INSPECTING CAROL is Now Playing at ActorsNET
This high-energy holiday farce continues performances this weekend, and the curtain closes on December 21st.
By: Stephi Wild Dec. 16, 2025
ActorsNET invites audiences to catch the final weekend of INSPECTING CAROL by Daniel Sullivan, a laugh-out-loud backstage comedy that turns “A Christmas Carol” inside out. Directed by Jeff Dworkin, this high-energy holiday farce continues performances this weekend at ActorsNET, and the curtain closes on December 21st.
Set behind the scenes of a struggling theatre company’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol,” INSPECTING CAROL follows a rehearsal process that is rapidly spiraling out of control. Tiny Tim isn’t so tiny anymore, Scrooge insists on performing the show in Spanish, and the theatre’s funding has been frozen pending an official inspection. When an impossibly bad actor is mistakenly identified as the inspector, the company bends over backwards to satisfy his increasingly outrageous demands. The result is escalating chaos, mistaken identities, and side-splitting comedy as opening night approaches and it seems only a Christmas miracle can save the production!
Director Jeff Dworkin was drawn to the play’s precision and comedic range. “INSPECTING CAROL grabbed me because it serves up two kinds of comedy in the same show: classic, joke-driven comedy and the bigger physical, timing-tight machinery of farce - where a half-second pause can be the difference between a chuckle and a roar.”
Producer D. Ryan Lafferty notes that the show offers a much-needed holiday escape. “At Christmas time, laughter is the greatest gift of all. Who among us doesn’t feel the stress of the holiday season when the hustle and bustle turns into a heaping helping of anxiety? It feels as if we’re all spread thin, under rested and over inspected. This comedy is a slapstick escape, a bit of silliness, and satire sprinkled with a little magic of the season.”
Blending classic holiday spirit with theatrical backstage antics and razor-sharp timing, INSPECTING CAROL appeals to fans of Dickens, lovers of farce, and anyone ready to kick off (or survive) the holiday season with laughter!
The show features Caren Cronin as Zorah Bloch, Barry Leonard as Sidney Carlton, Elizabeth Augspach as Dorothy Tree Hapgood, Steve Lobis as Larry Vauxhall, Jim Flint as Phil Hewlitt, PJ McCall, Jr. as Walter E. Parsons, Maggie Drohan as Cathy Emery, Renée Root as Mary Jane “M.J.” McMann, Rupert Hinton as Wayne Wellacre and introduces a 2025 Summer Star Ana Rose French as Lucy Beatty. INSPECTING CAROL is directed by Jeff Dworkin with Christopher D. Root serving as the Technical Director and Stage Manager, and D. Ryan Lafferty producing.
Central Pennsylvania Awards - Live Stats
Best Musical - Top 3
1.
THE PRODUCERS (Ephrata Performing Arts Center)
24.1% of votes
2.
13 THE MUSICAL (Hershey Area Playhouse)
15% of votes
3.
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (The Pennsylvania Playhouse)
4.5% of votes
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