'A Christmas Carol' returns to Ball State in time for holiday season

<p>The Ball State Department of Theatre and Dance will be putting on a production of "A Christmas Carol" at University Theatre. The show will be on Thursday&nbsp;at 7:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at the University Theatre Box Office. <em>Ball State University // Photo Courtesy</em></p>

The Ball State Department of Theatre and Dance will be putting on a production of "A Christmas Carol" at University Theatre. The show will be on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at the University Theatre Box Office. Ball State University // Photo Courtesy

What: "A Christmas Carol"

Where: University Theatre

When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-10 and 15-17; 2:30 p.m. Dec. 10, 11, 17 and 18

Ticket information: Tickets can be purchased online or at the University Theatre box office. 

$15 for students, faculty staff and senior citizens

$18 for the general public

$10 for children

While there may not be snow, Ball State will surely be in the holiday spirit as the Ball State Department of Theatre and Dance takes the stage with its remounted performance of the Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol.”

A holiday staple for many, “A Christmas Carol” will be gracing the stage for the second time at Ball State. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in University Theatre. 

“Every four years you have a new group of people who are in college, so one of the things we do in the department as a Christmas offering to the community is every four years we do ‘The Nutcracker’ and every four years we do ‘A Christmas Carol,'" said Michael Daehn, the show's director.

Peter Zapp, an assistant professor of theatre, will be playing Ebenezer Scrooge for the second time. 

“It’s a really satisfying kind of emotional ride. That’s what has made it last so long. It’s inevitable that the audience will be sucked in,” he said. “Everyone loves to see someone [like Scrooge] turn over a new leaf.”

In an interesting addition to a well-loved classic, this version will feature music while maintaining its air as a classic play.

“[It] incorporates Christmas carols into the show," Daehn said. "They feel like they are organically part of the play." 

The carols that are incorporated add an extra feel of tradition to the classic story. 

“I listen to songs [in the play] that I used to sing with my sister, songs that I sang as a boy,” Zapp said.

The production of “A Christmas Carol” is clearly more than just a simple production. It is an embodiment of what the holiday season is meant to represent. The story is timeless as are the ideas that come with the play.

“By the time the audience leaves, they should just have this warm fuzzy feeling, a smile on their faces, the desire to go out and do something for other people and to hug their family close and to have a wonderful holiday season,” Daehn said.

Another special addition to the play is the Cratchit Food Drive. Inspired by the Cratchit family of “A Christmas Carol” and the idea of helping others that Dickens was driven by, a food drive will be going on during the span of the production’s run. 

Audience members can bring in canned goods to donate and receive a dollar off of their tickets in return.

“There’s just certain things that you do every year as a tradition,” Daehn said, “Our hope is that every four years going to see the production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Ball State will be a part of the local area’s tradition.”

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