The Virginia Playwright & Screenwriters Initiative
at the
Hamner Theater
presents
A Christmas Carol
by
Clinton A. Johnston
Sunday, July 25 at 4:00 p.m.
Director – Boomie Pedersen
Dramaturg – Chris Baumer & Boomie Pedersen
Technical Director – J. Taylor

CAST:
Chris Baumer as Scrooge,
with The Company:
John Holdren
Jared Ivory
Kerry Moran
Dinah Pehrson
Phyllis Reed (Gardner)
Rick Steeves
Carrie Stuart

Johnston continues his love affair with "the classics" by his latest writing challenge, a modernized, Americanized adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. In this version, Johnston attempts the task of staying obsessively true to the spirit and content of Dickens's great work while resetting it in a context that today's audiences can relate to.

Playwright Clinton A. Johnston, a member of the theater faculty at Mary Baldwin College, holds an MFA in Directing from UVA, and has more than a decade of experience acting and directing in local theaters. Recent directorial credits include Othello at Four County Players, and Macbeth, Ph.D. for Mary Baldwin. His play, Am I Black Enough, Yet? was co-produced by the Hamner Theater and Charter Theater, and was performed in Nellysford, Roanoke, Charlottesville & Washington, D.C. in March 2008.
The Virginia Playwrights and Screenwriters Initiative (VPSI) is a part of the Hamner Theater's continuing mission to foster new works. VPSI provides a venue for the writer to workshop, rewrite and rehearse a new script with a company of experienced actors, a director and a dramaturg. The writer participates in a process of readings, rehearsal and discussion with cast, director and dramaturg, culminating in a public staged reading. Following the reading, there is a discussion open to all.