The crutch has been passed.
For the past two years, Emberlynn Wood has limped around the Alliance Theatre’s main stage as Tiny Tim, Charles Dickens’ most beloved character, in the theater’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol.”
But after two Christmases playing the youngest Cratchit, she decided she wanted to try a larger role. Her younger brother, Cullen Wood, auditioned and got the coveted crutch. Cullen, 5, makes his professional theater debut when the Alliance launches its 35th staging of “A Christmas Carol” on Saturday.
“The best part is getting to say the last line,” Cullen said. “I don’t say it until the entire show has happened.”
And he throws the classic line out proudly, in a quite good English accent with even a trace of Cockney: “God bless us everyone.”
Photo courtesy of Alliance Theatre/Greg Mooney
Photo courtesy of Alliance Theatre/Greg Mooney
Cullen learned his English accent by listening to Emberlynn, now 9 years old, rehearsing and playing Tiny Tim for two years. She said she picked up her accent from watching movies and TV, especially “Harry Potter,” and imitating what she heard.
After three years of rehearsals, Emberlynn said she knows all the roles by heart, and she spontaneously switched to Scrooge in her own British accent: “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”
Emmy, as the family calls her, and Cullen took a break from rehearsals recently to talk about being 2024 Atlanta kids pretending to be 1843 London kids.
This year Emmy, who wears pink-rimmed eyeglasses when not playing a Victorian character, will play Emma Cratchit and double as Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, as a child.
“I wanted to be in the ‘Fezzy party’,” she explained, referring to the big holiday bash thrown by young Ebenezer’s employer, Mr. Fezziwig, as visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past.
“And I wanted to wear a floofy dress too,” she added, meaning a party dress with petticoats.
Photo courtesy of Alliance Theatre/Greg Mooney
Photo courtesy of Alliance Theatre/Greg Mooney
In the Alliance staging, the actor playing Tiny Tim is the only one who doesn’t get to dance at the elaborate party, and Emmy, who takes ballet and jazz dance classes, watched that scene over and over in rehearsals and performances and wished she could be one of the dancers in a floofy dress.
Although the Alliance has been performing “A Christmas Carol” for 35 years, it has continually reinvented its approach. This year marks the fourth year for the current staging, adapted from Dickens’ novella by David H. Bell and directed by Caitlin Hargraves.
Andrew Benator returns as everyone’s favorite miser who discovers his buried heart of gold — Ebenezer Scrooge — and returning “Carol” actors include Caleb Clark as young Scrooge, Thomas Neal Antwon Ghant as Fezziwig, Christopher Hampton and Clare Latham as Mr. and Mrs. Cratchit, Rhyn McLemore as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Brad Raymond as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Lyndsay Ricketson as the Ghost of Christmas Future.
The Wood children are homeschooled by their mother, Heather, with help in math and computer coding from their father, Jonathan, an attorney who works from home in Buckhead. In addition to school and “A Christmas Carol,” the kids take a steady lineup of lessons and classes, including baton, dance, acrobatics and acting.
But left to their own devices, they frequently play their own make-believe games.
“Sometimes I get Emmy to play ‘A Christmas Carol’,” Cullen said.
“But we use new lines,” Emmy explained. “We don’t do the script. We pretend that it’s after the play. And I’m Emma (Cratchit) and Cullen is Tim. When we play, Tim is better; he’s healed.”
They also play non-Dickensian games, such as one they call “Jungle Justice” where Cullen pretends to be different talking animals.
“A talking leopard named Leopard Leopard,” Emmy elaborated. “Or a talking cheetah named Cheetah Cheetah.”
In fact, when asked that most obvious grown-up go-to question about what they want to be when they grow up, Cullen said he is undecided between being an actor or an “animal saver” who saves “endangered animals like a koala or a cheetah or an African wild dog.”
Emmy, who has appeared in a couple of short films and is listed on the Internet Movie Database website, leans more toward becoming an actor but allows that “a hairstylist might be fun.”
THEATER PREVIEW
“A Christmas Carol”
Saturday-Dec. 24 at Alliance Theatre. $40-$145. 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-733-4600, alliancetheatre.org
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