In many respects, it could have been a rehearsal of any “A Christmas Carol” at any theater in the country. 

Actors strategized with director Jared Mezzocchi and choreographer Nadia Adame over the moment-by-moment placement of Jacob Marley’s clanging chains. Mezzocchi reminded youth performers that not being in a scene doesn’t mean they’re free to chitchat. Marley (Jomar Tagatac) and Scrooge (Michael Ray Wisely) experimented with the timing of their first serious eye contact and how much that moment ruffles Scrooge, while whooshing cars on adjacent Interstate 680 uncannily evoked the ghosts who haunt the protagonist.

But Center Repertory Company’s West Coast premiere, which begins performances Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, departs from tradition in two massive respects. Harrison David Rivers’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella is told from Tim Cratchit’s point of view, and both that actor (Brayden K. Sinkay) and others in the show use wheelchairs. 

Read the full San Francisco Chronicle article about Center REP's all-new production of A Christmas Carol here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/theater/article/christmas-carol-center-repertory-21192772.php