TheatreWorksUSA Presents Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” A Century’s Old Family Favorite Live at bergenPAC
By Mel Fabrikant Thursday, November 19, 2009, 02:08 PM EST
A powerful story of redemption, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” has enchanted audiences the world over with its simple message of selfless giving. Ebenezer Scrooge, survives a merciless battery of revelations through visits by the ghosts of his own Christmas: Past, Present and Future. Performed by TheatreworksUSA.
Every year, TheatreWorks USA helps over four million people, many of whom have no other access to the performing arts, see shows in venues as varied as local elementary school gymnasiums, regional fine arts centers, and major Broadway-sized theaters. Every year, TheatreworksUSA tours approximately 16 shows from our ever-growing repertoire of 117 plays and musicals and feature an extensive multi-cultural guest artist roster, including storytellers, puppeteers, poets, and magicians.
TheatreworksUSA has a distinguished history of not only providing young audiences with their first taste of the performing arts, but also giving young actors, writers, directors, and designers an early opportunity to work in this field. A list of alumni reads like a veritable "who's who" of theatre: four-time Tony-winning director Jerry Zaks, Robert Jess Roth (Beauty and the Beast), Michael Mayer (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Gabriel Barre; writers Marta Kauffman and David Crane (TV's "Friends"), Lynn Ahrens and Steven Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island), Jason Robert Brown (Parade), Larry O'Keefe (Bat Boy), Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (Avenue Q); and Tony-winning actors Roger Bart, Chuck Cooper, and John Glover.
Esteemed performers F. Murray Abraham, Henry Winkler, and Judy Kuhn also got their start with Theatreworks, and other actors have gone on to originate lead roles in such Broadway shows as Hairspray, The Producers, Les Misérables, Rent, Urinetown, and many others.
Under the direction of Barbara Pasternack (Artistic Director) and Ken Arthur (Managing Director), TheatreworksUSA is also one of the most honored theatres of its kind. It is the only children's theatre to receive both a Drama Desk and a Lucille Lortel Award. In addition, TheatreworksUSA was the recipient of a 2001 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, and in May 2000, The Actors Fund of American bestowed its Medal of Honor upon founders, Jay Harnick and Charles Hull.
TheatreworksUSA's goal is to continue doing what they have successfully accomplished for more than forty years: giving America's children their first thrilling day at the theatre!
