Summoners Ensemble Theatre's A CHRISTMAS CAROL to Play Merchant's House, 12/3-20

Summoners Ensemble Theatre and the Merchant's House Museum announce A Christmas Carol at the Merchant's House Museum. John Kevin Jones recreates his outstanding solo performance of A Christmas Carol, directed by Dr. Rhonda Dodd, in the intimate Greek revival double parlor of the landmark 1832 Merchant's House Museum (29 East 4th Street, Manhattan).

John Kevin Jones brings A Christmas Carol's ghosts, graveyards, greed, and redemption to life in the manner of Charles Dickens himself. Based on Dickens' own performance text of A Christmas Carol, Jones and Dodd have crafted a work of captivating storytelling that highlights Dickens' stunning narrative imagery and wry humor. Jones' performance is "... like an entire theatre company ... under one hat" (as historian Thomas Carlyle remarked of Dickens' famed public readings).

The Merchant's House Museum's elegant and intact 19th-century double parlor, complete with original décor, including gas chandeliers, period paintings, and marble fireplace, will be decked with period decorations of the season, providing the perfect setting for this inspired telling of Dickens' timeless tale. Called "Manhattan's most haunted house," by The New York Times, A Christmas Carol's ghosts could call no better place home.

Come celebrate the season with this unique retelling of a holiday classic, glimpsed through the lens of Old New York. "God bless us, every one!"

Tickets are available at http://christmascarolnyc.bpt.me or by calling BrownPaperTickets.com at 1 (800) 838-3066. Regular performances: $37.50. Receive $5 off for the first week of performances only with the discount code "Dickens." Benefit performance, December 12: $100, $150: $100 for performance and holiday reception, A Dickens of a Party; $150 for performance, holiday reception, A Dickens of a Party, and one-year membership to the Merchant's House Museum.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, December 3 - Friday, December 6
Wednesday, December 11 - Saturday, December 14
Tuesday, December 17 - Friday, December 20

Regular performances: 7:30pm curtain
Benefit performance, December 12: 7:00pm curtain

This is a strictly limited engagement and seating is limited.

Follow Summoners Ensemble Theatre on Twitter: @Summoners and on Facebook. For more information, visit www.summonersensemble.org.

Follow the Merchant's House Museum on Twitter @MerchantsHouse and on Facebook. For more, go to www.merchantshouse.org.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870): Considered the greatest English novelist of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters. When his own family's destitution landed them for a time in debtor's prison, young Charles was forced to give up school and work in a blacking-warehouse. This era of his life heavily influenced his writing, which later made him a much sought-after orator. After giving a speech to a group of working-class poor, Dickens found himself contemplating the plight of exploited child workers. Taking only six weeks to complete, in 1843, A Christmas Carol stripped away the mask from some of England's most acute social evils. By speaking up for the poor and oppressed, Dickens directly confronted the apathy and callousness of his countrymen. But more than just a timely political screed, Dickens' spirit-filled holiday story has become a timeless treatise about love. He impelled his contemporaries then -- and now us today -- to care about everyone and to reach out and help if we see someone in need.

Merchant's House Museum: The Merchant's House Museum is New York City's only family home preserved intact - inside and out - from the 19th century. Built in 1832 just steps from Washington Square, this elegant red-brick and white-marble row house on East Fourth Street was home to a prosperous merchant family for almost 100 years. Complete with the family's original furnishings and personal possessions, the house offers a rare and intimate glimpse of the domestic life of a wealthy family and their four Irish servants in New York City from 1835 to 1865. The New York Times says, "The distinction of the Merchant's House - and it is a powerful one - is that it is the real thing. One simply walks through the beautiful doorway into another time and place in New York."

Summoners Ensemble Theatre: Through development of new works, new productions of older works, and strategic collaborations, Summoners Ensemble strives to nurture and entertain theatre audiences.

John Kevin Jones: Kevin is a member of Actors' Equity, The Dramatist Guild of America, and is an Artistic Associate of Summoners Ensemble Theatre. New York credits include last season's successful presentation of A Christmas Carol at Theatre Row's Studio Theatre, Jeffrey (opposite Bryan Batt) at Lincoln Center, The Winter's Tale and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, both with the Hipgnosis Theatre Company. Regional: American Stage in St. Pete, Florida (The Pavilion), Arkansas Rep. (Othello), Kentucky Rep. (The Rivals, All My Sons, Comedy of Errors), Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee (Angels in America, Last Night of Ballyhoo, Gross Indecency). Directing credits include A Lie of the Mind at Theatre Memphis, Revenge of the Space Pandas at Texas Shakespeare Festival, and Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at Playhouse on the Square.

Rhonda Dodd: Rhonda is the Artistic Director of Summoners Ensemble Theatre. On, above, and behind the boards, Rhonda is an award winning actor, technician, and director. Arriving in New York with over 150 shows under her belt, she made her Off-Broadway acting debut with Terese Hayden and Jacqueline Brookes' Workshop in Tennessee Williams' Period of Adjustment. Besides finishing her Ph.D. and spending 10 years at Circle in the Square Theatre School, mostly as Associate Director, she has worked both as an actor and director as part of the New York Independent Theatre scene.

Pictured: John Kevin Jones rehearsing Summoners Ensemble Theatre's A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Merchant's House Museum. Photo by Joey Stocks.

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