McCarter Helps Mercer Street Friends 'Send Hunger Packing' This Holiday Season

McCarter Theatre Center is proud to announce a new partnership with Mercer
Street Friends Food Bank, in conjunction with McCarter's annual production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, running December 9 - 31 in McCarter's Matthews Theatre.

Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, a county-wide institution dedicated to combatting poverty and its effects on communities, is engaged in a special children's hunger program entitled "Send Hunger Packing." While many students in need are provided food assistance during the week, Send Hunger Packing engages with 21 local schools to provide hundreds of children facing food hardships with nutritious kid-friendly food packs to take home on Friday afternoons during the school year. These
food packs ensure that the children have meals to eat over the weekend and return to school nourished and ready to learn.

At McCarter Theatre Center, patrons are encouraged to visit the lobbies an hour before each performance of A Christmas Carol To fill out a holiday card for children enrolled in the Send Hunger Packing program, offering messages of love and good cheer for the holidays. This special community service activity is perfect for families and children, and is a no-cost way to brighten the spirits of our neighbors during the holiday season.

In addition to supporting the Send Hunger Packing program, McCarter will be conducting post-show fundraising efforts after each performance of A Christmas Carol, the proceeds of which will pass directly to Mercer Street Friends Food Bank to support all organizational initiatives. McCarter annual Community Assistance Program has raised more than $275,000 since 2009, benefiting numerous
Mercer County support service organizations and non-profits.

Brian Peterson, Community Resource Liaison for the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, says "The holidays are a time to come together as family and as a community. We are touched to have had McCarter Theatre Center as such a great supporter of the Food Bank throughout the years, and are thrilled to work together to support Send Hunger Packing as well as many other much-needed programs. I thank both McCarter and its patrons for their support in our work to alleviate hunger
in the community."

McCarter Director of Education and Engagement Erica Nagel adds "Whether through our work onstage or in schools, McCarter is dedicated to working with and serving our community in as many ways as possible. I'm thrilled to deepen our relationship with Mercer Street Friends Food Bank by supporting all of their amazing efforts, including Send Hunger Packing."

About Mercer Street Friends
Mercer Street Friends was founded in 1958 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) who were concerned about the decaying Trenton community and its impact on residents. The founding Quaker volunteers responded by renovating a 100-year old meeting house no longer used for worship, located on Mercer Street in the Mill Hill section of Trenton, and turning the facility into a community
center for neighbors.

Over the ensuing decades, Mercer Street Friends had grown into a multi-faceted human service agency. Today the organization serves more than 20,000 families throughout Mercer County who face the challenges and impacts of poverty. Programs target disparities related to: education, food insecurity,
parental and family wellness, youth enrichment opportunities and community-building capacity.

Mercer Street Friends honors the equality of all people and strives for a just, prosperous, and peaceful society for all. Their mission is bridging opportunity gaps and helping families and communities make thejourney out of poverty. Supported by a combination of government, corporate and foundation grants and private donations, Mercer Street Friends reaches its goals thanks to a workforce of 70 employees and more than 500 volunteers. For more information, visit www.mercerstreetfriends.org.

About McCarter Theatre Center
Led by Artistic Director/Resident Playwright Emily Mann and Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, McCarter Theatre Center is a leading destination for playwrights, actors, and directors to collaborate on ambitious world premieres, re-imagined classics, adaptations, and developmental workshops. Awarded the 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, McCarter has evolved into a nationally and internationally acclaimed theatre recognized for its first-rate productions, daring world premieres, and lasting contributions to the American theatrical canon. The theatre is celebrated for its emphasis on the creation and development of new work, marked especially by an on-going program of commissions, an annual artists retreat, and the fostering of long term relationships with emerging and established playwrights.

Among the noteworthy dramatists whose work has received world premieres, developmental productions, and workshops at McCarter are: Edward Albee, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Sarah Treem, Marina Carr, Lydia Diamond, John Guare, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, ReGina Taylor, Beth Henley, Danai Gurira, and Athol Fugard. Many, including Eclipsed, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Having Our Say,
Anna in the Tropics, Crowns, Valley Song, and Yellowman, received original workshops at McCarter before moving on to Broadway and/or become some of the most frequently produced plays in the American theater. McCarter is equally recognized for its reinvestigations of the classic canon including Fiasco Theater's reimagined production of Into the Woods, Stephen Wadsworth's acclaimed adaptations of the Marivaux Trilogy and Beaumarchais' Figaro plays, Brian Friel's Translations, and Emily Mann's adaptations of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba.

After the new year, McCarter's Theater Series continues with the acclaimed theatre company Bedlam's productions of Saint Joan and Hamlet, Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (world premiere), and Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel. Visit www.mccarter.org for more information.

Ticket Information and Performance Schedule
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol runs December 9 - 31 in the Matthews Theatre. Single tickets range from $25 - $93 and are on sale now online at mccarter.org, by phone at (609) 258-2787, or in person at the McCarter Theatre Ticket Office, located at 91 University Place in Princeton.

McCarter is supported by Princeton University, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and over 3,000 individuals, corporations, and foundations. McCarter Theatre is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, NJ. For more information, please visit www.mccarter.org.

A Christmas Carol is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

This production is sponsored by Bank of America. Additional production support provided by McCarter & English, Attorneys at Law; and Saul Ewing, LLP.

The production running time is two hours with one 15-minute intermission.

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