On tour with A Christmas Carol

Here are a few shots we wanted to share from A Christmas Carol's performances in the tri-state and mid-south!

Kevin  and Charles at the Frankel's party in Westchester enjoying a post-performance chat.

Joey and Kevin thanking Ruth for her hospitality. We're so glad she had us back for a second year.
Do we hear a third? 

Guests just after the performance in Hartford give a round of applause for A Christmas Carol!

At the Evergreen Theatre in Memphis, TN, Kevin  talks with Sandy after the first performance.

A Christmas Carol in The Studio Theatre at Theatre Row featured in The Wall Street Journal!

We are so pleased at the success we had presenting A Christmas Carol in the Studio Theatre at Theatre Row on 42nd Street. It was a great kick off to the holiday season!

Our poster in the lobby of Theatre Row!

Wrap a New Present In Fables of the Past

The Wall Street Journal - by PIA CATTON

Going deeper into the characters of "A Christmas Carol" is the mission on another Theatre Row stage, though John Kevin Jones's interpretation is a straight from the text, solo retelling of "A Christmas Carol," presented by Summoners Ensemble Theatre at the Studio Theatre from Wednesday to Saturday.

For Mr. Jones, Ebenezer Scrooge is more than a curmudgeon who changes his life out of a sense of guilt—it's more important that he's motivated by a new desire to do good. "I wanted to see him with his own humanity and experiences," he said. "It's about thinking, 'I haven't done anything to help anyone else and I haven't reached out.'"

His approach is pared down to a set comprising just a table and chair. The props are mimed, and Mr. Jones wears a simple costume that only approximates a period look. In many of the productions he's seen, he said, "there was something about the overblown production quality that took away from what Dickens was trying to say to us."

Keeping things simple also helps illustrate that "A Christmas Carol," though written 169 Christmases ago, offers enduring themes of struggle, generosity and forgiveness. "During the last Gilded Age there was such disparity between rich and poor," Mr. Jones said. "This businessman is all out for himself."

Scrooge can be a businessman, a comedian or a bodega owner, but the moral still works. And if it's a little different every year, all the better.

To read this article in its entirety, click the link below

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324478304578169522159736006.html?KEYWORDS=Pia+catton

Sharing success! Rhonda, Kevin, Joey and Sonya enjoying some post-performance glow!

A Christmas Carol makes big impact for some adorable little ones!

Duncan Regional Hospital presented A CHRISTMAS CAROL on December 23, 2012 and the evening was a great success. Proceeds benefited their outpatient Pediatric Rehab program. Here's a few snaps from the evening! 

Emma Harper says merry Christmas! - she was a guest of Duncan Regional Hospital that evening and one of the recipients of the proceeds of the event 

Kevin talks with the audience at the wine and cheese before the show!

The lobby full of festive folks and the holiday spirit!

Caught with his mouth open.... No one is surprised!

The beautiful lobby of the Duncan Regional Hospital's Pavilion.

DRH raised $2,900 which will help them to purchase toys and blankets for the children.

Here are two of the children that will benefit along with their therapists and the Foundation chair - Betty Apple. We're so proud our show could be a part of their mission!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Dec. 12-15, 2012

Summoners Ensemble Theatre is thrilled to present John Kevin Jones in his solo performance of A Christmas Carol directed by Dr. Rhonda Dodd. A Christmas Carol will play four performances only December 12-15 at The Studio Theatre in Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street ).

Starting with Dickens’ own performing version of A Christmas Carol, John Kevin Jones and Rhonda Dodd have crafted a work of storytelling that highlights Dickens’ beautiful imagery and wry humor. Summoners Ensemble brings A Christmas Carol’s ghosts, graveyards, goodness and redemption to life with one actor and over 15 characters. A performance and story that is sure to resonate with you and your family long after this holiday season is past.

Click this link to watch our trailer: http://youtu.be/RDmiDB6tip8

Ticket Information:

Tickets are available by calling Telecharge at (212)239-6200, online at http://www.telecharge.com or at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42^nd Street). Ticket price is $18.00.

Performance Schedule:

A Christmas Carol plays Wednesday, December 12 at 7:00pm, Thursday and Friday, December 13 and 14 at 7:30pm and Saturday, December 15 at 2:00pm.

CREATIVE TEAM:

John Kevin Jones is a member of Actors’ Equity, The Dramatist Guild of America and is an Artistic Associate of Summoners Ensemble Theatre. New York credits include Jeffrey (opposite Bryan Batt) at Lincoln Center, The Winter’s Tale and The Caucasian Chalk Circle both with the Hipgnosis Theatre Company. Regional: American Stage in St. Pete, Florida (The Pavilion), Arkansas Rep. (Othello), Kentucky Rep (The Rivals, All My Sons, Comedy of Errors), Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, Tennessee (Angels in America, Last Night of Ballyhoo, Gross Indecency). Directing credits include A Lie Of The Mind at Theatre Memphis, Revenge of the Space Pandas at Texas Shakespeare Festival and Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at Playhouse on the Square. 

