YSU Theater puts a Steampunk spin on ‘Carol’

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

As with most traditional and time-honored plays, “A Christmas Carol” gets a lot of different treatments every year. Theaters and playwrights add their own spin to give the Ebenezer Scrooge tale a fresh perspective.

In that vein comes “A Steampunk Christmas Carol,” an adaptation of the classic Dickens holiday tale that will be presented Friday and Saturday by Youngstown State University Theater.

The one-hour play, directed by Scott Irelan, chair of the YSU department of theater and dance, will be performed by Penguin Playhouse and Alpha Psi Omega, YSU Theater’s student-run production arm. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with an additional 2 p.m. matinee Saturday, in Ford Theater, which is inside Bliss Hall, on Wick Avenue on the YSU campus.

Though the story and script follow Dickens’ classic novel about a Victorian-era miser who is taken on a journey of self- redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions, the Steampunk genre has been incorporated into the story line.

“The words are largely Dickens,” said Irelan. “The designs by students, staff and faculty, though, are all Steampunk, both in inspiration and in execution. The adaptation has been a collaboration between myself, as the director, and students both in Script Analysis class last spring and those on the creative team now. The mash-up will be fun.”

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.

The term denotes fictional works set in a time where steam power is still widely used, usually the 19th century and often Victorian-era Britain.

It is grounded in science fiction and fantasy, and is manifested with a unique visual look that utilizes anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them.

The cast of YSU Theater’s “A Steampunk Christmas Carol” includes Claudia Gage of Poland, Dylan Grinnell of Sharpsville, Pa., Christopher Hager of Youngstown, Morgan Kirksey of Pittsburgh, Theresa Leonard of Youngstown, John Rusk of West Chester, Alexander Samuels of Worthington and Ben Bogen of Canfield.

Tickets are $8($5 for senior citizens, students and children). For reservations or information, call the box office at 330-941-3105.

Families are also invited to participate in holiday activities in the lobby provided by the Alpha Psi Omega and Penguin Playhouse students.