Interview: Elizabeth Bunch of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at ALLEY THEATRE

Elizabeth Bunch is a resident company member of The Alley Theatre, who has just passed over 100 shows with them after a star turn in THE MIRROR CRACK’D. She got to play a really juicy role as an aging movie star with more than just a few little secrets, but now Elizabeth is doing a show that she has probably performed at least 1,000 times. It is A CHRISTMAS CAROL. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum sat down to ask Elizabeth Bunch about this Dickens epic holiday tradition of the Alley, and how it impacts her life personally and as an artist. 

Brett Cullum: Now, this year, who are you in A CHRISTMAS CAROL?

Elizabeth Bunch: This year is our fourth year doing Rob Melrose's adaptation, and so it is my fourth year being Christmas Past in his version, but we are also all part of the ensemble, there's a lot of narration, so I am Christmas Past and others.

Brett Cullum: Yes, but your main role is, as in the past, Christmas Past. That’s a mindbender! 

Elizabeth Bunch: My biggest goal in the present is Christmas Past. If the Past were past, I'd never be it in the future. I would love to know how to do that. [Brett and Elizabeth sit in silence, thinking about all of this and how the past is past, and the past is present, and she may be past in the future.]

Brett Cullum [suddenly]: One of the obvious questions for you and the rest of the company is, what's it like doing this show annually? You do it year after year; it's become a tradition now.

Elizabeth Bunch: Yes, it is. It's a super special tradition for my family and me, because my husband is also in the company and also in the production. And this year, my 13-year-old son is also in the production. And I have a 16-year-old son, too, so over the years, not only have I aged from Belle to Mrs. Cratchit to Christmas Past. My kids have aged from Tiny Tim to Peter Cratchit to Turkey Boy, and eventually, they age out of the show entirely. I hope I never age out of the show entirely. 

Brett Cullum: It sounds like a family destiny now. You're gonna have grandkids in there! 

Elizabeth Bunch: Someday I'll be Scrooge, and they will be Christmas past.

Brett Cullum: How do you stay invested in making it feel new each year? Because I know when you come back to a show again and again, when you tour with a show, when a show has an extended run, it can be a challenge. You can get to that point where you're like, “Oh, this is autopilot.”

Elizabeth Bunch: It's really hard, and it's interesting. I've done two tours prior to being at the Alley, and even those didn't come close to the number of CHRISTMAS CAROLS I've performed. CHRISTMAS CAROL is interesting because it's a concentrated period of time. We're living in it for two months. And then we have 10 months away from it. But I definitely have done a version of Christmas Carol more than I have ever done anything else. Even when I was in it as a kid. I played Belinda Cratchit, not at the Alley, but I've done every incarnation of it possible. But it stays fresh. I don't know if it would feel the same way if we did the same summer show every year. It stays fresh because it is Christmas, because it's an event, it's a play, but it is more than a play. It is a state of mind; it is literally an annual tradition for all of these Houstonians that come, it's an annual tradition for my family and me. So, part of it is about the job of an actor, and part of it is about being a mom and a human in this holiday season. It's really exciting to bring that joy to other people. 

There are some days when it is hard, I am not going to lie. If you go on autopilot, that's when you mess up, and then you've messed up someone's Christmas. Imagine if you gave that to someone as their Christmas gift, and then, because I'm on autopilot, I screw it up for you. Like, not gonna happen.

Brett Cullum: Well, I feel like CHRISTMAS CAROL, even apart from the Alley, just in the theatrical sphere, world, whatever, it's become what the Nutcracker is to ballet. It's omnipresent! Every actor who is out there has probably done it at least once or twice. If you're a ballet dancer, you were in the NUTCRACKER at some point in your life. It had to happen! So every actor lands in this Dickens story at some point. What do you think it is about it that just endures and endures and endures?

Elizabeth Bunch: Well, it’s certainly not a story that ever needs to be stopped… like, why would we ever stop telling a story of redemption and kindness and philanthropy? It's something that we can all relate to, and it's a great balance between a story that has language and character and storyline and premise that's elevated enough for an adult, but your 7-year-old is also going to learn and gain from it. So it does, it sort of pleases everyone. And even if you're a cynic and you feel like, “Oh, I've seen it!” You're gonna come and see it, and you're gonna get something new out of the story, you really are. Especially this version, it's great because it retains much of the Dickensian language. So, even though I'd been in several different versions, there are bits and pieces to this that were new to me when we started working on this version, and they're beautiful. And they're singing! I love the singing! I don't get to sing in the rest of my life, and it's so great. There are so many a cappella Christmas carols in this; I love it.

