A CHRISTMAS CAROL Cast Announced at Commonwealth Shakespeare

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) and Steven Maler, Founding Artistic Director, have announced the cast and creative team of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol,' returning to the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Downtown Boston December 11-20. The production was introduced in 2024 and has become a part of the city's iconic holiday offerings. Much-lauded local actor Will Lyman returns to his role as Ebenezer Scrooge, the curmudgeonly miser whose cold heart is thawed by a trio of mysterious spirits on one fateful Christmas Eve.

This enchanting adaptation by award-winning writer/director Steve Wargo brings Dickens' classic tale to vivid life. Described as 'a musical feast' (The Boston Globe), it is brimming with traditional 19th-century carols arranged by Dianne Adams McDowell (A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, Starmites). With direction by CSC Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler and musical direction by Dan Rodriguez, this 'heart-filled new tradition' (WGBH) is sure to delight audiences of all ages.

The principal cast includes Stephen Caliskan as Peter Cratchit, Mary Callanan* as Ghost of Christmas Present, Peter DiMaggio* as Fred, Neal Ferreira* as Mr. Fezziwig, Jack Greenberg* as Young Scrooge, David Jiles, Jr.* as Topper, Laura McHugh* as Mrs. Fezziwig, Kathryn McKellar* as Ghost of Christmas Past, Tamara Ryan* as Mrs. Cratchit, Kayla Shimizu* as Elizabeth, Damon Singletary* as Marley and Ghost of Yet to Come, Kathy St. George* as Charwoman, Robert St. Laurence* as Bob Cratchit, Lily Segal Steven* as Belle and Martha Cratchit, Hayley Travers* as Catherine and Mrs. Dilber, and John Pagliarulo and Gillian Weatherford in multiple roles.

The production's local youth talent includes Maia Ettinger and Cora Hertz as Belinda Cratchit, Paul Jagger Karger and Xavier Rosario as Boy Scrooge/Tim Cratchit, and Penelope Kaminsky and Eviva Rose as Turkey Boy.

Rounding out this award-winning team of artists are former Boston Ballet Principal Dancer John Lam (Choreographer), Tony-nominee Scott Bradley (Scenic Design), Fabian Fidel Aguilar (Costume Design), Obie Award-winner Eric Southern and Jessica Elliott (Co-Lighting Designers), and Elliot Norton Award-winner David Remedios (Sound Design).

Biographies of cast members follow.

Will Lyman* (Ebenezer Scrooge) – CSC: King Lear (King Lear), Hamlet (Claudius), The Tempest (Prospero), Julius Caesar (Brutus), and Carol '24 and '25 (Scrooge). Off Broadway: Man in Snow, The Passion of Dracula, The Novelist, The Grinding Machine. The Huntington Theatre Company: Prayer for the French Republic, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, All My Sons, Dead End. New Repertory Theatre: Long Day's Journey into Night, Dollhouse, The Clean House, The Ice-Breaker. Israeli Stage: Oh God, Ulysses on Bottles. The Nora@Central Square Theater: Operation Epsilon, Equus. Boston Playwrights' Theatre: Windowmen, The Oil Thief, King of the Jews. Gamm Theatre: Celebration. Boston Symphony Orchestra: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Cleveland Symphony: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor. The National Symphony: Ivan the Terrible. Handel and Haydn Society: Medea. Film: 'Little Children,' 'Mystic River,' 'The Siege,' 'A Perfect Murder,' 'Welcome to the Dollhouse,' and 'What Doesn't Kill You'. TV: 'Commander-in-Chief,' 'Our Fathers,' 'Threat Matrix,' 'Hull High,' 'Three Sovereigns for Sarah,' 'George Washington,' 'Crossbow,' and long-time narrator of public affairs program 'Frontline' (PBS). Awards: multiple Elliot Norton and IRNE awards, Howard Keel Award for service to the Screen Actors Guild.

Stephen Caliskan (Peter Cratchit) – CSC: Carol '24 and '25. Wheelock Family Theater: Charlotte's Web. Lyric Stage: Hello, Dolly! Firehouse Center for the Arts: Million Dollar Quartet. The Vineyard Theater (NYC): Space Laser, in Space! TC2: One Name. Film: Apple TV+: CODA, Weekend Warriors. 20th Century Studios: Ella McCay. Commercial: Fresh Express, Fetch Rewards. Music Directing: Firehouse Center for the Arts, Brooks School. Stephen won a SAG award for Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for CODA, and was the regional winner and national finalist at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, where he won a New England Theater Conference Best Monologue award.

