What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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LARA JO HIGHTOWER NWA Democrat-Gazette W hen TheatreSquared carries on its tradition of presenting the Amy Herzberg- and Robert Ford-penned adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday classic "A Christmas Carol" this year, the show will launch in a different world than it did in 2020: Northwest Arkansas is recording fewer covid-19 cases today than it did a year ago, allowing T2 to produce the show for live audiences, versus the streaming performances of the last holiday season. In other words, with streaming shows available as well, this year should be a lot more "God bless us, every one!" and a lot less "Bah! Humbug!" "We were in quarantine for the first few weeks of rehearsal, so we were doing it on video," remembers Bryce Kemph of the 2020 production. He reprises the role of Scrooge in this year's version of the play. "And then once we got into the room, I was terrified, because we had one week to get it up and ready to go. This year is a lot different." It's different in several ways: In addition to live audiences, Kemph will no longer have the heavy lifting of portraying five or six different roles, as he did last year, when Herzberg and Ford re-imagined the play with just two actors. There's also the fact that this show will be performed in the Fayetteville Public Library's still- new event center — fitting, as this adaptation takes place in a library, in the immediate aftermath of the release of Dickens' new novel, "A Christmas Carol." "I'm excited to see the show grow," says Joanna Sheehan Bell, T2's director of marketing and communications. "I think one of theater's magical superpowers is revival, so it's super fun to get to come back to this adaptation two years later, with this concept that takes place in a library, here in an actual library. It's exciting to see that connection and then to watch it grow even more. It feels like there's going to be more magic, more fun, more humor, more humanity. It's going to be even more powerful, because it's just going to get richer every year that we do it." The set, designed by Martin Andrew, is nothing short of majestic: Iron spiral staircases and towering bookshelves — packed full of volumes the design crew DECEMBER 5-11, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 5 FAQ 'A Christmas Carol' WHEN — 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays-Sun- days through Dec. 26 WHERE — TheatreSquared at the Fayetteville Public Library, 401 W. Mountain St., Fayetteville COST — $10-$54 INFO — 777-7477 or theatre2.org 'God bless us, every one!' 'Christmas Carol' brings magic back to TheatreSquared Last year, Bryce Kemph played half the roles in a two-person version of "A Christmas Carol" to keep T2 actors and crew safer during the worst days of the pandemic. This year, the adaptation by Bob Ford and Amy Herzberg returns to a full cast with performances at the Fayetteville Public Library. (Courtesy Photos/Wesley Hitt for T2) "For one thing, it is a ghost story," says actor Michelle Jasso when asked to what she attributes "A Christmas Carol's" enduring legacy. "That's just fun, that it's got that spooky element about it. We love a good haunting. But it's also this idea of redemption, that human beings really, really can change for the better, and be better, and do better. That at no point in a human's life is redemption not a possibility." The impressive set for "A Christmas Carol" has been transported to the event center at the Fayetteville Public Library for this year's performances. See Carol Page 6 FAYETTEVILLE