Ridgewood Middle School performs ‘A Christmas Carol’
Theater: Ian McCurdy, Tara Sipes and Ashton Grindle practice a scene from “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 9. The Ridgewood Middle School students and their fellow cast and crew mates did a dress rehearsal of the play for the district’s third graders. Beacon photo by Josie Sellers
WEST LAFAYETTE – Tara Sipes’ favorite part of playing Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” is that he changes throughout the play.
“He goes from being a grouch to much nicer and you get to see that happen in the play and him realize what he’s done wrong,” she said.
Sipes was one of about 50 Ridgewood Middle School fourth through seventh graders who took part in the production.
“They auditioned in October around fair time and have been memorizing lines and practicing for roughly the last month and a half,” said Alex Mullen who directed the play.
The students did a dress rehearsal of “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 9 for Ridgewood’s third graders, performed it for family and friends and did two performances for their fellow classmates to watch.
“I’ve very proud of them (the students),” Mullen said. “This is a hard play.”
The play, written by Carmella Gates, is based on the Charles Dickens novel, but has a few twists.
“She stayed pretty faithful to the dialogue, but added some humor and watered it down some,” Mullen said. “The dialogue though is older than these kids and they had to play some emotions that hopefully they haven’t had to experience in their young lives.”
Ian McCurdy, who played Bob Crachit, was up for the challenge.
“I liked trying to do the different emotions and feelings,” he said. “I enjoy getting to do plays in front of my friends, family and other people.”
Ashton Grindle liked acting out the parts of his character Fred.
“He’s Scrooge’s cousin and was a lot of fun to play,” Grindle said. “He’s a good character who is nice and happy.”
The “A Christmas Carol” production was put on by Ridgewood Middle School’s after school drama department.
“I joined so I can get up on stage and play a different person,” Sipes said.
Mullen said the group does two plays a year.
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
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