Area youths appear in Dickens play in Red Bank
Eight local children will make their professional theatrical debuts this holiday season when they take the stage in Red Bank during the Two River Theater Company's world premiere production of Charles Dickens' "The Ghost's Bargain." Originally planned as a sixactor play, this story will now be told by five equity actors and eight children ages 6 to 11.

Artistic Director Aaron Posner said, "After a reading several months ago we realized what was missing from the adaptation: kids. They were mentioned, but not shown. The more the director and adaptor talked about it, the more convinced they were that having kids on stage was vital to the telling of this particular story. So budgets be damned!

"Liz Green, our casting director, starting calling in kids from across this community. The result is an ensemble of eight great young performers who will be an integral part of this story of compassion, memory, family and the true spirit of the holidays," Posner said.

Seven of the eight children are alumni of the Two River Theater Company's summer theater program.

Three of the eight young actors are Colts Neck residents. Playing Tetterby children are Suzie Eidmann-Hicks, a sixth-grader at the Cedar Drive Middle School, and Morgan Joy Belforti, a fifthgrader at the Conover Road Elementary School. Playing "boy" for alternate performances are Sabrina Park, a fifthgrader at the Conover Road Elementary School; and Cristina Medlin, a fourthgrade pupil at Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft.

Also playing Tetterby children are Charley Johnson and Joe Persico, both sixth-grade pupils at the Markham Place School in Little Silver; Emily Woods, a fifth-grader at Fairview Elementary School in Middletown; and 6-year-old Gillian Andersen, a first-grader at Wolf Hill School in Oceanport.

Directed by Melissa Kievman, "The Ghost's Bargain" is playwright and adaptor Laura Eason's take on the little known Charles Dickens' Christmas story "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain." A new holiday treasure from Victorian England's greatest storyteller, "The Ghost's Bargain" is a story about the importance of memory, the value of kindness and the power of compassion.

This family production, most enjoyed by those 10 years and older, opened Dec. 1 and will run through Dec. 30. Tickets are $20 to $30 and are available by calling the TRTC box office at (732) 345- 1400, online at www.trtc.org or by visiting the box office at 21 Bridge Ave., Red Bank.