9 minute read
Theater
The MET’s production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a family reunion
BY CRYSTAL SCHELLE
Special to The News-Post
For theater people, the long hours working alongside one another for a common goal can make the cast and crew feel like family.
For Walkersville native Lena Janes, that sentiment is certainly true. It also helps that two members of Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” actually are family.
Her dad, Tad Janes, is MET’s producing artistic director and plays Scrooge. Her mom, Gené Fouché, is MET’s associate artistic director and Ghost of Christmas Past.
Lena, who lives in Chicago, has been attached to “A Christmas Carol” one way or another since she was 4 years old. Now 22, she’ll portray Jane, the wife of Scrooge’s nephew Fred, in this year’s production, slated for a run Dec. 16 to 18 at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in downtown Frederick.
Lena became an honorary cast member when her parents and other cast members were in the annual Kris Kringle Procession in Frederick when Janes was about 3.
“They were walking the parade, and I wanted to do it with them,” she said.
Fouché, cast as the Snow Queen that year, said they couldn’t find someone to watch their daughter during the parade, so they asked the show’s director, Julie Herber, if a Victorian outfit was available for Janes to wear. They quickly found a dress, and Janes became Tiny Tim’s younger sister. When Lena’s grandmother asked her what her character’s name was, she replied, matter of factly, “Ella Rose,” Fouché recalled. There was never an Ella Rose character in the show, but the following year, Lena was cast in the newly made Ella Rose role, and ever since, Tiny Tim has had a younger sister named Ella Rose in the MET’s annual production.
Lena continued to perform in “A Christmas Carol” into her high school years. As she grew older, she aged into the next age group of actors. After playing Ella Rose for two years, she performed as Tiny Tim. After that, she became Belinda Cratchit, the Cratchits’ older daughter.
“After I was Belinda, I was in the [MET] junior ensemble, which is a group of teenagers that are in the show every year to help the adult ensemble with the narration,” she said.
During her senior year of high school, she became team captain of the junior ensemble.
“During some of the rehearsals, Julie would ask me and the other team captains to kind of teach everyone else what to do, since it’s the same show every year,” she said.
For a short time, Lena took a break as she went off to Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she earned a BFA in physical theater.
Last year, Lena was hired to perform in the adult ensemble for “A Christmas Carol” as Jane, and she’s back again this year in that same role.
“I think it’s a really unique experience because usually, theater is so fleeting. You only get one opportunity at it, and then it’s over and the run is finished and you never get the chance to revisit it again,” she said. “But with this, since it’s the same every year and now that I’m in a role that I have been in before and will continue to be in, you just discover new things each time you revisit it — new phrases in the script that maybe you didn’t place so much importance on before, but now you think of a new way that that’s going to affect your character, or seeing scenes from a new point of view.”
As a parent, Tad said, the familial dynamic changes when you’re onstage with your child. “When the three of us are in the production, you kind of turn off the switch that is ‘parent and child,’ and now we’re three equal actors in this production,” he said.
Fouché said it has been interesting to watch her daughter grow as an actor. “When she was younger, she was sort of resistant to any sort of coaching from either of us, so I feel even though we guided her, we were a little bit hands-off, Fouché said. “But she’s doing amazing work now and I’m really proud of her.”
Early on, Tad recognized his daughter’s love of the craft. “I think that she had a certain connection through it and also a certain seriousness that she took with it from the very beginning, even when she was very young,” he said.
He recalled when she was 5 years old and cast as a Cratchit child and was watching the scene in which Scrooge is shown that Tiny Tim has died. In the scene, Bob Cratchit is talking to his family about Tim, and Lena was crying, tears rolling down her face.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, look at that good little actor there,’” Tad said. “And then I talked to her a little bit about it because I wanted to make sure that she’s doing it the right way.”
She told him that she was thinking about her onstage dad and brother and that it was “really sad.”
“And I was like, OK, good, she’s doing it the right way. She’s in character thinking the thoughts of her character,” he said. “So that’s where this whole journey started. And it’s been a really nice journey.”
Today, Lena works full-time as an account specialist for a supply chain recruiting firm, while she continues to work part-time as an actor and choreographer. She was also cast in a feature film that was recently shot in Frederick but currently can’t talk about the production.
