PD Harris

UP: Chesapeake

    The Events for Players staff were busily at work preparing for the upcoming performances of their production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The play had been adapted by Mocqula Sisumia to work within the confines of the PaxLair Center for the Performing Arts and this was the dress rehearsal. The cast consisted of:

Mocqula Sisumia as the Narrator, Fezziwig, Marley's Ghost and Old Joe,
Azazel as the Narrator and Ebeneser Scrooge,
Anabelle as the Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and
Tessa as Scrooges nephew Fred, Portly gentleman, miner, and Mrs. Dilbert.

They were to perform the play in five acts with the poet Shenji to read some of his works in-between acts three and four.

I'll be the first to admit I had concerns on how the play could be adapted to work in the environment of the PaxLair Center but Mr. Sisumia did and outstanding job. The play flowed almost seamlessly from scene to scene as the players dashed off or hid themselves though expert choreography. The dialogue had been adapted to the point that if you had never read the original version you would never know you weren't watching it.

A row of lanterns was used to light the front of the stage and to delineate it from the rest of the hall. Simplistic? Yes. Did it work? Perfectly! The illusion of a stage became a reality as the cast, doubling as the crew, changed props upstage as the audiences' attention was held by the actor's downstage. Only careful planning and a lot of work can pull off a feat such as that.

During the intermission break between the third and forth acts Shenji, a local poet, was to read some of his works to delight the audience. The pieces he rehearsed were quite good and somewhat amusing though he was not sure which he would be reciting the next night at the opening in ShadowCove.

Azazels' troupe, The Events for Players (or E.F.P) was producing the play. Azazel and his events are well known on the shard and this would be one of his finest. Reports indicate that this has been the highest attended event to date for the E.F.P. - no small feat considering the time of year that it was playing. When asked if he would be producing any further play adaptations in the near future Azazel was hesitant to commit one way or the other. It is my feeling though that this will not be the only play the E.F.P. will produce. The show was such a smashing success that all the hard work that was put into it was well worth it.

If you would like more information on the Events for Players you can visit their web site at http://users.erols.com/enter/EFP/. The site is nicely designed for ease of use, and you will find everything you need if you wish to use or help out with any of their services or future events. The troupe are taking a short respite after this production as there is nothing scheduled for the near future yet, but I'm sure it wont be long until the next E.F.P production.

From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Thursday, March 9th 2000