Ohio Theatre to host one-man ‘Christmas Carol’

LIMA — Yet another unique version of “A Christmas Carol” is coming to a Lima stage this week and it will be just as original as the audience would want.

Actor Mark Cabus will perform the play based on Charles Dickens’ classic story at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Ohio Theatre — by himself.

“I’ve been doing it for 25 years so it seems pretty natural at this point,” Cabus said. “I love the challenge of it as an actor. What we all look for is what we strive to do and our work is to be entertaining and to hold an audience’s attention to make them think, laugh and cry.”

Cabus said being the only person on stage responsible for that is a huge task, especially when it means playing 18 characters over 75 to 80 minutes.

But the veteran of television and film is confident that his audiences are getting their money’s worth.

“It’s just me,” he said. “Most productions have a very large cast, but I play all the characters from Scrooge to Bob Crachit and Tiny Tim. I even play a pot of potatoes at one point.”

Cabus takes very few liberties with the text, but the audience will play an important part in the performance.

“I don’t make anybody else get on stage, but everybody can create sound effects and sing songs that I hand out to everybody before the show starts,” he said. “Your participation is based on whether you want to or not so nobody is forced to play a bell or a clock or Marley’s chains. They have to talk back to me at certain points in the play, but we do that ahead of time and rehearse it quickly. And I think it’s great fun and I hope they come ready to hear and see a story that they think they are familiar with, but told in a very different way.”

Cabus said the idea for the performance first came to him from Victorian Christmas party traditions in which there would be impromptu performances following socializing.

“My mom used to have a similar party on Christmas Eve and she would invite all of our close friends in the area and we would perform,” he said. “We would have dinner and my parents weren’t smokers or drinkers so we would retire to the living room and as we got older, my brother and I started writing the scripts and preparing the program. This was kind of put together to recreate that sort of family gathering of friends and relatives on the holiday or around the holidays.”

Cabus said that it took him two months to boil down a 100-page script to about 30.

“I think one of the things that often gets missed in contemporary productions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ is that it’s supposed to be a ghost story,” he said. “And I strive very hard to make it that. Even though there is still a feel-good ending by the conclusion, it starts in a very dark place and works its way to a happy ending.”

And knowing Michael Bouson and Joe Correll from early days in Nashville connected Cabus to the Ohio Theatre this year.

“I have always respected Mark’s talent and character so it was a no-brainer to bring him to Lima when he reached out to us this past Summer,” said Bouson. “The very idea screamed ‘Opportunity’ to Joe and I. Not only will his evening performance at The Ohio Theatre provide world-class entertainment to the Greater Lima Community, he will also be doing an Artist Residency through our Theatre Company, The Avante Garage at Lima City Schools in the Joe Henderson Auditorium followed by an Acting Masterclass with the High School Drama Students that same day.”

Cabus, however, said that the most important thing is that people are moved by his performance and the classic story.

“Scrooge isn’t this cantankerous old man that we can laugh at,” he said. “He is an angry old man who has lost his way and we should relate to that if we have lost our way as we review the year and where we might want to be redeemed or forgiven.”

Cabus recommends the show for children 12 and older, but said that the audience should have no problem enjoying it.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Ohio Theatre website, ohiotheatrelima.com.

Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.