Even when Lena was a dancer with Dance Unlimited, Tad said she was always looking out for others onstage. “I always loved the moments when something happens and she takes control of it,” he said.
He tells about the time when they were dancing with bugles and one of the bugles dropped. Knowing that it could be a safety hazard, his daughter did a little spin, then dipped and picked up the bugle and walked offstage with it.
“She’s kind of famous for that kind of stuff,” he said.
Fouché thought for years that Lena would pursue dance and act on the side. As a mother, she also was concerned about her daughter following in her parents’ footsteps. “You know, it’s hard to break into this
Staff photo by Katina Zentz Lena Janes, center, poses for a portrait with her parents, Tad Janes, left, and Gené Fouché, during a break in their rehearsal at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre for “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 7.
business,” she said. “And having a career like mine and my husband’s, where we’re supporting ourselves from the art form, it’s difficult. It’s very rewarding, but it’s more rewarding in other ways rather than monetarily.”
That said, she’s been supportive of her daughter’s career aspirations.
“It’s really fun working with her,” Fouché said. “I have to say, I can usually switch off the mom button when I’m onstage with her. When I’m offstage, I’m watching her and I’m just really proud of her.”
For Lena, being in “A Christmas Carol” has always been a bit of a homecoming. “I remember when I was little, I always really liked it, and something I still like about it is coming back to the same group of people every year,” she said. “Each year, it’s a little bit different, and the kids are cast in different roles, or sometimes there’s new ones. But the core group of people — the director, Julie, and a lot of the adult ensemble — stays the same from year to year.”
As she grew up, her friends were also onstage with her every year.
“Even though we would go to different schools, and maybe some of my friends were in high school and I was in elementary school, each year we would come back home to each other to do this thing together, which was really special,” she said.
As an actor herself, Fouché said some shows can get old after awhile, especially ones that you’ve done the same role year after year. But she doesn’t feel the same way about “A Christmas Carol,” mainly because “it has such a warm message,” she said. “Just sharing that with my family, it’s just really special. And we have families who come year after year, and they say it just wouldn’t be Christmas without ‘Christmas Carol.’”
“I’m happy to be lucky to be onstage with with a family,” Tad said. “I know it won’t last forever, but it’s awful nice right now.”
Lena looks forward to sharing the stage with her family, too, and soaks in the experience with every production.
“I think it’s really special to be able to share this with them over the holidays, especially because I don’t live in Frederick anymore,” she said. “They’ve taught me a lot about acting and what it means to be a performer, growing up doing the show together and being able to see them work and be professionals. To be a professional alongside them was really formative for me as I was growing up and deciding I wanted to be an actor.”
Crystal Schelle is a journalist whose work has been published locally, regionally and nationally. She enjoys trivia, cats and streaming movies.
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17, 2 p.m. Dec. 18 Where: Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St., Frederick Tickets: $25.75; $21.75 for military and seniors (62 and older); $13.75 for children and students Info: weinbergcenter.org
Joseph Wiliams/MET Lena Janes as Tiny Tim and DC Cathro as Bob Cratchit in the MET’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” circa 2008.
2022|23
S E A S O N
F O R T H E HOLIDAYS
THANK YOU TO OUR CONCERT SPONSORS: DECEMBER 17, 2022 DECEMBER 18, 2022
THE MARYLAND THEATRE | 7:00 PM | 3:00 PM
Home for the Holidays returns to the Maryland Theatre this December. With special guests, Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet and Santa Claus, you don’t want to miss this magical celebration of the season!
PRESENTS
JOHN JORGENSON BLUEGRASS BAND AN EVENING WITH HEATHER AUBREY LLOYD
RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH THESE GREAT SHOWS!
AN EVENING WITH HEATHER AUBREY LLOYD
SATURDAY, FEB. 4 | 7:30 PM
THE “IT’S 5 O’CLOCK SOMEWHERE” SHOW
SATURDAY, FEB. 18 | 7:30 PM
THE IVY LEAGUE OF COMEDY PRESENTS SKIRMISH OF THE SEXES
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8 | 7:30 PM
J2B2 (JOHN JORGENSON BLUEGRASS BAND)
FRIDAY, MAR. 3 | 7:30 PM
