'A Christmas Carol' comes to Paradise Center

People have seen various renditions of "A Christmas Carol" on television from the 1923 to 2009 versions, but Kathleen Hubka and the Paradise Players gave a new adaptation of the old story last weekend with a lively cast of eight.

Hubka's version was made especially distinct with much help by Bonnie Firestone, who created the costumes for the Charles Dickens story. Firestone has been a part of the Paradise Players since the spring of 2023 and did the costumes for "The Works: A Grass Menagerie" in October. But last week's costumes were of the colossal scale from a flying Ghost of Christmas Future to a normal sized outfit.

The cast included Robert Reese, Diana Stacey, and Heather Allen, who played various voices in the play. John Thorson was Charles Dickens and Hailee Steinebach played the gentleman asking Scrooge for a donation and the Ghost of Christmas Future. She also operated the four-foot tall puppet of Tiny Tim. Rashell Jones was the Ghost of Christmas Present. Firestone played the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Hubka, the play's director, served as Jacob Marley's ghost, the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge, who was played by Butch Murdock for the second time. Murdock was Scrooge in the radio show version in 2021 and has been a local actor since 1989. All actors, except Murdock, did multiple roles, many that took on multiple voices.

The hour and a half play was done in three acts with intermissions that featured drinks and special treats made by Jackie Colyer. The Paradise Players did three performances. Thirty-nine people attended the Friday evening show. Twenty-six showed up on Saturday afternoon and 64 attended the Sunday matinee. This was the second time they had two matinees instead of two evening performances. "I think this is better this way. A lot of people don't like to drive at night," said Wendy Artz, who served as the technical director.

The story surrounds Scrooge, a miser who cared nothing for the poor, including his employee, Bob Cratchit. He doesn't observe Christmas and seems to be annoyed that others do, citing "Bah, Humbug!" to anyone who says Merry Christmas. His partner, Jacob Marley, had died seven years prior. Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who convince him to change his ways, which he does.

"I loved the play. It was very entertaining," said Plains resident Mac Hall, a Paradise Center board member. Some people attended more than one performance. "It was very well done," said Karen Thorson, also a center board member, who was especially pleased with the costumes. "I think they were extraordinary and Bonnie Firestone has an amazing talent. I can't imagine anybody not being amazed by them," said Thorson. The three Christmas ghosts were nearly 12 feet tall. The height was accomplished on Jones by taking her long red hair and sticking it straight up some two feet using a two-liter Coke bottle with flowers around it and a small hat at the top.

Firestone guessed that it took her more than 300 hours to make the three ghost costumes, the Tiny Tim, the costume for the man asking Scrooge for a donation, and the ghost of Marley. Hubka made the hand puppet of "Fan," Scrooge's sister. Firestone said most of the costumes were made from old clothes and curtains, dowel rods, hula hoops, and "lots of duct tape." They rigged a five-foot long Ghost of Christmas Future to a wire. It was made of disposable tablecloths and plastic trash bags, and with lights on the back, flew to behind the stage.

The Paradise Players will be doing a performance of "Fallen Star" in March and "Deer Camp" in April. The Paradise Center will have the musical production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 2 p.m. by the Inspirare Music Project and the Clark Fork Valley Singers.