The holiday spirit came early to Carle Place, as the high school theater department put on their fall production of A Christmas Carol this past weekend.
Auditorium renovations at the high school caused this year’s fall production to be moved a couple of blocks away to the Rushmore Avenue stage. Moving to a much smaller venue posed several challenges for the theater department.
“Elementary stages in general are not equipped to handles these kind of theatre requirements,” said director Joni Russo, who noted fitting all the set pieces on the smaller stage was a challenge, as was the lighting and sound equipment at Rushmore.
Tom Vestuto took on the lead role of Scrooge. He said being at Rushmore was a very different experience.
“The equipment wasn’t as good as it is in the high school, and maneuvering behind the scenes was different,” Vestuto said. “You have to learn to do a lot of little things differently.”
Despite the changes, the cast and crew were able to pull off a successful two-night run of the show. In the spring the theater department is expected to put on their spring musical of Les Miserables in a completely refurbished auditorium. The upgrades to the room will include new floors, walls, ceilings, seats, lighting and sound system upgrades and even a new stage curtain.
