The Good Counsel Theater Company has run their fall play Scrooge and Marley for the past two weeks. Throughout production, many members of the school community, from students and teachers to alumni and parents have attended the showings. Behind the scenes, actors and crew members have been working since the beginning of the year to create a show worthy of the stage. But has their work paid off? Let’s see what the members of Good Counsel have to say about it.
Two students rated the show a seven out of ten. Both commented that the actors had a lot of passion, but one mentioned that “the acting felt a little overdone and that some scenes were confusing to the audience” (Alvin Lee ‘26). The technical aspects of Scrooge and Marley particularly stuck out to viewers, especially the scene where Scrooge meets Marley for the first time while crawling out of a smoking trap door. The actors’ costumes were tasteful, reflecting the characters well. The other student, Gracie Faugan ‘26, thought “some moments were humorous, like the scene where
Bob Cratchit, played by Ayden Terrazas, faints from joy at getting a raise”.
All of the actors did a phenomenal job, with a special shoutout to Kayla Selman “27, Elsa Harlor “27, and Grace Mueller “27. Kayla showed amazing range as Christmas Present when transitioning from gracefully showing Scrooge true Christmas cheer to extremely animated as she is dragged away to make room for Future. Elsa showcased her exceptional acting as Scrooge’s past lover, wonderfully expressing the pain and anguish breaking up with Scrooge gave to her. Last but not least, Grace Mueller, playing as one of the main characters Marley, captured the creepiness of the undead man with her amazing voice and spooky demeanor to enthrall the audience into Scrooge’s redemption story.
Ms. Spring-Frank, the mentor in charge of set construction and scenic design, got the unique opportunity to watch the show both from the audience and backstage. As someone who worked on the show, she is particularly proud of the technical aspects, and reflected on how designing these elements pushed her to think in different ways. She believed that the cast, largely composed of
underclassmen, enthusiastically performed to the best of their abilities to create the best show they could. Although it is difficult for her to give the show a rating due to having worked on so many shows previously, Ms. Spring-Frank believes that many creative choices were made to create a unique show this year. Two aspects of Scrooge and Marley stood out to her. The gravestone scene in Christmas Future incited great emotion as the climax of the play, and the lightning throughout the entire show greatly enhanced the effects on stage.
Moving from behind the scenes to onstage, Nick Barczy ‘28, the main character Scrooge in Scrooge and Marley, felt that “the show went very well with minimal mistakes from the cast”. He good-naturedly mentioned his fall on stage during a performance in opening week, a fall that somehow fit the character’s excited emotional state in the scene. Nick, like Ms. Spring-Frank, mentioned
how impressed he was with the lighting crew of the theater company, who put together an impressive showing in such a short amount of time. He complimented all the actors for their hard work and expressed how proud he was of all the cast and crew for working so hard to put on this Christmas Carol.
Overall, Scrooge and Marley can be seen as a success. Despite some pitfalls, the hard work of both the cast and crew was evident in the performances, especially the technical aspects. While audience members may have had mixed reviews, the play evoked a reminiscence of sorts, serving as a reminder to how ‘scroogy’ ways of life lead us off course of our true business on earth: kindness, forbearance, charity, and of course, Christmas cheer.