Trinity Rep to offer digital production of 'A Christmas Carol'

The show must go on, but the experience will be a little different this holiday season.

Trinity Rep announced on Tuesday that it will be offering a free, on-demand digital production of “A Christmas Carol.”

Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater will start streaming the production at noon on Dec. 17, marking the 43rd year in a row that the company has produced a new version of the holiday classic by Charles Dickens.

“With the possibility of an in-person production diminishing daily throughout the summer, Curt Columbus, the Arthur P. Solomon and Sally E. Lapides artistic director, and Tom Parrish, the executive director, set in motion plans to pivot to an online version of the company’s holiday tradition,” according to a press release.

“Two early decisions set the tone for the development of the project: the video would be offered for free to anyone wishing to view it, and in keeping with the practice of creating the show anew every year, this digital experience would be unlike anything audiences had seen before,” the release noted. “This video would not be a recording of the same type of production audiences might see in person, and it would not be a Zoom reading of the script. Brainstorming sessions and writing workshops followed and what emerged was a blueprint for a unique, new media experience.”

The release went on to note that the streaming video will include segments that were filmed in-person “under strict safety guidelines and scenes recorded by actors in their homes, which required shipping cameras, props, and costumes to locations throughout Rhode Island and as far away as California. The video also includes animation and opportunities for audiences to participate in the action from home. Bonus content including a community sing-a-long will be released at the same time as the main feature.” Joe Wilson, Jr. will star as Ebenezer Scrooge, who most recently took on the role in 2017.

He will be joined by Trinity Rep resident acting company members Daniel Duque-Estrada, Rebecca Gibel, Stephen Thorne, and Rachael Warren, along with Taavon Gamble, a frequent Trinity Rep artist, plus Leander Carney, Tristan Carney, Adam Crowe, Christopher Lindsay, Evelyn Marote, Jessica N. Smith, and Rodney Witherspoon, II.

To register for free access to unlimited on-demand viewing of the video through Jan. 10, 2021, call the box office at 401-351-4242 or visit Trinity Rep's website at TrinityRep.com.