A Christmas Carol
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on November 26, 2017 6:22 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Center Stage Theatre actors rehearse their lines for their 10th annual production of "A Christmas Carol."
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A Christmas feast awaits the Cratchit family in Center Stage Theatre's performance of "A Christmas Carol."
Portraying Bob Cratchit's wife, Emily, in "A Christmas Carol" will be difficult for Linda Sampson as she has to endure her youngest child, Tiny Tim's death in the play. But it will be even harder for Linda because Tiny Tim is also her real life son, Nolan Sampson.
"It's a feeling I've never had before," she said. "It will be interesting to try to draw that out."
The role, at times, has gotten Linda thinking about mortality in her own children. It has made her think seriously about what she would feel like if she did lose a child. And that will be the hardest part of the play for her.
Members of Center Stage Theatre will perform its 10th anniversary production of "A Christmas Carol" at the Paramount Theatre next month.
But there will be a different twist this year. It will be dotted throughout with humor.
"We always had a few points that had brought some laughs," said this year's director Keith Parrish. "But to really make that an emphasis of the show, that's something we've never really done. And with this being our 10th anniversary of the play, we really wanted to something special."
The original script was written by former CST member Nathan Bradshaw.
Keith and assistant director, Heath Radford, went over the script page by page and looked for places they could inject moments of humor.
"A Christmas Carol" has a special meaning for Keith because it was during a past performance that he and his wife, Karen, got engaged.
"We had been dating about a year," he said. "I figured it was time. You always have a little bio of each actor in the playbill. The last line in mine was 'Oh, by the way, Karen, would you marry me?' When she saw that, she broke down. So 'A Christmas Carol' for me will always be a very special story. Lots of couples have one song they consider theirs, we consider that our story."
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Nolan Sampson, 11, wanted to be in the play because he likes to try new things.
His biggest undertaking to psych himself up for the role of Tiny Tim is to act happy when his family doesn't have enough money.
"I hope people see that they shouldn't be sad for what they have," Nolan said. "It has made me appreciate things more."
He said having his mom in the play with him is good because it will help him get into his role better.
Nolan's 13-year-old real life sister, Makayla, plays Martha Cratchit.
"She seems like a lot of fun and very neat and organized, and I'm sort of like her," Makayla said. "I have not thought about how Tiny Tim dying will affect me. I don't really know how I'm going to react."
Real life father and son, Stephen and David Langston play Bob and Peter Cratchit, respectively.
"To get into the role of Bob Cratchit is very similar to the situation I have now working with the children," Stephen said. "The big part about Bob is the loss of Tiny Tim. I try to think about that from my own perspective of the loss of my own child, how that would affect me if it happened."
David, 14, sees his role in "A Christmas Carol" as taking care of the Cratchit house while dad is gone and making sure Tiny Tim is OK as much as he can.
Belinda Cratchit will be 15-year-old Mina Platania.
"Belinda is very moody, and has an attitude about her," Mina said. "That's me a little bit. I see her as more of the rebellious daughter. I pull on my attitude that I have and put it into her."
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Linda said CST's "A Christmas Carol" has become a holiday institution in Wayne County.
"I believe that a lot of folks want to see it," she said. "I hope it will take them out of their everyday lives and put them in a setting of 'A Christmas Carol' and take them away from whatever's going on Christmas-wise or internally."
Stephen looks at the production as an institution of the holiday.
"I really hope people remember the importance of keeping the Christmas spirit going throughout the year and not let it be just a one-time-a-year thing, especially now in this age when there's so much pulling people down. This is a good reminder that there are more reasons to be happy than there is not to be."
Keith said the CST members want to give the audience a timeless message of the meaning of Christmas, what it really means to Scrooge and what it really means to human beings.
"Also the fact that there is laughter and that even in the very serious times, and I think nowadays in our country and our world, we need to kind of step back and laugh a little bit.
"I hope people will come away and say that was really something special to see that transformation in this man, Scrooge. From the beginning to where he's really miserable to the end when he loves and is loved. I think that's really a very big message."
As David put it, "This year, I hope it blows the audience away."
Center Stage Theatre will perform "A Christmas Carol" Dec. 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets are $15 and $18, available at the Paramount box office, by calling 919-583-8432 or online at www.goldsboroparamount.com.