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Forum Theatre's Christmas Carol - A Local Tradition

The Forum Theatre Company

"Old Marley was a dead as a door-nail. "Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.” - Charles Dickens


The Forum Theatre Company of Wichita is presenting their annual musical, A Christmas Carol. The cast, crew, musicians and writers are local and, as KMUW’s Aileen LeBlanc found out, even Charles Dickens might like this one.

In 2011, Kathy Page Hauptman realized that most major metropolitan cities had an annual Christmas musical offering. It got her thinking that Wichita needed one too. She was a lover of Dickens' classic novel and was thinking of doing an adaptation of A Christmas Carol with a bit of music thrown in. She approached composer Paul Jackson and writer Conrad Jestmore. It was summertime, but within two months the three had a splendid winter tale with a full blown score.

Video by Aileen LeBlanc.

Chelsey Moore and Shaun Michael Morse in Rehearsal at the Scottish Rite Center.

Video by Aileen LeBlanc.

Brooklynn Profit (Tiny Tim) rehearses her Christmas song as the play prepares for the opening.

The Forum Theatre Company'sproduction of A Christmas Carol runs December 11-20 at the Scottish Rite Center, downtown Wichita.

Directed by Kathy Page Hauptman

Composed by Paul Jackson

Written by Conrad Jestmore

Musical Direction by Tim Raymond

Cast:

Scrooge - Shaun Michael Morse

Christmas Present - Karla Burns

Christmas Past - Cary Hesse

Belle - Chelsey Moore

Rag Picker - Tom Woodward

Young Scrooge - Shane Rogers

Tiny Tim- Brooklynn Profit