Church Hill TheatreProductions

Church Hill Theatre will be live streaming an acclaimed radio version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on the weekend before Christmas. With social distancing still in effect, this would make a marvelous gift for out-of-town friends and relatives, allowing us to virtually share a cherished experience. So add a log to the fire, make some cocoa, snuggle up, and revisit the Victorian world of Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.

While the Church Hill Theatre stage remains dark, its artistic community has worked hard to find Covid-appropriate ways to reach loyal supporters. They decided that the Orson Welles radio script of A Christmas Carol, first performed by the Mercury Theatre on Christmas Eve, 1939, would be their gift to the community. The ZOOM production will air at 8 pm on Friday, December 18 and Saturday, December 19, with a matinee at 2 pm on Sunday, December 20. Tickets ($15) are available at the CHT website: churchhilltheatre.org

Ticket holders can “tune in” before the show to see rehearsal photos, actors’ headshots, sponsor credits, and other useful information about the production. Once the 60-minute broadcast starts, you will see only Scrooge’s front door and be asked to imagine a bleak Christmas Eve in London, with Scrooge tormented by the ghosts of past, present and future Christmases. As always, in this beloved story, Scrooge emerges a changed man, encouraging us all to embody the spirit of Christmas.

Kathy Jones is making her Church Hill Theatre directing debut, with support from an outstanding cast. The actors are: Narrator: Howard Mesick, Child's voice/child/boy: Liam Wallace, Scrooge: Toph Wallace, Bob Cratchit: Robert McGrory, Fred: Connor Christopher, Gentleman 1: John Beck, Marley: Howard Mesick, Ghost of Christmas Past: Maya McGrory, Fezziwig: John Beck, Belle: 

Sarah Wright, Belle's husband: John Beck, Mrs. Cratchit: Sarah Wright, Martha: Haley Melton, Ghost of Christmas Present: Marcia Gilliam, Tiny Tim: Liam Wallace, and Gentleman 2/Young Scrooge: Connor Christopher.

The production team includes Kat Melton, Doug Kauffman, Michelle Christopher, Shelagh Grasso, Michael Whitehill, and Steve Atkinson.

MARTIANS WILL INVADE THE EASTERN SHORE AT HALLOWEEN

Thanks to Church Hill Theatre, local audiences can share thrills and chills in a recreation of the famous 1938 Mercury Theatre production of The War of the Worlds, a radio program so realistic that many listeners feared an actual Martian attack on New Jersey. CHT’s performances on October 30 and 31 will present this spooky classic in a live format via Zoom.

The original version, an adaptation of an 1898 H. G. Wells novel, was directed and narrated by Orson Welles on Sunday, October 30, 1938, as a live episode of the CBS anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. The controversial news-bulletin format outraged authorities and secured Welles’s fame.

Director John Haas, usually seen on the stage at CHT, adapted the original script to incorporate Eastern Shore references for this virtual production. The cast features Melissa McGlynn, Bradley Chaires, Minnie Maloney, Matt Folker, Jeff Daly, Nic Carter, Shannon Whitaker, and Michelle Christopher. Shelagh Grasso is the producer and the important and influential sound effects will be under the control of Doug Kaufmann and Kat Melton.

The virtual show will be performed LIVE for both performances, using the zoom platform as a “radio broadcast”. Tickets, $15, may be purchased through this website. 

So gather your family around and Join us at 8pm on Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 as The War of the Worlds is brought back to life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

You know the drill: you pick a card, then somehow a magician finds it in a deck – oldest trick in the book. But what if that magician was thousands of miles away … and the card appeared in your home? Welcome to the next generation of magic. Before the show you’ll receive a sealed box with secret contents to be revealed during the live performance. Now imagine that same magician bringing everyday objects to life, reading your mind, and mystifying you … all as you sit in your living room. It’s a magical experience unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. So … ready to pick a card?

Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas with her parents, her brother, and her aunt. Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family's history—a wound they don't want reopened. In effect, she draws a line in the sand and dares them all to cross it.