Brett Cullum: Yeah, we need more musicals at the Alley. What's up with that? I love it when they program one like COWBOY BOB, NOIR, THE TOXIC AVENGER, and they originated JEKYLL & HYDE! 

Elizabeth Bunch: They don't trust me. They don't trust me. I could do it. I want to do INTO THE WOODS. I've always wanted to do INTO THE WOODS.

Brett Cullum: You and me both. I would kill for that! Elizabeth Bunch in INTO THE WOODS, I would be there so fast! That would be awesome. But yet, we always have CHRISTMAS CAROL. I recently read the book version, and it's surprising what is in there, and how much you forget. So maybe there is a reason for this omnipresent Dickens holiday tradition. 

Elizabeth Bunch: It's like Shakespeare. We have some traditions and tropes in our lives that we take for granted, and then when you go back to the original Dickens, or you go back to an original Shakespeare play, you go, “Oh, that's what this is from. I've always said it, and I never knew that that's what I was quoting, or this idea sprang from this.”

 

Brett Cullum: Well, let's talk about you a little bit, too. Over 100 shows at The Alley Theatre. Does anything stand out? Your favorites? Can you think of anything that you're like, “Wow, that was it! This is why I am here!” 

 

Elizabeth Bunch: There's definitely no way to narrow it down to one single thing. I have a lot of favorites. Because I'm an actor, I love character-driven plays. I will forever go back to CLYBOURNE PARK as one of my favorite plays ever. As a company, it is not only beautifully written, and the source material. His impetus to write that came from A RAISIN IN THE SUN. I learned something new every night performing that, and then, as a company, in one act, we're one character, and then it time-hops, and in the second act, we're a different character, all with the same company of actors. That was one of my favorites, always.

I absolutely loved doing Constellations, which was a two-hander between my husband, Chris Hutchison, and me. I'm super looking forward to doing another play with Chris this season, so I guarantee it's going to be one of my favorites. Chris and I will also be doing MISERY later this season. It's demented, it's so exciting! It’s going to be couples therapy at The Alley Theatre! It's really fun because Chris and I were together before we were at the Alley, and we used to joke that we were in plays all the time where our characters would never meet, and those lines have slowly intersected as, as the years have gone by, and so, like, CONSTELLATIONS was something about a deep, deep love affair, and that's really fun to explore. But then to do something that's horror, that's beyond thriller. It's a horror show that we get to do together. That's gonna be really exciting.

Brett Cullum: Is it hard, though? Okay, you're married to Chris. And then all of a sudden, you have to do a show, and MISERY is basically a two-hander. I mean, there's a sheriff in there.

Elizabeth Bunch: There's a sheriff, Christopher Salazar, yup.

Brett Cullum: Yeah, but it's basically the two of you just going at each other in every scene. Is it weird to work all day on this and then go home, only to be in the same space? You're always together. Husbands and wives don't do that, unless they're a dental hygienist at a dentist practice, or something like that scenario.

Elizabeth Bunch: No, I know. No, and you know everyone knows that in the theater, we work extremely long hours, so when we're in a tech week, and we basically are living at the theater, and people are like, “I haven't seen my husband,” I'm like, “Really? I can't get rid of mine. He's literally down the hall asking me what we're gonna do for dinner.” But no, we're very lucky. We actually work incredibly well together. And we don't have any hard and fast rules, like when we go home, we turn it off. For instance, when it's something we want to keep discussing, we continue to do so. We keep working on it. CONSTELLATIONS was probably one of the first shows that we would literally sit in the living room and run lines. We typically don't work from home, but now we do. Honestly, he's an amazing actor. I'm really happy when I get to do stuff with him.  

Brett Cullum: Definitely an amazing actor. In fact, he just passed 100 shows, too, so… 

Elizabeth Bunch: He was one behind me, yes.

Brett Cullum: Yes. And he got it in THE DA VINCI CODE, which, what a surprise and lucky you! Chris Hutchison was the eye candy of that production.

Elizabeth Bunch: I know. Lucky, lucky all of Houston.

Brett Cullum: When I saw that scene, I was like, “That's been hiding that whole time?”

Elizabeth Bunch: I know, I know. He'll bring it out when he needs to, yes.

