, he just understand that like, oh, there's time.
• 20:26
  Like I have time to pivot.
• 20:29
  late to change, you know, until...
• 20:37
  So Mary, for you, how do you develop your character?
• 20:41
  You said this is the fourth year that you've returned to this role.
• 20:44
  How do you continue to develop this character to make it more your own, but also to throughout the narrative of the show?
• 20:50
  Yeah, I think the first year I felt very much like I want to make this a very ethereal, not really um having a side or not, just being very neutral, like a spirit.
• 21:08
  m And so I think throughout the years I've added little um emotional bits into it.
• 21:16
  So the first two years, um
• 21:19
  I worked with a different Scrooge.
• 21:21
  so working with Phil, um know, his Scrooge is, he makes different um changes and has different motivations.
• 21:31
  And so working with him, I've been able to kind of discover different things about my character.
• 21:39
  And, you know, I might word things in a different way.
• 21:43
  um But I have added more.
• 21:47
  humanity in my spirit.
• 21:49
  um I feel at some points em like a mother figure, know, little judgy, but not like overbearing judgy, but just kind of nudging him in, you know, certain directions.
• 22:03
  Like, you know, I don't approve.
• 22:06
  This is not great, you know, but yeah, just adding a little more humanity into the character.
• 22:15
  but I always find something new every year.
• 22:18
  I, you mentioned about the mother figure and I think that's so interesting too, because I do feel like there is a part of her that represents like the, the motherly instinct that
• 22:26
  he does need.
• 22:27
  Like the, like the lack of, you don't really, you see a lot of his family from, you know, and so to have this, this bout of like, this is what a mother should be.
• 22:37
  he was sent away.
• 22:38
  He was, you know, I think the closest with his sister who died at a really young age, so that added to the bitterness of him probably, you know, not wanting to or knowing how to
• 22:51
  have healthy relationships, which bled into his, you know, one true love, Belle.
• 22:59
  But you know, when you don't necessarily.
• 23:02
  have the tools or know how use the tools.
• 23:05
  It's just this domino effect spiraling downward.
• 23:09
  um you know, part of my character is to kind of open up those wounds again and say we need to look at what is happening and dissect it and how can we, you know, make a different
• 23:27
  choice in the present day.
• 23:30
  absolutely.
• 23:31
  So Tamara, for you, how do you bring the Ghosts of Christmas present from the page to the stage?
• 23:36
  Like, how do you make that roll your own?
• 23:39
  I mean, think I have, so I think despite like the change, so yeah, it's been two different Scrooges.
• 23:47
  But like for me, because of like the way the costume is set up, uh bringing a female energy into a role that's predominantly usually played by male characters is um really
• 24:03
  important to me, right?
• 24:04
  It's to forge this into like,
• 24:07
  kind of like a mother Gaia, like a Gaia type of energy where she is, she's like all seeing but it's also like, yes, the ramifications of what St.
• 24:24
  Nicholas means, which is what the character is designed after, right?
• 24:29
  But it's like pulling on all those threads to find myself in it.
• 24:34
  And so how I find myself in it is really in...
• 24:41
  In keeping him accountable, accountability is a huge thread through a lot of the um why I say certain things to him and why I say them in a certain way.
• 24:58
  To really, to get him to think about what things are happening.
• 25:05
  and to really look like they're like even the Cratchit scenes we have a lot like even in scenes where I don't have lines we have a lot of interaction uh nonverbal interaction
• 25:17
  which is just you know like why am I here I don't know this family I said doesn't matter if you know this family this family is scared that a bailiff is coming the very thing that
• 25:27
  you said was okie dokie that you were like aren't the prisons still open
• 25:32
  They sure are, they might come sweep this family away.
• 25:35
  And are you happy about that?
• 25:37
  Right, like it's looking at what you have just said come to possible fruition, right?
• 25:45
  And so that's how I kind of find my way into it.
• 25:51
  oh And you know, and just finding, and really finding joy, Christmas present is joy, is the embodiment of joy.
• 26:00
  and how those joys can be manifested into lesson.
• 26:05
  You know, when they kind of announced the cast for this and I saw that last year was played by, the Christmas present was played by David.
• 26:12
  And when I saw that they had cast, like you said, this is a traditionally a male dominated role.
• 26:17
  And when I saw that they cast you, was like, oh, this is going to be so cool to see because I think it does change.
• 26:24
  Like, while it's the same story, that changes Christmas present so significantly to give it that, like, I like how you said that, the like the Gaia side of it, you know, like
• 26:33
  that's really is.
