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PORT GAMBLE — It’s pretty easy, to hear director Scott Snively tell it, to sort out the casting for Port Gamble Theater Company’s production of “A Christmas Carol.”
“I play Scrooge. Jim (Wingren, who also wrote the adaptation) plays Bob Cratchit. Hank (Hayden) is Marley,” said Snively. “We have three other people, and they play … everybody else.”
Anybody who’s familiar with Charles Dickens’ timeless holiday what-if story knows that “everybody else” covers a lot of ground. As Ebenezer Scrooge is spirited through his own life, in the interest of his own redemption, he encounters everyone from London guttersnipes to his own, younger self.
It’s going to mean some quick-change activity backstage for Mason Enfinger, Karen Hauser and Carly Tizzano.
“We basically put some cards out on the table representing everyone, and then moved them around to see who was where, and when, with what character,” Snively said. “We had to make sure we allotted enough time for costume changes.”
By necessity, those changes will be as minimal as they can be, starting with Beth Ann Galloway’s base costumes and adding or subtracting to transform from one character to another.
Snively said “minimalist” is the key word.
“Our goal is to keep things moving, keep the story coming,” said Snively, who last directed — and played Scrooge — back in 2013, when PGTC’s cast numbered a whopping 19. “We’ve got it to where it flows really well, I think.”
Wingren’s adaptation, Snively said. “All comes straight from Dickens. It’s his story, and it’s up to us to tell it.”
Hayden is fresh from playing the title role in PGTC’s most recent outing, the musical “Barnum.” Both Enfinger and Tizzano were most recently in 2018’s “Scapino,” and Hauser recently directed the Lesser-Known Players’ “Lettice and Lovage” on Bainbridge Island.
Snively said the six-year break since PGTC’s last production of “A Christmas Carol” is actually a bit on the longish side.
“I find that there are a lot of people who like ‘A Christmas Carol,’ and others who like to go see ‘The Nutcracker,'” he said, “but it’s one or the other. More often it’s not really Christmas until you’ve done at least one of them. So we’re here to oblige.”
PREVIEW
Who: Port Gamble Theater Company
What: Drama by Charles Dickens, adapted by Jim Wingren
Where: Port Gamble Theater, 4839 NE View Dr., Port Gamble
When: Dec. 6-22; 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, 2 p.m. matinee Dec. 14, dessert show Dec. 21
Tickets: $18-$12; dessert show $33-$27
Information: 360-977-7135, Port Gamble Theater
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