FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS' Brad Leland to Lead A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Dallas Theater Center

2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award Recipient Dallas Theater Center will present the annual hit production of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre.

Brad Leland, most commonly known from his role as Buddy Garrity in NBC's Friday Night Lights, as well as Bill O'Brien in HBO's Veep, will play Ebenezer Scrooge in the classic tale that follows a magical journey of hope and redemption.

A Christmas Carol begins on Nov. 22 with a Pay-What-You-Can performance benefitting the United Way of Puerto Rico and runs through Dec. 28. Press Night will be Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to A Christmas Carol are on sale now at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org and by phone at (214) 880-0202.

"A Christmas Carol is a story filled with redemption and hope, and mixed with the most mischievous and colorful parts of literary tradition," said Lee Trull, Director and DTC's Director of New Play Development. "I am thrilled that my friend Brad Leland, of Friday Night Lights fame, will bring Scrooge's journey to our stage. After a life amassing wealth and secluding himself from all humanity, Scrooge is reminded that joy was once a palpable thing of his past, and that by opening his eyes to the pain and need of those in the present, he has a chance and hope of making a positive impact on the future."

Joining Leland in the cast are Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company members Ace Anderson (Hair, Inherit the Wind, Public Works Dallas The Tempest) as Topper/Young Marley/Second Gentleman; Chamblee Ferguson (Inherit the Wind, The Christians, Deferred Action) as Bob Cratchit; Tiana Kaye Johnson (Hair, Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure, Electra) as Mrs. Dilber/Mrs. Fezziwig; Liz Mikel (Miller, Mississippi, Inherit the Wind, Bella: An American Tall Tale) as Mrs. Cratchit and Alex Organ (Miller, Mississippi, Inherit the Wind, Electra) as Fred/Undertaker's Man. Additional cast members include Ian Ferguson (Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure) as First Gentleman; Kristen Lee as Belle/Lucy; Beth Lipton (Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure) as Ghost of Christmas Past; Will Power as Jacob Marley/Old Joe, Jahi Kearse as Mr. Fezziwig/Ghost of Christmas Present and Samantha Rat Rios as Martha Cratchit. Southern Methodist University student Ana Hagedorn will play the role of Sister.

Members of the youth ensemble include Madison Michelle Verre as Fan/Hunger, Nina Ruby Gameros as Tiny Tim, Donovan Covarrubias as Peter Cratchit, Aidan Singh as Boy/Poverty, Sophia Teyolia as Fan/Hunger, Josiah Gamino as Tiny Tim, Omar-Sol Teyolia as Boy/Poverty, Bella Saucer Ehring as Belinda Cratchit, Mark Hancock as Peter Cratchit and Ria Marsh as Belinda Cratchit.

Once again, this production will take full advantage of the Wyly Theatre's flexible environment, placing the audience in the center of the magic with the action happening all around them. Tony Award-winning set designer Beowulf Boritt (All The Way, Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream) brings the vibrant world of the play to life. Jen Caprio (All The Way, Colossal, The School for Wives) returns to DTC bringing her fresh interpretations of traditional Victorian costume designs. Also returning to DTC is Tony Award-winner Jeff Croiter (Colossal, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Arsenic and Old Lace) as lighting designer; Broken Chord (Hair, Electra, Deferred Action) as sound designer; Valerie Gladstone (A Christmas Carol) as wig designer and Jeremy Allen Dumont (A Christmas Carol, The Fortress of Solitude) as choreographer.

For the tenth consecutive year, DTC is working alongside North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) to help those in need across North Texas. During performances of A Christmas Carol, DTC will provide a location in the Wyly lobby for patrons to donate canned goods to NTFB. Members of the cast will also collect monetary donations after every performance. Over the last ten years, DTC has presented more than $500,000 to NTFB to aid in the fight against hunger.

DTC's Come Early will take place one hour before every performance and DTC's Stay Late presented by Wells Fargo will take place after each performance. DTC gratefully acknowledges the support of Executive Producing Partner Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Major support of this production provided by Hoblitzelle Foundation, The Meadows Foundation, and Hillcrest Foundation.

One of the leading regional theaters in the country and the 2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award Recipient, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) performs to an audience of more than 100,000 North Texas residents annually. Founded in 1959, DTC is now a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and presents its Mainstage season at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas and at its original home, the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the only freestanding theater designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. DTC is one of only two theaters in Texas that is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, the largest and most prestigious non-profit professional theater association in the country. Under the leadership of Enloe/Rose Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Managing Director Jeffrey Woodward, DTC produces a seven-play subscription series of classics, musicals and new plays and an annual production of A Christmas Carol; extensive education programs, including the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award-winning Project Discovery, SummerStage and partnerships with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and community collaboration efforts with the Sixth Floor Museum, the City of Dallas, North Texas Food Bank, the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Public Library, Dallas Holocaust Museum, Dallas Opera, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and leading the DFW Foote Festival. In 2017, DTC launched Public Works Dallas, a groundbreaking community engagement and participatory theater project designed to deliberately blur the line between professional artists and community members, culminating in an annual production featuring over 200 Dallas citizens performing a Shakespeare play. Throughout its history, DTC has produced many new works, including The Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones in 1978; Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, adapted by Adrian Hall, in 1986; and recent premieres of Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew; Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn; Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs; Deferred Action by Lee Trull and David Lozano; Clarkston by Samuel D. Hunter; Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical by Robert Horn, Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally; FLY by Rajiv Joseph, Bill Sherman and Kirsten Childs; Fly by Night by Kim Rosenstock, Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly; The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses; Giant by Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson; The Trinity River Plays by Regina Taylor; the revised It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; Give It Up! (now titled Lysistrata Jones and recently on Broadway) by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin; and The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson. Dallas Theater Center gratefully acknowledges the support of our season sponsors: Texas Instruments, American Airlines, Lexus and NBC 5.

 

---

Join Team BroadwayWorld

Are you an avid theatergoer? We're looking for people like you to share your thoughts and insights with our readers. Team BroadwayWorld members get access to shows to review, conduct interviews with artists, and the opportunity to meet and network with fellow theatre lovers and arts workers.

Interested? Learn more here.

---