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Fifth-graders present ‘A Christmas Carol’ with modern twist
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Through visits from Christmas past, present, and future, Ebony Scrooge (Haley Farrow, top right) starts to rethink her choices. During a visit from Christmas present (Austin Dabney, top left), Ebony must watch as Mr. Cratchet (Dylan Fitzpatrick) says how cruel she is for not giving his wife any time off for Christmas.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Ebony Scrooge (Haley Farrow, far right) apologized to the Cratchet family for her unkind actions after learning her lesson through visits from Christmas past, present, and future.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .During the Frank Ohl production of "A Christmas Carol" on Dec. 20, Mrs. Cratchet (Elise Yantes, left) asked her mean and greedy boss Ebony Scrooge to have some time off for the Christmas holiday. Scrooge (Hayley Farrow) answered with a definite no.
By SARAH FOOR
During the Frank Ohl fifth-grade Drama Club’s inaugural performance last winter, the group brought the classic tale “A Christmas Carol” to the stage. This year, their Dec. 20 performance explored that same story with a modern twist.
Cast with female leads, the modern take on “A Christmas Carol” followed Ebony Scrooge, a mean, but wealthy, restaurant owner who finds ghosts plaguing her on Christmas Eve, including her old business partner Marla.
Ebony, played by actress Haley Farrow, offers up cold advice during the play when a group of nuns ask for funds to help feed the poor.
“Stop feeding the poor, the hungry, the sick and the suffering. It makes them live just a little bit longer and makes them suffer just a little bit more,“ Scrooge sneered during the play.
Through visits from Christmas past, present and future, Ebony Scrooge sees the error of her ways and vows to be kind, generous and warm.
Scrooge enjoys the holidays with her employee, Mrs. Cratchet and her family. In lieu of gifts, Scrooge offers money but tells Mrs. Cratchet’s children not to go down the same path she did.
“Greed is a bad thing. It’s like a disease that gets into your heart and slowly kills it. But there is a cure – it’s called giving. Merry Christmas,” Ebony shared.
Drama club adviser Jeff Swavel said the club’s second Christmas production was a success and that interest in the fifth-grade club is still is very great.
“We’ve learned to scale back a little bit from last year to make our production smaller and more manageable. But the kids are still so excited with the club – we had half of the 400 fifth-grade students try out. It’s wonderful to see that enthusiasm,” Swavel said.