‘Act Out’ A Christmas Carol for the Lonely

The very first idea we had for Elf Alliance was to create a short version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that a few people (3-5 or more) could get together, practice a few times and then go present at care centers as a reader’s theater production (or with puppets, projections, flannel boards, fully-acted … as elaborate or as simple as circumstance allows).

My wife, son and I have been reading through a long version that I created some years ago, based directly on Dickens’ original novella. We’ve been cutting it down, revision after revision, until we were able to get it into about 30-minutes without losing any of the key plot points that still make the tale so heart-warming and endearing to us almost two centuries after it was debuted.

After months of work on it, it is finally edited, formatted, covered and published. Here are some details:

• Scripts are listed at close to publishing cost to make it affordable for service groups.
• Performance rights are granted for non-ticketed/non-admission service-related showings/readings to perform without royalties.
• Notes on carols you can sing with the audience at various points in the play are notated in the front matter … a great way to get the audience engaged and participating (plans to add a caroling pack to this site are underway).

So, get your family, church group, friends or community connections together and go ‘cheer the sad of heart’ this holiday season. I’ve performed dozens of times at care centers over the years (mostly music) and I can tell you, the warmth and gratitude you’ll receive in return for your efforts is ample.

Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A Short Play in Five Quick Acts is now available at Amazon.