• 26:35
  That's such a cool perspective.
• 26:37
  Thank you, thank you.
• 26:38
  Yeah, no, I love it.
• 26:39
  I think it has to be that.
• 26:41
  Or else you're just imitating what you have seen.
• 26:46
  You're dialing in what you think it should be, as opposed to pulling all these different energies and threads to make this a very much a unique experience.
• 26:59
  And to also find new things in the lines every time.
• 27:02
  This is my third year doing it, and the lines are different.
• 27:07
  You know, like there's new places I laugh and find humor this year than I did before.
• 27:15
  Sure.
• 27:15
  Absolutely.
• 27:17
  Sean, with this being your second year, you approach the character differently when you're going back into a role that you've already done?
• 27:24
  Or do you feel like it's like putting on your favorite pair of shoes and getting to kind of play that same role again?
• 27:31
  I think last year I did lot of making the character my own.
• 27:36
  Because in the past, future...
• 27:40
  futures in the past have not always been comfortable on stilts.
• 27:44
  So they just stand there and they point.
• 27:48
  So last year I put a little bit more dynamic movement into it and a lot more of like...
• 27:55
  you know a little bit more like anger and like frustration and this year and you know Travis helped with like some stage direction of like you know guiding me of like well
• 28:08
  don't go that far but this is okay type of deal and so this year I really have just kind of like
• 28:18
  kept to most of same things.
• 28:21
  I changed a few different subtle things that I'm doing, but I don't think that they're super noticeable, especially since I'm mostly in the background.
• 28:33
  ah I think being a character that just kind of stands in the background, it's really easy to just get away with kind of doing whatever.
• 28:47
  You know, this being my third year of seeing this, I have to say that there was a noticeable difference in the way that it was portrayed last year where it was a lot more
• 28:57
  of, like you said anger, and I think that's correct.
• 29:00
  There was almost an anger to the actions of Scrooge, and it did make for that, I think it added to that spookiness of Christmas future.
• 29:10
  yeah yeah, like I can like bend down on the stilts and get in his face when you know he's like come let us go and you know we stop him with the scythe that's like I can like get on
• 29:24
  face to face with him and not fall off not fall off on the stilts you know so I that helps a lot yeah and there's
• 29:34
  to his performance because like he said, as a professional stilt walker, can, he can squat in stilts and kind of, you know, really not be taken off guard where I think a lot of
• 29:49
  other people who have played this role were more hesitant to, you know, you're on stilts in the dark.
• 29:56
  That's scary.
• 29:57
  And so, um, think Sean does a great job of.
• 30:01
  ah adding those layers and elements in his movements to make it creepy because you kind of forget this is someone on stilts if you didn't know they were.
• 30:12
  It just looks like a really tall ominous figure, you know, a shadow in the dark that's moving and changing.
• 30:21
  And I think that adds to the creepiness and scariness of future.
• 30:26
  physicality of it, you know, Sean, don't please, you know, I'm going to give you your flowers now.
• 30:32
  The physicality of of your character is a characterization within itself.
• 30:38
  So it's like I don't think I far don't think it's the background.
• 30:41
  I think it is very much is the center is the central core force of that of that scene.
• 30:51
  Yeah.
• 30:52
  agree with the electrical force, uh you know.
• 30:56
  You know, uh if you ever notice me in old Joe scene though, like I'm standing in the background and but I am like, I'm constantly like moving between the old Joe.
• 31:08
  uh
• 31:10
  that hovering thing too.
• 31:12
  It's almost like, you know, it's almost like this reveal of like, this is, you know, this is one scene of many that you're about, you're about to feel the wrath.
• 31:27
  I'm like this, I think that old jokes and gets me every time.
• 31:30
  I'm like this, I think took your spoons.
• 31:34
  Hahaha!
• 31:36
  I think part of it too is like that frenetic energy, you what I mean?
• 31:40
  You almost feel, as an audience member, you feel the pressure and there's claustrophobia and there's intensity building in in that scene as he's just hovering over them.
• 31:48
  It's like a whole, it's almost like a closing in.
• 31:51
  Yeah.
• 31:52
  It's like a dark cloud hanging over.
• 31:55
  Yeah.
• 31:57
  So that's mad talent, know?
• 31:59
  That takes a lot of, like, Tamara's right.
• 32:02
  You deserve flowers for that because you're conveying all of that with just, I mean, being on stilts too.
• 32:07
  like silence is actually, I'm sure you think about this even as a mom, silence is to me the most powerful.
• 32:17
  um I love watching movies where somebody has really riveted you and you realize you haven't heard them utter a God dang thing the whole time.
