Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ Onstage at RUHS Nov. 16-18

RUHS students Nate Soares (left) as Scrooge and Micah Battino as Bob Cratchit rehearse for next week's ETC Theater production at RUHS' Murray Auditorium. (Herald / Tim Calabro) Martha 1

It’s a doubleheader for theater fans with productions from both Randolph Union and Sharon Academy taking the stage in Randolph from November 16-18!

At RUHS, the curtain goes up on "A Christmas Carol" at 7:30 p.m. in Murray Auditorium. The first thing longtime theatergoers may notice are the curtains themselves. The grand drape and remaining stage curtains have been replaced for the first time since 1967! The former grand drape, known for its distinctive rust color, takes it final bow as Scrooge’s bed curtains. Parsimony is not limited to this production’s main character…

This is an ambitious production for the RUHS Troupe, notes director Brian C. Rainville, who says "Dickens is a challenge in several ways. Here is a show with rich language, meaningful roles, and strong design elements. This is a young cast and crew, but they’ve embraced the challenge of bringing this production to life."

Senior Micah Battino, acting as Bob Cratchit and serving as the student director for this production, leads the cast. Muriel Garner plays his wife and Simon Fink makes his RUHS debut in the role of Tiny Tim. Seniors Liz Lawrence, Shauna Davis, and Cody Montgomery portray the three spirits, with sophomore Abby Hutchinson playing the coveted role of Jacob Marley.

This week’s tech rehearsal exposed the soul of the RUHS program as senior Nate Soares, whose antics show he’s clearly enjoying the plum role of Scrooge, designed and called light cues. Soares, and fellow lighting designer Anthony Fiorillo, are adapting to new lighting equipment and an increasingly unreliable dimming system. Math, science, teamwork, and creativity were all at work as they put two "i-cues" through their paces.

These new instruments, purchased with grant funds, provide the first regular spotlights in the more than 30 years of RUHS theater. Essentially small remote-controlled mirrors, the "i-cues" allow technicians to place and move carefully controlled beams of light nearly anywhere on the RUHS stage.

Although the light plot may be complicated, the production design for the RUHS adaptation is not.

"It’s a stripped down set," Rainville admits, "I don’t want this show to be overproduced. It’s too easy to lose Dickens among the furniture, costumes, and sets."

Led by an always calm stage manager, senior Nicole Tucker, RUHS technicians finalized the elaborate backstage choreography that allows a show to succeed. Antiques from local collections and institutions, combined with pieces custom built by members of the Introduction to Theater course, provide furnishings appropriate to the era.

Costuming for this production, which is always a challenge when mounting a period show on a high school budget, is led by LaRae Francis and a small army of fellow drama mamas! Nearly every woman’s costume in this production was custom made.

ETC Theater has experienced tremendous growth in the last calendar year. Their spring 2006 production of "Wit" drew critical acclaim at regional, Vermont, and New England Drama Festivals. With "Wit," RUHS thespians claimed their third New England Championship title in less than a decade.

Murray Auditorium has seen significant upgrades, not only in the stage drapes but in rigging as well. Rainville notes that the troupe is thankful to those individuals, foundations, and citizens of the greater Randolph area who made these acquisitions possible.

Seven RUHS seniors were at Manhattan’s Broadhurst Theater October 27 for the Broadway revival of "Les Miserables." After arriving at Penn Station by Amtrak, the students and their directors had dinner on the east side and toured the theater district. The next morning, they visited the Frick Collection and took in the sights and smells of the Union Square Farmers Market, before fleeing a downpour for their return trip to Vermont.

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