We’ve lived in the greater Iowa City area for nearly twenty years and to say that we are smitten with our adopted hometown would be a grievous understatement. Of all the treasures here, and there are many, there is none so valuable as the Riverside Theatre, which has been providing full professional theatre seasons for over three decades. There have been countless times that we have stumbled back out onto North Gilbert Street after a Riverside production, breathless and transformed.

After so many years on the opposite side of the aisle, I am proud to be involved in Riverside‘s intimate and compelling production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Our version is Paul Morella‘s adaptation of the novel as a solo performance. Consummate actor Tim Budd deftly brings over forty unique and fully formed characters to life in this production. Many of my friends have asked me “but HOW does he do it?” and I can honestly tell you, having seen it myself for weeks now, I have no idea. Somehow Tim disappears utterly and in his place is Dickens’ full cast of characters. My role is to use music to provide even more richness and momentum.

Preparing for this production has been marvelously educational for me, having never acted myself, and has been a fascinating glimpse into all that goes into bringing a professional production to fruition. Music has never before been used in this adaptation so our endlessly imaginative and thoughtful director Ron Clark and I collaborated to weave together some traditional Christmas carols with some jigs and hornpipes as well as some other original music.

If you’ve ever seen A Christmas Carol, you need to see this production. If you’ve never seen A Christmas Carol, you need to see this production. Dickens’ themes are enduring and it would do us all good to reflect this holiday season on how we use our most precious natural resource, time.