Carolers

WASILLA — The Valley Bistro and Teeland’s Mercantile in Wasilla is an unlikely, yet somewhat suitable, venue for the community production of “A Christmas Carol,” directed by local wood floor salesman A.J. Seims.

Teeland’s has been around longer than Wasilla itself, transformed years ago from the jovial convenient store it once was during the colony days to the bustling bistro that sits along Main Street today.

The hardwood floors inside are reminiscent of early America, with each step echoing off the white walls. The wooden staircase leading up the center of the dining area creaks and stretches when used. Green panel-style windows are draped with bright white holiday lights, giving a country, down-home appeal.

Seims could envision no other venue than this for his production of “A Christmas Carol.”

For four weeks, Teeland’s Mercantile will become 19th-century England, a Dickens setting that brings all the elements of the stage together for two hours of entertaining richness.

Teeland’s comfortably seats 60 guests, so unlike the typical theater setting found at venues such as the Valley Performing Arts Center, the bistro has limited space to work with. On top of that, “Carol” is a dinner show and in most dinner shows, the audience not only comes to enjoy the stage entertainment, but are there to dine, converse with loved ones and are less prone to sit still.

It’s a task Seims took on last year with much success, as “Carol” sold out every show during it’s four-week run. He attributes this to the uniqueness of a traditional dinner show, which promotes an intimate gathering and said audiences are still in love with the Dickens classic.

“In this production, we add a little character to Dickens’ original,” Seims said. “The actors also narrate the story, that way everyone can tell the story from a different voice. We used different twists this year than last.”

“A Christmas Carol” is a tale of many things, as was Charles Dickens’ intention when he created his “little Christmas book” in 1843. The story throws political subtleties and jabs into a fine mix of family comedy, colorful songs and lots of ghosts.

On the surface, many agree “Carol” plays a critical role in redefining the importance of Christmas and the major sentiments associated with the sometimes dreaded holiday. Others claim “Carol” deals extensively with two of Dickens’ recurrent themes, social injustice and poverty.

Scrooge is a beacon for the rich, the greedy and the powerful, unable to sympathize with the struggling working class.

A.J. Seims studied his Scrooge tirelessly.

Seims is a member of the Triumvirate Theater group, a Soldotna-based theater run under the umbrella of The Alaska Children’s Institute for the Performing Arts (ACIPA), a nonprofit corporation founded in 1998 to bring the benefits of theater to children.

Seims, along with other aspiring actors in Alaska, help teach young people the important skills of responsibility and self confidence to help enrich the lives of those who attend theater productions in their community.

“I find that it is really beneficial for the community to teach theater to our youth, to get them involved and interested in the classics,” Seims said.

Like it or not, “A Christmas Carol” is a classic story indeed.

Scrooge and his clerk Bob Cratchit (Scott Alred) are at work in the counting house, which in reality is a 7-foot by 5-foot elevated platform inside Teeland’s main entrance. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred (Mark Bounds), enters to wish his uncle a merry Christmas, inviting him to Christmas dinner the next day. He is dismissed by his relative with, “Bah! Humbug!” among other Scroogisms, who denounces Christmas as a complete fraud.

Two well-to-do women from town (Veronica Bounds and Mandy Larson) then enter trying to collect charitable donations for the poor, but they are also rebuffed by Scrooge.

Scrooge leaves his counting house and in keeping with his miserly character, returns to his small suite of largely unfurnished rooms within the house, which he keeps dark and cold since “darkness is cheap.” A cast of less than 15 stand in various positions on the second floor of the restaurant, recounting parts of Scrooge’s story.

This is an effective approach, as Teeland’s limited working area allows for little freedom in movement and variation for the actors. Candles and two stage lights keep the mystery and mood illuminated, giving the illusion you are in Scrooge’s house, watching vicariously.

This intimacy also means that the audience, in order to follow along with the story, needs to be fairly aware of the dialogue spewed at them from every direction.

Scrooge climbs into his bed, a small coffin-like structure atop another raised platform across the restaurant, and hears a clanking noise. Marley’s ghost (Jason Bailey) passes through the door and appears before Scrooge. He tells Scrooge that he has a chance to escape the same fate he’s endeavored through the visitation of three more spirits that will appear one by one. Scrooge is shaken but not entirely convinced the foregoing wasn’t just a dream and goes to bed thinking a good night’s sleep will make him feel better.

Of course, it doesn’t.

One by one, the ghost’s appear, showing Scrooge the errors of his ways, the lost opportunities, the greed, the destructiveness at the cost of his own defective character and eventually how he could set things right and enjoy Christmas all at once.

“We have a fun and wonderful cast this year,” Seims said. “Everybody pretty much works their tales off to pull this thing off, and they do it extremely well.”

Veronica Bounds doesn’t hesitate at patting herself on the back this holiday season. Playing four roles in “Carol,” Bounds learned a multitude of Christmas songs, took on a British accent and threw herself into the production behind the scenes with an end result that will both entertain and dazzle the audience.

“I have a large personality, so I guess I’m perfect to do this sort of thing,” Bounds said, adjusting her 19th century costume dress.

Bounds said her and her husband, Mark, who’s enlisted at Elmendorf Air Force Base, like the small stage setting and enjoy giving back to the community with theater, even though both have had little to no experience performing in front of an audience before.

The couple auditioned with dozens of other local aspiring actors and said even though there is no residual pay for their efforts, the experience is well worth it.

“I get more stage time knowing the director,” Veronica Bounds laughed. “And if he wants to pay us, I have nothing against it.”

Mandy Larson, another newcomer to the Valley stage, said she finds the most difficult thing about doing a multi-charactered performance of a classic story is the acrobats involved in wardrobe changes.

“That can get a little hairy,” Larson said. “I’m a stay at home mom full-time, so this is the kind of thing I like to do when I can get out of the house.”

All of the actors in A.J. Seims “A Christmas Carol” vision work, and not just in the fitting sense, but also in the physical.

The lines are in traditional Dicken-ese, old English that sings a language no longer used, yet understood. For all of the actors, rehearsal is key.

“I want to do that again because it didn’t sound or look right,” Seims said during a rehearsal at Teeland’s last week. “We have a week to go and a lot to remember here.”

Seims’ young son, Jes, adjusted his beanie cap and muttered his lines under his breath. Even though it’s another rehearsal and not the real deal, his face shows anticipation for opening night, and fear.

“It’s fun doing this,” the young Seims said. “I get to do a lot of different things and wear cool clothes.”

Rischele Huntington, stage manager for “A Christmas Carol,” makes minor adjustments on Veronica Bounds’ dress and looks for her script.

“You can use this one in all of the scenes,” Huntington said to Bounds, finding a place in the mercantile to sit. “There’s so many little things and details to get ready for. We have so few actors this year, tons of costume changes upstairs and down, not to mention all the narration to synchronize, it can be tough!”

Seims sees that even though the challenges with “A Christmas Carol” are prevalent, the ambition from all the actors involved is dedicated and plentiful.

“It’s a great story, a holiday story,” Seims said. “We’ve done this before and plan on showing people a good time next week. I think we can pull this off and hope there’s an audience to please.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.