Photo provided Gabriella Collins portrays Emma in Central Middle School’s production of ‘The Solstice Song,’ a modern take on “A Christmas Carol.”
Students with Central Middle School’s Theatre Club have been hard at work on their production of “A Christmas Carol.” Except, Scrooge isn’t an elderly man who works with an assistant named Marley, and there isn’t a Marley either. And it is not titled “A Christmas Carol,” but rather, “The Solstice Song,” a modern retelling of the classic Dickens tale.
Ethan Crough, seventh grade world geography and culture teacher at Columbus Signature Academy – Central Middle School, started the Theater Club last year with this being their second production. Last year as they were looking through props, Crough and the students found some chains and other ghostly items, which led to them deciding to do “A Christmas Carol” set in the 21st century.
“The Solstice Song” follows a teenager named Emma Scrouge who has become wealthy due to her online business that she operated with a friend, and, just like in “A Christmas Carol,” Emma is visited by three ghosts after her friend dies. Crough said she got so wound up in her social media empire that she has lost connections with the people who care about her.
Seventh grader Gabriella Collins, who portrays Emma, said she joined Theater Club because she is loud and extroverted, and thought acting would be fun. She said she was very excited when she found out she would be playing Emma as it is her first main role in a play, although she was nervous because she knew she would have a lot of lines to memorize.
Collins said she would describe her character as a very grumpy person who is mean to others. Although she does care for her family members, she said Emma becomes really grumpy after some of her family members die, and she then only really cares about her money and her business.
“I know she’s made a lot of money off of this one business and doesn’t really want to take her best friend that died off of the business because that would probably make money go down if they found out that someone died,” Collins said.
Due to a mostly female cast, Crough said they had to change some characters’ genders around, such as Bob Cratchit being changed to Barb Cratchit, and some characters were also aged up, giving Emma an aunt instead of a nephew. The story also no longer takes place around Christmas, as Crough said a lot of the cast members do not celebrate Christmas and they were looking to modernize the story in that regard.
“So, she gets visited on the Winter Solstice, so it’s the shortest night,” Crough said. “One of the lines in the play says, ‘the longest night of the year, the longest night of your life,’ because she’s getting visited by these ghosts when there’s as little sunlight as possible. So, we kind of thought that was fun.”
Most everything in this production is student-led, including the stage management, writing, promotion, tech work and more, Crough said. He said it is split down the middle as to how many students are involved in tech and how many are acting. While he wrote a little bit of the new version, he said the stage managers, eight grade stage manager A.J. Ravega and eighth grade assistant stage manager Claire Brummett, adapted the story for the stage and gave it more teenager-sounding energy.
“[Crough] made a sample script from Dickens and ChatGPT, and then we updated it and really made it look like it was from the view of a middle schooler so that it would be interesting to the audience and it was more modern than he could portray,” Brummett said.
Aside from helping adapt the story, Brummett said she helps everyone in the specifics of their job, such as instructing people on lights what cues they need, writing prop lists and making set plans. So far, rehearsals have been mostly good, although there have been a few stressful moments especially as they get closer to showtime.
“A.J. and I also work with a lot of social drama because middle schoolers, and sometimes that’s a lot,” Brummett said. “But most of the time, it’s running smoothly. It’s a lot of running around and just making sure everyone’s just doing what they’re doing, but it’s been good.”
Crough said he has enjoyed this year and is thrilled with the work the students have done. He said they have a nice mix of students who are excited about tech and about acting, as well a couple of students who were excited about leading. Through putting the play together, he said they have learned problem solving, giving constructive criticism, personal responsibility and people managing. For example, Brummett said she has learned that a lot of people need direct instructions, something she said she did not know as a more independent learner.
“But I need to give more direct instruction and make sure they know what to do when they’re done, otherwise they’ll sit around and goof off,” Brummett said.
Both Collins and Brummett said they plan to continue with theater in the future. While she said the first night will be rough as they perform for their teachers, Brummett said the students are all very talented, and she is very excited for them to see how talented they are.
“All the tech kids, whenever they watch the show, they’re going to see what they put together and I’m really going to make sure that I highlight their role so that they know that the show would not happen without them,” Brummett said. “And all the actors are going to know their lines and they’re going to act well, and when they get the compliments, I’m so excited to see them be so happy about it, have so much more confidence.”
Crough said audiences can look forward to a fun, younger version of a classic story with a message about the prevalence of technology in today’s society. “The Solstice Song” will be performed in the Grey Box Theater at Central Middle School on Friday, Dec. 13, Saturday, Dec. 14 and Sunday, Dec. 15. Performances will begin at 5 p.m. each night. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children and students, and all proceeds go back to the theater department.