Mary Callanan* (Ghost of Christmas Present) – CSC: Debut! Broadway: Bandstand (OBC), Mamma Mia! (Rosie - OBC Final Company), Annie. National Tours: My Fair Lady, Bridges of Madison County, Mamma Mia!, Sound of Music, big, Damn Yankees. Regional: The Jack of Hearts Club, Come From Away, Always, Patsy Cline, Titanic, Fiddler, Sound of Music, Kinky Boots, Oklahoma!, Damn Yankees, Letters from 'Nam, The Prom, Gypsy, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Mame, Les Miserables, Falsettos, Follies, BatBoy, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park, Chicago, Violet. Actors Equity! CGF and LAF.

Peter DiMaggio* (Fred) – CSC: A Christmas Carol '25, As You Like It (Common), Macbeth (Stage2), Shakespeare at the Library: Worlds of Imagination (Hamlet/Guitarist & Composer). SpeakEasy Stage Company: Swept Away, Lizard Boy. Actors' Shakespeare Project: Romeo and Juliet. Wheelock Family Theatre: The SpongeBob Musical (Elliot Norton Award Winner). Hackmatack Playhouse: Once. Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Peter received his BFA in Acting from Boston University and a Certificate in Classical Acting from LAMDA. His original music is available to stream on all platforms. Peter would like to thank his mentors, friends, and family for their constant love and support.

Neal Ferreira* (Fezziwig) – CSC: Carol '24. Boston Symphony Orchestra: Die Tote Stadt, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Wozzeck, La bohème, Der Rosenkavalier. Boston Lyric Opera: Eurydice, Omar, Champion, Trouble in Tahiti, In the Penal Colony, The Magic Flute. Odyssey Opera: Lysistrata, Of Thee I Sing/Let 'Em Eat Cake, The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe, L'assedio di Calais, The Importance of Being Earnest. Boston Modern Orchestra Project: Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra: Don Carlo, Norma, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Otello. Emmanuel Music: The Beggar's Opera. The Shakespeare Concerts: Hamlet, The Tenor's Suite, The Tempest. Other engagements include the American Repertory Theater, Handel & Haydn Society, and Glimmerglass Festival. Neal is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music.

Maia Ettinger (Fan, Belinda Cratchit) – CSC: A Christmas Carol '24 & '25. Wheelock Family Theatre: The Prom, Make Way for Ducklings, Matilda, A Year with Frog and Toad, and more. Reagle Music Theatre: The Little Mermaid. Hovey Players: Appropriate. Boston Playwrights Marathon: Strawberry Shortcake. Curtain Call Theatre: The Wolves. PBS Kids: Pinkalicious and Peterrific. Maia received the 2023-2024 EMACT DASH award for Best Youth Performer in a Play for her performance as Cassidy in Appropriate (Hovey Players). Maia is a sophomore at The Cambridge School of Weston and trains in acting and voice with Katie Pohlman and Desi Oakley.

Jack Greenberg* (Young Scrooge) – CSC: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth. REGIONAL: The Hills of California, We Had a World, John Proctor is the Villain (The Huntington); The Hills of California (Berkeley Repertory); Dear Evan Hansen (The Fulton Theatre), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Reagle Music Theatre); The Soldier's Tale (Brandeis Theatre). Education: BFA (Boston University '25), BADA Oxford Program.

Cora Hertz (Fan, Belinda Cratchit) returns for a third season of A Christmas Carol. Previous credits include multiple roles in Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker and featured ensemble in MassOpera's Alcina.

David Jiles, Jr.* (Topper) – CSC: Carol '25. Greater Boston Stage Company: All is Calm, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, Jonah and The Whale, Sweet Charity, The Full Monty, Sunfish. Wheelock Family Theatre: The Prom, The SpongeBob Musical, A Wrinkle in Time, The Wizard of Oz, Bud Not Buddy, James and The Giant Peach. David has also been seen at The Company Theatre, Speakeasy Stage, North Shore Music Theatre, Porchlight Theatre, and Bailiwick Theatre. David's band, Flipside, performs over 60 private events each year. He is a proud member of Actors' Equity and the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance. David is a designated Linklater voice teacher and an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches voice and musical theatre. He also teaches voice at Emerson College.

