Performer Al LePage presents “A Classic Dickens’ Christmas Carol!” on Friday, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. in the Sanctuary of the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church, 134 Mathewson Street, Providence.  It’s performed as Charles Dickens did so himself, as a dramatic reading one-man show using only voice, facial expressions and gestures to create the story’s 26 characters. The performance also uses Dickens’ very own public reading script. The ticket price is $15/person both for children and adults and 100 percent of all proceeds will go to benefit the church’s weekly Mathewson Street Friendship Breakfast program. Tickets may be reserved in advance either online through BrownPaperTickets.com or by calling their toll-free number, 1-800-838-3006 and, if still available, at the door the day of event. 

Dickens performances were meant for adult audiences, but mature children age 10 and older should also be able to appreciate this version and will be admitted. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., the fun begins at 7:4, and seating is general admission.  The performance is being hosted as an official event of the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church.

“What in the Dickens am I doing,” asks performer Al LePage. “Answer. I’m doing a one-man show of A Christmas Carol where I will create some 18 characters. From Scrooge to Tiny Tim, from Marley’s Ghost to Mrs. Cratchit, there’s howls and growls, bangs and bongs, a dance with a song, some lively laughter and heartfelt tears.  I’m sharing this classic holiday story to help feed people, to prevent hunger locally where I perform, and to give 100 percent of all proceeds to a local area charity to buy food.  I’ll also briefly share some history about Carol itself, a small bit about Charles Dickens and Providence, and also talk about his performances in America during his 1867-68 tour. I’ll be doing the show in the style of Dickens, creating all the characters by simply using my voice, gestures and movements as a dramatic reading performance. The performance is also pure Dickens in that it uses the famed author’s own historic script, too.”

There’s a personal story about LePage and why he does so many of his shows to benefit hunger organizations.  As a young man the school he’d been working at as a teacher in Boston unexpectedly closed down for good over the winter holiday break, and through no fault of his own found himself along with the other teachers without a job, without a paycheck.  His savings were meager, and deciding not to go on unemployment at the time, struggled to make ends meet.  He paid his bills but had little money left over for food.  So, he got hungry really for the first time in his life.  He was not starving, of course, but he remembers it being winter and spring, feeling cold and hungry, and figures he may even have been slightly malnourished as time went on, too. That experience has stuck with him ever since, and that’s why his primary focus is to donate 100 percent of all proceeds from his shows to organizations that help prevent hunger close to home.  His Providence performance benefits the Mathewson Street Friendship Breakfast, and along with other events in Boston and Worcester, all proceeds will benefit local area hunger organizations.

LePage, a native of Framingham, Mass., began bringing history to life through improvised portrayals of real people from the past for over seven years at historic sites, museums, and other venues throughout the Pacific Northwest. He’s written and produced his own historical dramas as one-man shows, appeared on the nationally televised PBS “History Detectives” series in roles ranging from a bartender to Robert E. Lee. Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio produced and premiered LePage’s own shortened version of Dickens’ Christmas Carol as his own one-man one-hour radio program in 2010, airing it each year since and just before Christmas Day.  He’s been giving performances of Carol to benefit charity in the United States, Canada and England since 2006.

In 2011 he traveled to England to perform there for the very first time beginning in the same place and for the same charity that Dickens himself did his own first public reading of Carol in Birmingham in 1853, and LePage’s last performance while in England that year was in the renovated old stables of the historic 16th century coaching inn in Framlingham, England itself, the very same town after which Framingham, Mass. was so named.