It’s hard to match the energy of a rehearsal room — especially when the room is packed with some of the region’s finest stage artists. But that creative spirit is on full display as Rabbit Room Theatre and Matt Logan Productions prepare to open their much-anticipated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Adapted by Rabbit Room’s A.S. “Pete” Peterson and directed/designed by Logan, the piece features an original score and digital projections by Anthony and Laura Matula (MA2LA). And while Dickens’ seasonal classic is certainly familiar to most audiences, Logan says “the real delight lies in the interpretation.”
“When you look at a classic story like A Christmas Carol, it’s such a guidepost,” says Logan, who previously partnered with Peterson and the Matulas on acclaimed productions of The Hiding Place, Frankenstein and The Battle of Franklin. “It’s timeless and resilient, lending itself to fresh ideas and new interpretations.”
But that’s not to say it needs to be annual affair, Logan says.
“Yes, it’s a classic, but there’s a difference between picking it up off the nightstand to read it and gathering a company to present it to our community,” he says. “A lot of folks in the theater world want to make A Christmas Carol an annual event. The problem is that when you do it year after year, you risk losing the heart of it because there’s too much distance from that initial spark of creation. That magic of the rehearsal room — that energy — is gone, and you’re repeating, rather than creating. So for me, it’s important to step away for a bit. It’s actually been 10 years since I’ve done it, so it’s been really exciting to get back into it, and to find some new inspiration.”
Our picks for the season's best theater and dance performances
Logan says the creative team spent more than a year workshopping the show, exploring different ideas and refining its vision. As part of that process, he consulted with Nashville choreographer Banning Bouldin, incorporating fundamental bits of movement and “physical theater.”
“Banning did a workshop with us and really helped open up a lot of doors, creatively," says Logan. "What we’re doing is not dance. But with movement and gesture, we started to discover a different physical language that really lifted the story.”
The result is a kinetic marvel of purpose and precision. Actors scatter about — Logan compares it to shaking a snow globe — before snapping into sharp formation. Menacing spirits close in on Scrooge, forcing him to contemplate his choices. A festive party scene shifts to slow motion, allowing him to linger with a particularly tender memory.
It’s an approach that leans heavily into the “grandeur of British theater,” employing simple elements that draw audiences into the story and “take them on an artistic journey.”
“I really had to think about my design strategy and how I wanted the story to unfold,” Logan says. “How do we create a sense of theatrical magic — something that I think can be even more effective than high-tech machinery and elaborate effects. It’s employing that sense of play that we knew so well as children. All you need need is a scarf or hat, and you’re a different person.
“But that’s what we do in the theater — we remind audiences of the power of play, the joy and fun.”
Of course, it helps when you have such a marvelous cast. And Logan has gathered a brilliant mix of talent, including Henry O. Arnold, Kim Bretton, Ruthy Berends, Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, Douglas Waterbury-Tieman, Carrie Brewer, Rona McLaughlin, Morgan Ellene Davis, Jonah M. Jackson, Scarlet Jones, Nat McIntyre, Brent Maddox, Brooks Bennett, Garris Wimmer, Brooke Cheek, Ashlyn Tomlin, Celestine Hawn and Herbie Horrocks.
For Peterson, A Christmas Carol not only offers the opportunity to write for an exceptional company of actors, it also represents the chance to “co-write” with one of his favorite authors.
“I’ve always been such a huge fan of Dickens,” he says. “I just love his language, and his ability to illuminate so many ideas and issues without ever feeling preachy. But part of beauty of it for me is that Dickens told a captivating, yet really sparse tale. So from an adaptation perspective, there’s a lot of room to play around with things, and to look at it through a fresh lens.”
Like Logan, Peterson found great inspiration in the production’s physical storytelling.
“Dickens’ language absolutely lends itself to movement,” he says. “His prose is incredibly playful and precise, so it’s been great fun finding ways to bring that to the stage.
“One of the questions that I wrestled with in writing this one is does a person make a choice and change? Or is that person changed by some external force? I think both are ultimately true. Maybe that’s what makes this story so beautiful and eternal – it’s grappling with that mystery. It’s been a wonderful, collaborative process, and such a gift for me as a writer. I can’t wait to share it with audiences.”
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Williamson Scene.