Rhonda Dodd (Collaborative Director) is the Artistic Director of Summoners Ensemble Theatre. On, above and behind the boards, Rhonda is an award winning actor, technician and director.  Arriving in New York with over 150 shows under her belt, she made her Off-Broadway acting debut in 1994 with Terese Hayden’s Workshop in Tennessee Williams’ Period of Adjustment. Since that time, besides finishing her Ph.D., she has worked both as an actor and director as part of the New York Independent Theatre scene.  For almost ten years as Associate Director of Circle in the Square Theatre School Dr. Dodd helped young actors at the beginning of their careers both with advice and acting expertise. Still acting in and around New York, Rhonda has also worked regionally including shows with the New Harmony Theater in Indiana and the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival.

Summoners Ensemble Theatre Through development of new works, new productions of older works, and strategic collaborations, Summoners Ensemble strives to nurture and entertain theatre audiences.

Follow Summoners Ensemble Theatre on Twitter: @Summoners and on Facebook.

Follow A Christmas Carol with John Kevin Jones on on Facebook. High-res publicity photos available for download here.

Next Up - SET Sessions

Summoners Ensemble Theatre’s 

SET Sessions offers classes

Junk Drawer Drama
with Susan J. Vitucci

And

Creating Improvised Pieces
with Hugh Sinclair

May 26, 2012

@ STUDIOS 353 West 48th Street (between 8th and 9th), 2nd Floor

Get SET for an experience that is sure to motivate your inner visionary! Theatre artists are generating success through creating their own unique works and storytelling is fundamental. Susan Vitucci and Hugh Sinclair show Session participants how to mine their ingenuity, imagination and initiative to establish and expand their individual creative voice.

SET is offering two original Storytelling Sessions:

Junk Drawer Drama – 10:15 am to 1:15 pm
There is no better way to discover the vital building blocks of theatre than to strip it down to its core. Ever wonder how all that clutter in your apartment could be considered art? Use found and made objects to get down to the essence of theatre making - storytelling. Working in teams, SET Session participants develop performance works based on a common fable allowing them to use their ingenuity and creativity to make old stories new again. Excellent for actors, directors and playwrights, Junk Drawer Drama allows everyone to be a part of the creative process from start to finish.

Susan J. Vitucci is a librettist, director, puppet designer, and performer. Her acclaimed puppet operetta Love’s Fowl (music by Henry Krieger) gained wide recognition from a feature story that is often rebroadcast on public radio’s “This American Life”. Love's Fowl has enjoyed a successful run at New York Theatre Workshop and toured the U.S. Susan's Love’s Fowl puppets were nominated for an American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award.

Creating Improvised Pieces - 1:45 pm to 4:45 pm
Learn the art of building an improvised piece. While creating a safe and positive environment with warm-ups, group exercises and relationship-based scene work, this SET Session focuses on creating a closely connected community of truthfully realized characters. Participants then inhabit this world and create extended narrative pieces. Experience the thrill of spontaneous storytelling. Anyone can do it, from beginners to advanced practitioners. Actors, directors and playwrights will find Creating Improvised Pieces a wonderful way to reconnect with the joy of discovering your creativity. 

Hugh Sinclair’s recent acting credits include The Myths We Need Or How To Begin (dir. Jose Zayas), Ghost Light (59E59), Southern Promises (PS 122), Woodhull (NYC Fringe Festival,) The Wasps (Target Margin), roles at Here Arts Center, Brick Theatre, The Lark, Atlantic Theatre and many more. Regional credits include working for Epiphany, Pennsylvania Stage, and Tennessee Repertory Theatre, among others. Film: Ernest Goes To Camp, Running Mates, and Tree. Hugh’s most recent directing credits include New York Theatre Fringe Festival’s award-winning Naked In A Fishbowl. He has directed theatre (Travels With My Aunt), film (What Men Talk About), and improv shows (Shake It Up, The Natural Coffeehouse Radio Hour, What Women Talk About) as well as corporate and institutional events.

$75 per Session or $125 for both

To register please email SummonersEnsemble@gmail.com

  with the subject line “SET Sessions”

Summoners Ensemble is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1993. Through development of new works, new productions of older works, and strategic collaborations, Summoners Ensemble strives to nurture and entertain theatre audiences.

http://www.summonersensemble.org/

Are you ready?

Get SET

Summoners Ensemble reads GETTING IT

March 8, 2009 - Summoners Ensemble Theatre presented a reading of GETTING IT, by Kevin Jones.  Rhonda Dodd directed a cast which included Hugh Sinclair, Kit Williams, Kathleen R. White and Stephen Squibb.

SET thanks everyone who attended, and to those who participated in our talk-back following the performance.  Special thanks to Kelly Grider for the photos.

ELEGIES ends its run with a Gunn

ELEGIES FOR ANGELS, PUNKS AND RAGING QUEENS ended its run Sunday, October 19, 2008 with a benefit performance for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Special guest for the event was Project Runway's Tim Gunn.

ELEGIES was produced by Sweet and Tart Productions in association with Summoners Ensemble Theatre. Special thanks to Brad Caswell for including SET in this production.

[Top photo, left to right: Joey Stocks (Executive Director, Summoners Ensemble Theatre), Tim Gunn (Project Runway, Tim Gunn's Guide to
Style) and Brad Caswell (Artistic Director, Sweet and Tart Productions); Bottom photo, left to right: Dan Renkin (Artistic Associate, Summoners
Ensemble Theatre), Tim Gunn and Rhonda Dodd (Artistic Director, Summoners Ensemble Theatre)]