Holiday Musical THE CAROLS Returns To 1812 Productions For Two Nights Only

1812 Productions is pleased to present a two-night only concert performance of its original holiday musical, The Carols, written by Jennifer Childs and Monica Stephenson. The Carols premiered at 1812 Productions in December 2016 and returns for this special concert performance featuring original cast members Rachel Camp, Caroline Dooner, Emily Kleimo, and T.J. Harris. We are thrilled to welcome to the ensemble Barrymore Award-winners Joilet Harris and Scott Greer.

The Carols is an original musical set in the small town of Picatinny, NJ during World War II. It's Christmastime in 1944 and the local VFW is empty. Allied forces have stormed the beaches at Normandy, the community waits to see if their loved ones will return from foreign battlefields, and no one is particularly interested in the Hall's annual performance of A Christmas Carol. Enter a trio of sisters and their post-war dreams, their curmudgeonly landlady with a pre-war past, and a silent pianist, and the show must go on. This quintet is joined by an itinerant Jewish comedian, out on his own and looking for work after a Catskills bust. With a small audience of invited servicemen in attendance, this group of holiday orphans perform A Christmas Carol all their own, rewriting and unraveling Dickens' classic tale, as they bring their own stories of hope lost and found to the stage.

"It's about the everyday magic of love and generosity," says the show's author and director, Jennifer Childs. "The Carols is set in the past but it's not a history lesson-it's very much about what's happening in our world right now, where groups of people, small and large, are finding common ground in their dreams of what their lives, and the world, can be-while war and strife seem to lurk at every corner. The show takes the theme of Dickens' work in several different directions. It's not just about one man and his money, it's about how we collectively help others get 'unstuck' from their troubles, and how we find ourselves helped in return. The Christmas miracle and the nostalgia of it all are still there, but it's a living nostalgia for the interactions we have with people every day. The Carols offers a glimpse of the good that is possible right outside our doors. Dickens summarized this connection perfectly when he wrote, '...there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humor.'"

The Carols: Live in Concert will be performed December 11th and 12th at 8:00pm at Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place, in Center City. All tickets are $25 ($20 for 1812 subscribers) and are available at www.1812productions.org or at 215-592-9560.

The Carols was originally presented as part of The Phoebe and Otto Premiere Series sponsored by Wyncote Foundation with production support from Independence Foundation. The Carols: Live in Concert is pleased to welcome honorary producers Sharon and Jeff Weiss.

1812 Productions was founded in 1997 and is the only professional theater company in the country dedicated to comedy. 1812 Productions is the recipient of an honorary citation from the City of Philadelphia for outstanding work and commitment to the Philadelphia arts community. In 2010 and 2016, they were among a select group of regional theatre companies to receive a National Theatre Company grant from the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. Their education program, 1812 Outreach, has received multiple nominations and has twice been awarded the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service. 1812 Productions' mission is to produce theatrical works of comedy and comedic works of theatre that explore and celebrate our sense of community, our history, and our humanity.

The Carols Creative Team
Jennifer Childs (Writer/ Director/ Lyricist): Jennifer Childs is the Producing Artistic Director and Co-Founder of 1812 Productions. For 1812 she has created over a dozen original works of theater including This Is The Week That Is, Always a Lady, Our Show of Shows, Cherry Bomb, It's My Party: The Women and Comedy Project, To The Moon, and I Will Not Go Gently, which was recently honored with three Barrymore Award nominations for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, Outstanding Leading Actress in a Musical (winner), and Outstanding Original Music. Her one-woman show Why I'm Scared of Dance by Jen Childs premiered at 1812 and has since been performed at Delaware Theatre Company, the Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, Act II Playhouse, and City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Favorite performances outside of 1812 include The Happiness Lecture with Bill Irwin at Philadelphia Theater Company, Spin at the Wilma Theater, Red Herring and Dex and Julie Sittin' in a Tree at Arden Theatre Company.

Monica Stephenson (Composer): Monica Stephenson is a vocalist, theatre artist and a songwriter. A graduate of Duquesne University School of Music in Pittsburgh, Monica has had the pleasure of working with companies such as The Pittsburgh Opera Company, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, Unseam'd Shakespeare Co., Prime Stage Theater, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and of course 1812 Productions. Monica was a composer and music director for 1812 Productions' 2013 production of It's My Party: The Women and Comedy Project and served as their Education Director from 2009-2012. Most recently, she has music directed and composed work for Wild Women Don't Get the Blues (a multi-disciplinary work that encourages young women to stand up, speak their mind, refuse to back down, and ultimately, change the world) in collaboration with Hope Academy of Music and the Arts; as well as This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing by Finegan Kruckemeyer, and for Dreams of Hope, theatriQ, and other LGBTQ organizations in Pittsburgh. She is currently in residence as part of the Harvey Wallbangers Sketch Comedy Group at Off The Wall Theatre in Pittsburgh and often performs in local live music venues in the Pittsburgh area.

Tickets and Information Contact:
215-592-9560 • www.1812productions.org

Photo Credit: Mark Garvin

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