Penelope Kaminsky (Turkey Boy) – CSC: Debut. Credits include Tessie in Annie (Greater Boston Stage Company), London Child in A Christmas Carol (North Shore Music Theatre), Nemo in Finding Nemo Jr. (NSMT Education), and Gavroche in Les Misérables School Edition (Misfit Artist Co.).

Paul Jagger (PJ) Karger (Boy Scrooge/Tim Cratchit) – CSC: Carol '24 and '25. Rhode Island Youth Theater: Mary Poppins, Cinderella (Knight) and Pinocchio (Pinocchio). Previous model at ModelClub Inc. and studying music at Community Center of Music Boston.

Laura McHugh* (Mrs. Fezziwig) CSC: A Christmas Carol '24, '25. Tulsa Opera: Into the Woods. Odyssey Opera: Of Thee I Sing, Let 'Em Eat Cake. Opera51: Sweeney Todd. Awards: 1st Place, Classical Singer National Competition; 1st Place, Vermont Vocal Competition; 2nd Place, Classical Idol. Opera roles include the title roles in Rusalka, Suor Angelica, and Gräfin Mariza, Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Valkyries Gerhilde and Ortlinde (Die Walküre), alongside numerous contemporary and world-premiere works. She was the featured vocalist in Yury Yanowsky's world-premiere dance piece Subject 41 with Lam Dance Works, subsequently performing the work at its Tanglewood premiere. Recordings include the GRAMMY-nominated The Lord of Cries (Pentatone), with upcoming releases of The Last Savage and The Padrone (BMOP/sound).

Kathryn McKellar* (Ghost of Christmas Past) – CSC: Carol '24 and '25. Boston Lyric Opera: Le Nozze di Figaro, The Rake's Progress, Aida, Carmen, La Traviata, I Puritani, Merry Widow, The Magic Flute. Lyric Stage Company: My Fair Lady, The Mikado. Odyssey Opera: Patience, Giovanna D'arco, Lucio Silla. Boston Modern Orchestra Project: The Chronicles of Nine, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Reagle Music Theater: My Fair Lady, Les Miserables. MassOpera: Carmen. OperaHub: Divas, L'incoronazione di Poppea. Other credits include The Boston Pops, Opera Providence, Anthem Theater Company, Purcell Society of Boston, Cambridge Chamber Opera, and Boston Opera Collaborative. Kathryn is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory and artistic director/co-founder of Opera on Tap Boston.

Xavier Rosario (Tiny Tim) – CSC: 3rd year as Tim Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.

Previously he played Young George in Machine Learning at Central Square Theatre.

Eviva Rose (Turkey Boy) – CSC: Third season with CSC, including Mamillius in The Winter's Tale and Young Macduff in Macbeth at Shakespeare on the Boston Common. Previous credits include Charles Wallace in A Wrinkle in Time and a duckling in Make Way For Ducklings, both with Wheelock Family Theater. Eviva is also a competitive dancer with Kinetic Dance Studio.

Tamara Ryan* (Mrs. Cratchit) – CSC: Carol '25. The Huntington: The Light in the Piazza. Beth Morrison Opera Projects: Sensorium Ex Workshop. Boston Opera Collaborative: All I was Doing was Being, The Dangerous Liaisons, To Hell and Back. Catalyst New Music: Shadows Shortening. Crested Butte Music Festival: Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Lyric Opera of Orange County: Gilgamesh Workshop. MassOpera: The Magic Flute, La Traviata, Miss Havisham's Wedding Night. Opera Brittenica: The Turn of the Screw. Opera Fayetteville: Glory Denied, Dark Sisters, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Little Prince, Dead Man Walking, Little Women. Opera Steamboat: Die Fledermaus, Le Nozze di Figaro. OperaHub: Der Vampyr, The Long Christmas Dinner, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Orchestra 2001: Rossetti Songs World Premiere. White Snake Projects: Permadeath Workshop.