• 32:28
  challenging, you know, as an actor to master, just not saying anything, being quiet, you know.
• 32:35
  yeah, the master of silence.
• 32:37
  Beautiful things happen in silence.
• 32:40
  They really do.
• 32:41
  Even in real life, truth happens in silence.
• 32:44
  When you just sit back in the cut and really watch people.
• 32:47
  uh Yeah, it's very interesting thing.
• 32:52
  As psychologist, say that uh all the time.
• 32:54
  The moment somebody goes silent or there's silence within therapy, that's the moment that either healing's happening or it's saying so much without saying anything at all.
• 33:03
  Mm-hmm.
• 33:05
  So with uh this being a very theme heavy show, Mary, for you, what theme really stands out about A Christmas Carol?
• 33:15
  I think.
• 33:16
  trauma and inner healing.
• 33:19
  You know the the life circumstances sometimes that we bring upon ourselves, but sometimes we don't, but still affect us all the same.
• 33:29
  And so.
• 33:30
  You know being.
• 33:34
  In hurt or pain or anger or fear and trying to find.
• 33:40
  A way to learn from it, grow from it and be a better person every year I just.
• 33:46
  I just, that resonates with me.
• 33:49
  And that's a strong one.
• 33:49
  That one definitely is, you know, that is one of the main messages of this story.
• 33:55
  But Tamara, what about you?
• 33:56
  Does that one speak to you or is there another one that really stands out from A Christmas Carol?
• 34:02
  Yeah, accountability.
• 34:04
  Because he doesn't have to be accountable in beginning.
• 34:07
  He isn't accountable.
• 34:08
  Right, also, accountability is also a choice.
• 34:12
  I think, know, lot of times we walk around the world thinking, you why aren't people more accountable?
• 34:17
  It's a choice.
• 34:19
  You can be or you cannot be.
• 34:21
  Just like you can be kind or you cannot be.
• 34:25
  You know, as humans, we choose many things, good, bad, ugly, in between.
• 34:32
  And so living, being able to live an accountable life, being able to be accountable, not just to others, but to yourself, that's huge.
• 34:41
  Agreed.
• 34:42
  Sean, how about for you?
• 34:43
  What really resonates with you at this time from the themes of the show?
• 34:47
  I really like the theme of kindness.
• 34:49
  uh Fred is possibly my favorite character in the show, just because he is through and through just like, you know what, you can be mean all you want, but I'm still gonna, I'm
• 35:00
  gonna leave you this gift here.
• 35:04
  And then at the end of the show after Scrooge has gone his transformation, he's just like fubbing us, and even with his wife sitting there telling him, do not let him come to
• 35:13
  dinner tomorrow night, Fred's just like.
• 35:16
  you're my own like of course you can come like you know what I mean that I watch and I'll watch the scene because I stand right behind Fred in the as the ensemble right I like to
• 35:31
  see the look on his face and like I'm just like that hits that hits home and it feels it feels really you know we we need to spread more kindness in the world in general
• 35:46
  uh I see that as...
• 35:48
  anything in return.
• 35:49
  It's very, you know, non-transactional.
• 35:53
  Yeah.
• 35:54
  Yeah, it's just like genuine and authentic and just like, yeah, non-transactional.
• 36:01
  not just that too, he's also kind when the people aren't present.
• 36:05
  I think that's also something that we struggle with in the world today too, of like, we could be kind to a person's face, but it's about what, do we speak up or do we say kind
• 36:14
  things about them when they're not in the room?
• 36:16
  And I know there's this scene where they kind of, I know there's this scene where he doesn't, but I think that he does, yeah.
• 36:25
  Right.
• 36:26
  Right.
• 36:27
  know.
• 36:28
  So he does kind of redeem himself in that aspect.
• 36:32
  uh Christmas Carol is a Christmas edition here in the metro area.
• 36:38
  So I'm kind of wondering about your Christmas traditions or things that you keep alive for the holiday season.
• 36:45
  And Tamara, I kind of want start with you.
• 36:46
  How do you kind of, like, is there special things that you do around the holiday season that you, like for your family or for yourself, that keep that tradition alive?
• 36:54
  Food.
• 36:55
  I cook a lot of food.
• 36:56
  um We eat a lot of really good food.
• 36:59
  I'm originally from Chicago, so my mom usually either comes into Philadelphia to stay with me and my daughter.
• 37:09
  and you know movies, watching movies, making butter beer because you know there's a bunch of Harry Potter fans in my house.
• 37:19
  I learned how to make butter beer from scratch.
