Give the Gift of an Onstage Experience at Bucks County Playhouse

For many, being onstage would be a dream come true, and this holiday season Bucks County Playhouse and gift-givers can make those dreams a reality. Imagine giving a holiday gift that provides the rare opportunity for someone to be a part of a professional theater production!

With the world premiere of Bucks County Playhouse's "Ebenezer Scrooge's Big Playhouse Christmas Show," there is a very special gift-giving package available at the theater.

Based on the Dicken's classic, "A Christmas Carol," this adaptation, set in the town of New Hope PA, offers the opportunity for local theater-lovers and aspiring thespians to join a cast of five Broadway actors on the historic Playhouse stage with Scene-Stealers: Scrooge's Big Playhouse Performance Gift Package.

This package includes a two-hour workshop to learn and rehearse their roles, a costume fitting, box lunch, tour of the Playhouse backstage, 'put-in' rehearsal on the mainstage with the cast, pre-show prep in theater dressing room, and performance of the show for the Bucks County audience.

Each performance will be followed by Christmas carols in the Playhouse courtyard. The cost is $150 per participant with a special discount on tickets for family members. For more information, visit bcptheater.org/donate/education-programming/scene-stealers-christmas-show. The gift is appropriate for anyone ages 9 to 99.

Michaela Murphy, Education Director of Bucks County Playhouse, is planning this special opportunity. "There is nothing like giving an experiential gift," she said recently. "It's so much more than receiving tickets to a show - it's receiving the opportunity to BE in a show and work with professional actors and 'live' the life of an actor for a day. That will be a memory that will last a lifetime!"

Below are the details of the Scene-Stealers: Scrooge's Big Playhouse Performance Gift Package.

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THE EXPERIENCE:

Workshops:

The day begins at 10 a.m. with a 1-hour, 45 min workshop to introduce participants to the world of the play as designed by Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) professional theater artists. Participants will explore the play's major themes of introspection and redemption through a progression of theater games, improvisation, and interactive exercises and prepare to make their BCP main-stage debut in one performance of Ebenezer Scrooge's Big Playhouse Christmas Show as members of the play's roaming carolers.

During the workshop, participants will rehearse for their BCP debut, learning the staging and several Christmas carols for the two scenes.

A complimentary box lunch will be served at The Ferry Market in New Hope, PA immediately following the workshop.

After lunch, participants, now guest members of BCP's professional production, will tour the Playhouse backstage prior to 'call-time', be fitted with costumes for the show, and moved into their dressing rooms to prepare for a pre-show (put in) rehearsal to meet and go over their scenes with the professional cast and crew.

At 'call-time' all actors, including guest members of the cast, will meet on the Playhouse stage and rehearse both scenes. This time will be used for participants to rehearse the staging learned earlier in the day, working the scenes through with professional actors, and learning all exits, entrances, and the company curtain call.

30 minutes before the show begins, half-hour will be called by the stage manager and all company members will return to their dressing rooms to prepare for the performance.

During the show, guest cast members will be guided by a production assistant to their places backstage and cued for all stage entrances.

Participants: 5-10 people*

Schedule for Workshops & Matinee Performances at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main Street, New Hope:

Saturday, December 16; Saturday, December 23; Wednesday, December 27; Thursday, December 28 and Saturday, December 30.

Workshops: 10:00-11:45 -- Lambertville Hall, 57 Bridge Street, Lambertville N.J 08530

Lunch: Noon -12:45 The Ferry Market, 32 South Main Street, New Hope, PA 18938

Performance: 2:00 matinee - Bucks County Playhouse

To book Scene-Stealers: Scrooge's Big Playhouse Performance Gift Package, please call the BCP Box Office: 215-862-2121. For more information, please contact Ellen Gallos: 267-740-2090 x106 or email: ellen@bcptheater.org

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Bucks County Playhouse, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, is the oldest and largest professional Equity performing arts center in Bucks County. Under the direction of Tony Award-winning producers, Alexander Fraser and Robyn Goodman, the Playhouse provides first class professional theatrical entertainment as well as community events, partnerships and arts education programming for visitors and residents of New Hope, Doylestown, Lambertville and the Delaware Valley.

Located between Philadelphia and New York, Bucks County Playhouse opened in 1939 in a converted 1790 gristmill after a group of community activists, led by Broadway orchestrator Don Walker and playwright Moss Hart, rallied to save the building. The Playhouse quickly became one of the country's most famous regional theaters, featuring a roster of American theatrical royalty including Helen Hayes, Kitty Carlisle, George S. Kaufman, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, Bert Lahr, Walter Matthau, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Alan Alda, Tyne Daly, Liza Minnelli and Audra McDonald and remained in continuous operation until December 2010. In 2012, the Playhouse re-opened thanks to the efforts of the Bridge Street Foundation, the nonprofit family foundation of Kevin and Sherri Daugherty, and Broadway producer Jed Bernstein.

Since its renovation, significant productions include Terrence McNally's "Mothers and Sons" starring Tyne Daly, which moved to Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards, and "Misery" by William Goldman based on the Stephen King novel which also went on to a Broadway run in the 2015-16 season. Two of the Playhouse's recent productions -- "Company" starring Justin Guarini, and William Finn's "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" -- were named by Wall Street Journal to its "Best of Theatre" list for 2015. The Playhouse's productions of "Steel Magnolias" and "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story" broke box office records in 2016. "Buddy" returned in 2017 and transferred to the Kimmel Center, where it became the first regional theatre invited to perform at the prestigious venue. Thanks to the Bridge Street Foundation and their vision for the New Hope waterfront, the Playhouse is currently in construction mode - as it adds 4,000 square foot riverfront cafe and bar that is expected to open in 2018.

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