Lily Segal Steven* (Belle, Martha Cratchit) – CSC: Carol '24 and '25. CATF: My Favorite Sociopath. Gloucester Stage Company: Private Lives. Greater Boston Stage Company: Miss Holmes Returns (Olive), The Moors (Emilie), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet). Cape Rep: Indecent (Chava). Umbrella Stage Company: The Old Man and the Old Moon. Penobscot Theatre Company: Crimes of the Heart (Babe). Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol: In the Next Room (Catherine Givings). Moonbox: The House of Ramon Iglesia (Caroline). The Hanover Theatre: A Christmas Carol (Belle). Reagle: La Cage Aux Folles (Anne). The Huntington Theatre Company: A Civil War Christmas. University of Miami BFA Musical Theatre.

Kayla Shimizu* (Elizabeth) – CSC: Carol '24 and '25. Greater Boston Stage Company: Little Shop of Horrors. Trinity Rep: La Cage aux Folles. Moonbox Productions: Legally Blonde. Lyric Stage: Assassins, Preludes. Reagle Music Theatre: Little Mermaid, Oklahoma, Pippin. The Wilbury Theatre Group: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Umbrella Stage Company: The Old Man and the Old Moon, The Wide Open. Rogers Center of the Arts: The Old Man and the Old Moon. Kayla is a graduate of Emerson College.

Damon Singletary* (Marley/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) – CSC: Carol '24 and '25, Birdy. New Repertory Theatre: A Raisin in the Sun. The Huntington Theatre Company: Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Lyric Stage Company: The Drowsy Chaperone, Sister Act, Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, The Wiz, Peter and the Starcatcher, City of Angels. Umbrella Stage Company: Network, The Minutes, The Colored Museum, Head Over Heels, Fences. The Gold Dust Orphans: A Grinchley Christmas Carol, The Ebonic Woman. Greater Boston Stage Company: Miss Holmes. SpeakEasy Stage Company: Shakespeare in Love, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Kathy St. George* (Charwoman) – CSC: Carol '24, '25. Broadway: Two productions of Fiddler On The Roof including the Tony-Award winning revival directed by Jerome Robbins. Off-Broadway: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Five National Tours. Boston area credits include North Shore Music Theatre: The Full Monty, Grease, Peter Pan, 9 to 5, Fiddler. Lyric Stage: Our Town, Urinetown, Drowsy Chaperone, Gypsy, Sister Act, Follies, Light Up The Sky. SpeakEasy Stage: A Man Of No Importance, Once, Violet, Ruthless!, The Divine Sister, Significant Other. Shubert Theatre: Showboat. Greater Boston Stage: Dear Miss Garland, Mame, Pete 'N Keely, Annie, Menopause The Musical. A native of Stoneham, MA, Kathy was honored with the 2025 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence.

Hayley Travers* (Catherine, Mrs. Dilber) – CSC: A Christmas Carol '24 and '25. Syracuse Stage: Once. Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Secret Garden. Theatre Under The Stars: The Secret Garden. The Kennedy Center: Children of Eden. Studio Theatre: Silence! The Musical. Hayley has sung with orchestras across the country including Indianapolis Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, and the American Pops.

Gillian Weatherford (Traveling Player/Female Swing) – CSC: A Christmas Carol, The Winter's Tale, Richard II (ARC company). Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse: The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, Baskerville. Four Corners Musical Theater: Jekyll and Hyde, The Addams Family, Sister Act. Regional Theater of the Palouse: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Ohio Light Opera: The Student Prince, Hello Dolly!, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. College Light Opera Company: Trouble in Tahiti, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Pirates of Penzance, The Danger Year. NYU Steinhardt: Nine, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Magic Flute.

(*) Members of Actors Equity Association.

TOUR DATES

• Friday December 11 at 7pm
• Saturday December 12 at 2pm
• Saturday December 12 at 7pm - Press Opening
• Sunday December 13 at 2pm
• Wednesday December 16 at 7pm
• Thursday December 17 at 7pm
• Saturday December 19 at 2pm - Audio Description with Tactile Tour
• Saturday December 19 at 7pm - ASL Interpreted
• Sunday December 20 at 2pm - ASL Interpretation and Audio Description with Tactical Tour

All performances are open captioned.

Foundational support for Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' is generously provided by The Cashman Family and the Poduska Family Foundation. Media Sponsors include The Boston Globe, The Newbury Boston, GBH, and Boston Central.

In partnership with Think Outside the Vox, CSC offers a range of accessibility services, including open captioning, assistive listening devices, and large-print and braille programs at every performance, with ASL interpretation and audio description available at select performances.

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