Summoners Ensemble's A CHRISTMAS CAROL to Return to Merchant's House, 12/12-28

Some of Manhattan's most famous resident ghosts will once again be visited by three well-known literary spirits this holiday season. Summoners Ensemble Theatre returns to the Merchant's House Museum with A Christmas Carol at the Merchant's House.

Decked with period decorations of the season, the elegant and intact Greek Revival double parlor of the landmark 1832 Merchant's House Museum (29 East 4th Street, Manhattan) provides the perfect setting for this work of captivating storytelling. Based on Dickens' own performance text, crafted for the stage by John Kevin Jones and Rhonda Dodd, the show highlights the story's stunning narrative imagery and wry humor.

Hailed as "Manhattan's most haunted house," by The New York Times, A Christmas Carol's ghosts could call no better place home.

Tickets are available at http://achristmascarolnyc.brownpapertickets.com/ or by calling BrownPaperTickets.com at (800) 838-3066. Regular performances: $37.50 - $57.50. Benefit performance, Thursday, December 11 at 7:00 pm: $100 - $125. Receive $5 off for Friday, December 12 - Sunday, December 14 with the discount code "Dickens." Group sales of 10 or more should email Summoners Ensemble Theatre at summonersensemble@gmail.com.

Performance Schedule:

Friday, December 12 - Sunday, December 14
Friday, December 19 - Sunday, December 21
Monday, December 22 - Tuesday, December 23
Special Christmas Eve performance: Wednesday, December 24 at 6:00 pm
Friday, December 26 - Sunday, December 28

All performances: 7:00 pm curtain except where noted. Benefit performance, December 11: 7:00 pm curtain. This is strictly a limited engagement. Seating is also limited.

Follow www.summonersensemble.org on Twitter: @Summoners and on Facebook. Follow www.merchantshouse.org on Twitter @MerchantsHouse and on Facebook.

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: Built in 1832, the Merchant's House is New York City's only 19th century family home preserved virtually intact, with original family furnishings and personal belongings. A unique survivor of Old New York, the House offers an intimate glimpse of how a prosperous merchant family and their Irish servants lived from 1835-1865, when New York City grew from seaport to thriving metropolis. The Merchant's House is a National Historic Landmark and in New York City is distinguished as one of only 115 buildings that have NYC landmark status for both its exterior and interior.

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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