Cast Announced For MR. DICKENS AND HIS CAROL At Seattle Rep

Seattle Rep has announced the complete cast and creative team for the upcoming world-premiere holiday production, Mr. Dickens and His Carol To be directed by Braden Abraham, who recently announced that this will be his last production as the theater's Artistic Director. Single tickets are on sale now online at SeattleRep.org or by calling the Patron Services Office at 206.443.2222.

Charles Dickens should be looking forward to Christmas. When his latest book is a flop, putting both his popularity and finances in peril, his publishers give an ultimatum: write a Christmas book within a month or lose everything. Adapted for the stage from Samantha Silva's critically acclaimed novel, this tale set in the heart of Victorian England weaves a fictional take on Dickens' past, present, and future into a comedic and poignant new holiday classic.

Mr. Dickens and His Carol was first commissioned through Seattle Rep's play development lab The Other Season at the start of 2020. Over the past several years, Braden and Samantha have collaborated on this adaptation through workshops, in-person and virtual readings, and more through the theater's new works program. Mr. Dickens and His Carol is the first of two world-premiere productions that will be premiering during the 2022/23 season.

"Samantha has worked through the height of the pandemic to translate her beautiful novel to the stage. In the past months we have welcomed other artists into the fold: designers who have conjured Dickens' London on the Bagley Wright stage and performers who, together, will embody Samantha's characters and hold her story aloft," said Director Braden Abraham.

ABOUT THE CAST

Mr. Dickens and His Carol will feature performances from Adam Standley (The 5th Avenue Theater: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying); Ryan Vincent Anderson as John Foster (Broadway Tour: The Play That Goes Wrong); Sunam Ellis as Catherine Dickens (Seattle Public Theater: Hand to God); Cheyenne Casebier as Eleanor Lovejoy (Seattle Rep: Indecent); MJ Sieber as Edward Chapman, Macready, and Thackeray (Seattle Rep: Dry Powder); Brandon J. Simmons as William Hall, Cratchit, and Carlyle (Seattle Rep: True West); R. Hamilton Wright as John Dickens and Trollope (Seattle Rep: The Children); Basil Harris as Topping and Mr. Bumble (Seattle Rep: The Hound of Baskervilles); Julie Briskman as Doreen, Maria Beadnell, and Mrs. Carlyle (Seattle Rep: Tiny Beautiful Things); Miguel Castellano as Lead Fagin Boy and Wilke Collins (ACT: Sweat); Mikayla Sanchez as Katie and Mary (Seattle Children's Theatre: Black Beauty); Terin Jesty as Mamie and Flower Seller (Youth Production of Beauty and the Beast); Jonas Winburn as Walter, Fagin's Boy 2, and Magician's Assistant (Book-It Repertory Theatre: Behold the Dreamers); and 5th grader Izzy Richter as Frank and Timothy (Film: Wes Hurley's Potato Dreams of America). The cast also includes understudies Galen Joseph Osier (ACT: A Christmas Carol); Jenny Vaughn Hall (Harlequin Productions: A Doll's House); Annika Wanagel-Rojas (Village Theatre KIDSTAGE: The SpongeBob Musical); and Isaiah Hyde (Village Theatre KIDSTAGE: School of Rock).

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

The creative team for Mr. Dickens and His Carol will be directed by Braden Abraham (Seattle Rep: Last of the Boys, The Great Moment, True West) with Choreography by Alice Gosti (ACT Theatre, On the Boards, and received an Artist Trust Fellowship); Scenic Design by Scott Bradley (Seattle Rep: A Great Wilderness, Photograph 51, and Clybourne Park); Costume Design by Catherine Hunt (Seattle Opera, The 5th Avenue Theatre, and Seattle Rep); Lighting Design by Marcus Doshi (Broadway: Pass Over and Linda Vista; Regional: Steppenwolf Theatre); Sound Design by Bray Poor (Playwrights Horizon, Yale Rep, and Roundabout Theatre Company); Fight Choreography by Cathan Bordyn (Seattle Rep, The 5th Avenue Theatre, and Village Theatre); Music Coach Steve Tran (Seattle Rep: Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale, and Lydia and the Troll); Dialect Coach Judith Shahn (Seattle Rep: View from the Bridge, The Brothers Size, and The Children); Dramaturgy by Paul Jens Adolphsen (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Asolo Repertory Theatre, and Arena Stage). The stage management team includes Ruth Eitemiller, Jessica C. Bomball, Liz Stasio, Max Zamorano, and Youth Guardian Amy Jurkiewicz.

ABOUT SAMANTHA SILVA (Playwright)

Samantha Silva (she/her) is an author and screenwriter based in Idaho. She's sold film projects to Paramount, Universal, and New Line Cinema. Her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, was published by Flatiron Books (2017), followed by Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft in 2021. Her work appears in LitHub and One Story. She was an Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow (2020) and a 2022 Bread Loaf Literary Fellow. Mr. Dickens and His Carol is her first commission for the stage. @samantharella samanthasilvawriter.com

ABOUT Braden Abraham (Director)

Braden Abraham joined Seattle Rep in 2002 and served in several positions on the artistic staff before his appointment as artistic director in 2015. He initiated Seattle Rep's Public Works, making Seattle Rep one of the first partner theaters to bring The Public Theater's Public Works program outside of New York. He re-envisioned the New Play Program, commissioning and premiering plays by Anna Ziegler, David Grimm, Justin Huertas, Samantha Silva, Cheryl L. West, and Karen Hartman, and supported the work of dozens of playwrights and directors through The Other Season development lab. Many projects developed through this program went on to acclaimed runs at Seattle Rep and around the country including Come From Away, Bruce, Shout Sister Shout!, MAC BETH, and Pride and Prejudice. Under his leadership, Seattle Rep was the only theater outside New York and London to present David Byrne's and Fat Boy Slim's Here Lies Love at a scale not seen in those two cities. Most recently, Braden initiated 20x30: Reimagine the Anthropocene to commission twenty new plays by the year 2030, and New Directions, a unique commissioning program designed to support generative work from directors. He has directed over 20 productions for Seattle Rep including: True West, Clybourne Park, Photograph 51, Ibsen in Chicago, Betrayal, Luna Gale, A View from the Bridge, A Great Wilderness, Breakin' Hearts and Takin' Names, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He has developed new work at Ojai, O'Neill, Denver Center, and PerseveranceTheater.

Discounted tickets for groups of 10+ may be purchased by calling 206.443.2224 or at seattlerep.org/groups

For ticket reservations, call the Seattle Rep Patron Services Office at 206.443.2222 or toll-free at 877.900.9285, or go online at seattlerep.org

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