Brett Cullum: Well, I always wanted to ask you, because I know Rob Melrose, your artistic director, one time he said to me that when he chooses seasons, he actually takes into account the desires of the company, because obviously we have a company here at the Alley. And he knows who his actors are primarily gonna be, so are there any roles that you'd just be dying to do? Like, if I could go to Rob and say, “Hey. Elizabeth really wants to do this play!” What would it be?

Elizabeth Bunch: Oh my god. Poor Rob, unfortunately, he knows everything that I want to do, because I constantly tell him. Now, whether he can do it. There is definitely a play that I have been dying to do for a couple of years, and we can't get the rights. But he knows that's one. I feel like I've been really, really lucky. There's nothing on my bucket list right now. I mean, the other thing that's weird is, as an actor, if you have a kind of bucket list of what your dream roles are. I keep changing, so the bucket list has to change, too. So I need to keep learning and growing because it's a new age range of roles that I'm dying to do. I feel really lucky about the leads that I've had at the Alley and other theaters in terms of, like, my Shakespeare chops. I'm very proud of playing Juliet and Rosalind and Viola and Olivia, and I've got a lot of really amazing ladies under my belt. But there's maybe a new genre of Shakespeare characters I need to start thinking about and looking towards. I try to get away from Houston once a year and visit New York to see what everybody else is doing. That way, it renews all my appetite for what's new and exciting and what's happening. The thing that Laurie Metcalf is doing on Broadway right now, I'm like, I need to go and see that, because I tend to play a lot of the same roles as her, so I'm like…

Brett Cullum: Didn't she play Annie Wilkes in Misery?

Elizabeth Bunch: She did! I'm, like, 10 years later, though, because I'm such a baby.

Brett Cullum: I got you. Well, talking about you being a baby, how did you get into theater? Was it something you always wanted to do, or something you wanted to do while growing up?

Elizabeth Bunch: What a leading question, because the first play I ever did was CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Brett Cullum: It's a tie-in; we go full circle. The Ghost of Christmas Past reveals she has always been in this world from the start!  

Elizabeth Bunch: You planned this! 

Brett Cullum: I didn't. I swear!  

Elizabeth Bunch: Yeah, the first play I ever did was CHRISTMAS CAROL, and it was a community theater that performed in the basement of my church. And they had done their first show, which was Androcles and the Lion, and I went to see it, and there was a little boy who would run on that had, like, a time card, and then he would run off, and I was like, I can do what Kevin's doing, why can't I do that? And they were like, well, there are auditions for the Christmas Carol coming up. And I was a little nervous, so my dad said he would audition with me, and so my dad was in it, and he played Bob Cratchit, and I played Belinda Cratchit. 

Brett Cullum: Aww. So you made it a family affair back then? This is getting weirder and weirder. Generations of your family passing down the spirit of actually being in A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  This is not fair.

Elizabeth Bunch: Yes, and now my parents have retired in Houston, so they can come and see A CHRISTMAS CAROL with my family.

Brett Cullum: Oh, scratch that! Why are they COMING to see this play? Cast them in it! They obviously know it! You can all have Christmas dinner onstage! Your husband, your kids, your parents.

Elizabeth Bunch: I have a new puppy, and the puppy could definitely be in it. The puppy could be Tiny Tim.

Brett Cullum: Absolutely. Well, we're juiced and ready to go to Christmas Carol, November 16th through December 28th at The Alley Theatre, of course. It runs about 2 hours, 15 minutes, is that right? And you've got an intermission in there.

Elizabeth Bunch: Yeah, yeah, and some very fancy hot chocolate, and some very beautiful Christmas trees in the lobby that even I take my family up and take pictures in front of, because it's so great.

Brett Cullum: I don't think I've tried the hot chocolate. Is it, like, really fancy? Okay, I'm going… I'm there. I'm sold. I'll go up and be… “Elizabeth told me to try the hot chocolate!”, okay? So it better be worth it.

Elizabeth Bunch: It's on me. Tell them it's on me.

Brett Cullum: I mean, Elizabeth and Chris, the Bunch family, all those people that are on stage, their entire family, the kids, the parents, the dog, and the show, all of them.

Elizabeth Bunch: I'm buying you a hot chocolate.

Brett Cullum: Yes. Alright, well, awesome. Well, we will be glad to see you in the future, playing the Ghost of Christmas Present. As many times as you can. Oh Gosh! Christmas Past. Oh, that's right, you're past, you're not present. This show! 

Elizabeth Bunch: Maybe we'll switch it up for you next year, we'll see. Deal. 

Brett  Cullum: Maybe you can come back as Annie Wilkes in A Christmas Carol. 

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