HO-HO-KUS, N.J.—The Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus is presenting “A Christmas Carol: Dickens by Candlelight” as a benefit for the Historical House and Museum on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 14 at 4 p.m.
Donation admission is $25. Tickets are available at thehermitage.org or by calling (201) 445-8311 and will also be available at the door on dates of performances.
First Flight Theatre Company is producing this benefit production featuring Karen Eterovich from Glen Rock, Frank Farrell from Ridgewood, and Maria Portman Kelly from Brooklyn, N.Y. (all members of Actors’ Equity Association) and is directed by Richard Width using a 90-minute version, with no intermission, by Robin Proett Olson.
The adaptation is heavy on Dickens’s text using only the actual words from his immortal “A Christmas Carol” and requires the cast of three actors to play both male and female roles.
It is an interactive production with the actors in and among the audience serving tea and holiday snacks during the performance with lighted candles (electric, of course) all around.
The Hermitage is a historic house museum and National Historic Landmark that encompasses over 250 years of American history. The museum is maintained by the Friends of The Hermitage Inc., a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that was founded in 1971.
Visitors can tour the historic house, view different exhibitions of the collections, and take part in a range of educational and public programming.
First Flight Theatre Company is devoted to presenting the plays of 20th century playwright Maxwell Anderson as well as other playwrights who bring verse and poetic drama to the theater.
Through a focus on the voice, text and story, First Flight Theatre Company is dedicated to the dynamic performance and exploration of those plays and playwrights whose use of language heightens senses and enriches lives.
Past First Flight theatre productions at The Hermitage have been stage readings of Maxwell Anderson’s plays “Valley Forge” and “The Eve of St. Mark,” “The Love Letters of John and Abigail Adams” by Frank Farrell, and most recently Percy MacKaye’s “The Scarecrow.”
“Dickens by Candlelight” is a fully mounted and memorized production.
