Interplayers adds *Christmas Carol* (Dec. 13-23)

Interplayers will present *A Reduced Christmas Carol, or, Scrooge vs. the Stopwatch* (Dec. 13-23)
with Reed McColm, Patrick Treadway, Maynard Villers and Ann Whiteman, with Whiteman directing
Tickets: $10; $5, students and seniors; $2, kids
This is the Dickens adaptation in which four actors play 14 roles and tell the whole Tiny Tim saga — first in a 15-minute version, then in five minutes, and then in just one. Full of audience participation and plenty of high jinks -- performed a few years back at First Night by some of these same folks.

Dec. 13-14 and Dec. 21 at 7 pm
Dec. 17 at 2 pm
and two shows (2 pm and 7 pm) on each of the following four dates: Dec. 16, 20, 22 and 23
www.interplayers.com or 455-PLAY

John Hart will be the fifth cast member._Reed McColm will play Scrooge._Ann Whiteman will direct and narrate some; she and Maynard Villers and Hart are three of the original cast members who first did this show at First Night (on New Year's Eve) in 2001 and 2002._Audience members will be auditioned on the spot for the crucial roles of Gentleman 1 and Gentleman 2._If they don't actually do the one-minute version in 60 seconds, they'll do it over. There is some talk of then doing that version _backwards_._The entire show -- because an intro and audience interaction, etc. -- will take up more than just the 15+5+1=21 minutes -- more like an hour. And it features family-friendly pricing._ Says Whiteman, "I begged Jim McCurdy for a $10 ticket price. We want to help them address their back debt. He's very brave to lower ticket prices like this, to bring the families in. At least we'll help them pay some bills."_Whiteman also sees the show as a kind of homage to Ron Varela, one of the original cast members; Varela died three years ago._"He never got to see it -- he was always performing," she recalls. Whiteman also says that the project had its origin in all the spare time and talking that she, Treadway, Villers and McColm had backstage during Nike Imoru's production of *Othello* in April 2005.