• 37:21
  So all these different things, making beignets from scratch because everybody wants to re-watch Princess and the Frog.
• 37:28
  So we have some, you know we do a huge gumbo usually on Christmas around time.
• 37:34
  So but when I'm here
• 37:36
  It's very interesting because I'm not able to have those traditions with my family, but it still lives on.
• 37:42
  Cause my mom is headed into Philadelphia Monday.
• 37:45
  My daughter is literally in the process of cleaning up the house to get ready for grandma.
• 37:50
  And I just sent two Instacart orders.
• 37:53
  uh
• 37:54
  to the house for shrimp and crab rolls and all these different things.
• 37:59
  So they will be having, know, continuing those traditions.
• 38:03
  And that goes way back to when I was little and my grandmother would have hundreds of people to the house with no paper goods, all china, all like real plates and glasses to
• 38:15
  the house for a huge...
• 38:19
  we would have a Christmas brunch and then we would have like a huge New Year's Eve dinner type of thing for everybody.
• 38:25
  And then usually on Christmas or Thanksgiving, we would smoke a turkey outside.
• 38:31
  Well, because my grandma was a huge barbecuer, but she would basically send us out in the cold with our parkas to check the turkey.
• 38:39
  And, um but it was good eating.
• 38:41
  So it was always surrounded by good food.
• 38:43
  So I continue that with, with my child to this generation.
• 38:48
  Those are a whole bunch of beautiful traditions.
• 38:52
  Mary, how about for you?
• 38:53
  What traditions?
• 38:54
  You mentioned the Muppets, so that's obviously one of them, but what other holiday traditions do you have?
• 38:58
  m
• 38:59
  always been um every year I watched the same.
• 39:02
  three.
• 39:03
  So Muppets is one.
• 39:04
  It's a Wonderful Life and Prancer is a family favorite.
• 39:10
  And like Christmas.
• 39:11
  ah But I love decorating um Christmas trees.
• 39:17
  I growing up my mom had the whole Bedford Falls little figurines and did the whole scenic um
• 39:26
  scenery with the houses and the people and so I just always loved that.
• 39:31
  I don't do that but just decorating trees, um making new traditions, a newer tradition within the last few years.
• 39:40
  oh My boyfriend and I will go to Frankenmuth and then we'll pick out an ornament for each other and so um when we decorate the tree we'll exchange the ornament and it's just kind
• 39:54
  of fun to see.
• 39:57
  that accumulate over the years.
• 40:01
  such a great tradition as well.
• 40:03
  Sean, how about for you?
• 40:04
  Anything that it makes you do every year to make this season special?
• 40:08
  Cookies with grandma we Bake Christmas cookies and we do like the decoration Yeah, just like the sugar cookies and we like do the decoration we put the icing on color Colored
• 40:22
  icing, you know Yeah, that's probably my most I Don't do it every year, you know some years I'm too busy like last year with the show.
• 40:33
  I didn't make it out there, but this year we got
• 40:36
  coming off due to the shutdown so I'm gonna be making it out there again this year um but yeah grandma likes to bake and so you know gotta be there
• 40:50
  So then final question for all of you, and Sean, I'm going start with you, just, what are you hoping audiences take away from this production of A Christmas Carol?
• 40:58
  Hopefully it takes away their breath.
• 41:02
  Hopefully they just go out and spread more joy into the world, you know?
• 41:11
  That's what I'm hoping for.
• 41:13
  Perfect.
• 41:14
  Tamara, how about for you?
• 41:15
  What are you hoping on this takeaway from this production?
• 41:18
  Um, just joy.
• 41:20
  Having a good time and also, you know, being reflective.
• 41:24
  The power of reflection.
• 41:26
  I think holidays, especially end of the year holidays, are really a beautiful time to be quiet and be still and reflect.
• 41:33
  And Mary, close us out there.
• 41:35
  Yeah, I actually write in my bio every year that I hope the audience can just take away that it's never too late to change and um bring positiveness into the world and um that I
• 41:52
  hope it helps you give and grow and, you know, be a better person than you were the day before.
• 41:59
  So I hope it brings reflection.
• 42:03
  And hopefully it does.
• 42:05
  But thank you to both, I think not both, thank you all three of you for being here.
• 42:10
  I really appreciate talking with you and again, we are so excited for Meadowbrook Theaters at Christmas Carol.
• 42:15
  So thanks for talking with us.
• 42:20
  So Meadowbrook Theaters at Christmas Carol resumes shows on December 3rd and runs through the 24th of December.
• 42:26
  So get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.