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'A Christmas Carol' Radio Play to Bring Holiday Season to Carroll Park

By Nikhita Venugopal | November 19, 2013 5:39pm
 Smith Street Stage will perform "A Christmas Carol" as a radio play in Carroll Park next month.
Smith Street Stage will perform "A Christmas Carol" as a radio play in Carroll Park next month.
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Chris Montgomery

CARROLL GARDENS — A beloved Christmas tale will bring Victorian England to Carroll Gardens next month.

Smith Street Stage, a neighborhood theater group, will perform Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” as a radio play in Carroll Park this holiday season.

Dickens’ story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is set in 19th century England but Smith Street Stage’s rendition will also have each actor playing their own 1940’s character, said artistic director Beth Ann Hopkins.

“It’s kind of like a play inside a play,” said Hopkins, who adapted the story for a radio play and will direct the performance.

Seven actors, including 11-year-old Charlie Kravits, will play at least 34 characters in the Robert Acito Park House that will act as their “studio.”

In true radio play tradition, the actors will perform all voices and sound effects from the ringing of bells to the howl of the wind, said Hopkins.

No recordings will be used during the performance, except a reading of “The Night Before Christmas,” by Hopkins' grandfather, Herbert Rice, a former NBC radio producer.

This is the third performance of “A Christmas Carol” for Smith Street Stage and their second in Carroll Park, which Hopkins hopes to turn into a holiday tradition. The show will be appropriate for all ages.

“It’s a nice way to ring in the holidays,” said Hopkins.

Smith Street Stage’s “A Christmas Carol” will be performed on Dec. 4 to 8 and Dec. 11 to 15. Tickets are priced at $15 for adults and $10 for children.