Are you looking for a new form of holiday fun? Try putting on a family production of “A Christmas Carol” and let everyone’s inner-ham emerge.
Retired Danville teacher Gail Kamerer can tell you exactly what to do and how to make the show a success. The secret is her script, which she is happy to share with you.
“I love the play because it’s not religious. It’s universal,” Kamerer said. “All religions can relate to people who are stingy, who live their lives without understanding what family is all about.”
Productions of “A Christmas Carol” were a tradition in Kamerer’s life long before she introduced the concept to her fifth-graders at Greenbrook Elementary School in the 1980s. She learned how to create this neighborhood tradition the year her mother’s brother came to visit the family in Pasadena.
Her uncle was Catholic; her mother was Episcopalian. Rather than decide which church to attend, her mother brought home the “Christmas Carol” script she had used in her elementary school classroom. She invited neighbors and friends to join them for dinner and a play on Christmas Eve.
She sent out scripts ahead of time, and everyone was required to take a role. People made costumes out of old bathrobes and household items. They sat in a circle and when their turn came to read, they literally rose to the occasion. The performance was a hit.
People had such a good time that invitations went out again the next year. This time, Kamerer’s mother asked her actors to identify the parts they wanted.
“If two people asked for the same part, they picked a number,” Kamerer recalled. She herself played several roles, starting with a Cratchitt daughter. Her favorite role is Scrooge, who can be played by either a man or a woman, she said.
As the years progressed, children often took adult roles and vice versa.
“Some people laid claims to certain parts, if they wanted, and people got into memorizing, costuming and creating better lighting. It took on a life of its own,” Kamerer said.
A talent show became part of Mr. Fezziwig’s party, a scene in the play.
“People sang, got instruments out of closets they hadn’t played in years, and a kid down the street did magic,” Kamerer recalled.
Before long, someone brought his super-8 movie camera. Then the actors would have a potluck in January and watch their show. Kamerer’s mother followed it with an awards ceremony, The Scroogies.
Flexibility and actor creativity are the keys to the success of this show, Kamerer said.
“The stage can be your living room. Move the furniture so that everyone is sitting in a circle. When it’s time for a person to act, they get up and move onto the ‘stage,'” Kamerer states in her script.
“Costumes can be things you have around the house. The Wayside Inn in Lafayette has wonderful costume rentals for adults if you want to get fancy. Boswells also has all kinds of things that can enhance costumes.”
When Kamerer directed the show at Greenbrook, she would let her students take whatever part they wanted, after reminding them how much they would have to memorize for a large part or warning them how little another character would be onstage.
Once a boy who had not yet excelled in any subject asked for the role of Scrooge. At the performance, his parents were amazed.
“We didn’t know he could do that,” Kamerer remembered them saying.
She sometimes cast girls as Scrooge.
“There are women who are mean and stingy,” she said. “Ghosts were also played by either gender. Ebeneezer Scrooge could be Edith, and Marley could be Marlene. It was an equal opportunity script.”
If the group was big, she added parts. If it was small, she double cast or triple cast.
Today, as a substitute teacher, she still includes drama in the curriculum whenever she can, knowing that it leaves memorable impressions. When she runs into her former students, they tell her they still remember the production of “A Christmas Carol.”
“For some kids, that may be all they remember,” she noted.
So it’s no wonder Kamerer offered a class through the Town of Danville to teach others how to give productions of the holiday classic with their families and friends. Those who missed that opportunity can contact her for a copy of her specially adapted script at GailKamerer@aol.com.
Revive your class clown routine or your drama queen flamboyance. Show a new side of yourself to your children. It’s a fun new tradition waiting to be started in your home or neighborhood.
12 hints for your family production of ‘A Christmas Carol’
