Phipps Center for the Arts finds redemption…
Phipps Center for the Arts finds redemption from shutdown in familiar holiday story
Charlie Shoemaker is one of two actors rotating performances in the Phipps solo "A Christmas Carol." (Photo by Fred Sobottka)
By Kathy Berdan | kberdan@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
Like every theater, live productions at the Phipps Center for the Arts were dead for 2020. Dead as a doornail.
Ah, but redemption came to the Hudson theater in the story of one squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner's redemption. The Phipps found a way to tell the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and "A Christmas Carol" live on stage starting Friday, Nov. 6.
"A Christmas Carol: The Radio Play," is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday stage staple. In this version, the year is 1948 and a sound effects operator at a radio station finds himself alone in the station with a live broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" set to begin. But the cast and orchestra are snowed in at a rehearsal across town.
The sound man has always craved the spotlight and jumps in to do the whole show solo, said John Potter, who is directing the one-character production and recently retired as executive director of the Phipps.
Two actors will rotate performances, which requires 30 voices and 100 sound effects, Potter said. Actor Charlie Shoemaker recently moved to the area after working at a California theater for many years. Mike Tober is a longtime Twin Cities actor, but he's also making his debut at the Phipps.
"I love the premise of the script," Potter said in the phone interview last week. "I'm delighted to be directing it."
Mike Tober is one of two actors rotating performances in the Phipps solo "A Christmas Carol." (Courtesy of Fred Sobottka)
Phipps directed more than three dozen shows during his 35 years leading the Hudson art center, and first became enamored with "A Christmas Carol" when he saw the 1951 movie "Scrooge" featuring Alistair Sim.
The actors rehearsed separately for the 90-minute show, with Potter at the back of the theater and one other person doing the tech. Potter says the actors' performances are "similar, but not identical," and suggests that fans of the story might want to see both.
"If you want to see this show," Potter says, "this is a good way to do it."
Audience members will be socially distanced, with a maximum of 60 at each performance in the 250-seat house. There's no intermission and no concessions, and face masks are required. All audience members will enter and exit through the main entrance.
'A Christmas Carol: The Radio Play,' written by David Albert
When: Fridays-Sundays, Nov. 6-Dec. 6
Where: The Phipps Center for the Arts, 109 Locust St., Hudson
Tickets: Starting at $25; 715-386-8409 or thephipps.org.
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Kathy Berdan | Arts and entertainment team leader
Kathy has been an arts journalist for more than 25 years. Her career goal is to interview all four Monkees, and she's three-fourths of the way there. She loves Twin Cities theater, bicycling, good books in the screen porch, the St. Paul Winter Carnival and the Minnesota State Fair.
kberdan@pioneerpress.com
Follow Kathy Berdan	@KathyBerdan
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