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Carroll Gardens Theater Group to Make Off-Broadway Debut During Holidays

By Nikhita Venugopal | November 18, 2014 8:49am
 Smith Street Stage will makes its off-Broadway debut with "A Christmas Carol" performed as a radio play.
A Christmas Carol
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CARROLL GARDENS — It’s Smith Street meets 42nd Street.

Smith Street Stage, a theater group that puts on the popular “Shakespeare in Carroll Park” performance, is heading to Manhattan for its Off-Broadway debut next month.

The troupe will perform “A Christmas Carol” as a radio play at the Pearl Theatre at 555 West 42nd St. on Dec. 18, 19, 20, and 21.

This is the group’s fourth time performing its version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale, a novella written in 1843 that follows the story of wealthy curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge.

Seven actors, who will play more than 40 different characters from the story, will also play 1940s versions of themselves as actors in a radio play, said artistic director Beth Ann Hopkins.

“This just seemed like a perfect opportunity to combine my love of theater with my love of sound,” Hopkins said.

Most of the actors in the upcoming performance have acted in previous Smith Street Stage shows, including 12-year-old Charlie Kravits, who played — and will continue to play — the role of “Tiny Tim.”

The actors will also produce the play’s entire score of sound effects live on stage, from cranking wind machines to clapping thunder sheets.

Only one recording will be played during the show — a reading of “The Night Before Christmas” by Herbert Rice, a former NBC radio producer and Hopkins’ grandfather.

Hopkins started Smith Street Stage in 2010 with her husband, Jonathan. Using Carroll Park and the Robert Acito Park House as its stage, the group has performed William Shakespeare’s "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth," and "Romeo and Juliet" in the past.

“Carroll Park will always be our home,” she said.  

Smith Street Stage’s “A Christmas Carol” will be performed on Dec. 18, 19, 20 and 21 at the Pearl Theatre at 555 West 42nd St. Tickets will go on sale Dec. 1.