Castaways Repertory’s Christmas Chaos

Celebrating The Holidays With Castaways

The Arts news team Lucas Dean, Vaze Haze and Herb Williams recently had the luxury of descending upon Castaways Repertory Youth Theatre at the Woodbridge Ferlazzo building. The theater group under the direction of Trena Weiss is composed of multiple students from different backgrounds in Prince William County.

The Castaways Repertory Theatre is a non-profit Community Theater that performs in Woodbridge, Virginia. The membership consists of volunteers from all over the area and all walks of life who come together to provide quality live theater to the community.

The Castaways were formed in 1981 and continue to give award-winning performances, involving themselves with the community, and enjoy coming together to produce a show.

Our mission is to provide quality live theatrical performances to our community members and visitors while involving those same com- munity members in the theatrical arts through education, participation, and enlightenment.

Synopsis of the play

Gadzooks! The Royal Shakespeare Company hasn’t arrived as promised to perform their stirring rendition of “A Christmas Carol.” So our intrepid band of hapless actors and technicians must put together their own production in only seven hours! What a pity that they are not quite up to the task, even though they give it their all. Have you ever experienced backstage mayhem? Well, you haven’t seen anything yet! The play focuses on these poor but dedicated thespians doing their best while chaos is all around them: two kids fighting over who gets to play Tiny Tim, a confused actor who thinks she’s in another show, a haughty lead actor, one actor playing both Bob and Mrs. Cratchit, an out-of-control director, thrown together props and costumes, ridiculous scenery, and tons of flubs and confusion. Most of the actors in the show play multiple roles in this extremely fast-paced and physical comedy. Even the light and sound board operators are characters in the show! The play is a hilarious backstage comedy that pokes fun at the classic novel and everything that can go wrong with a theatrical production.

“The November 16th Producer Showcase was a night to remember. From the moment the lights dimmed and the music started, the audience was captivated by the incredible lineup of beatmakers that had been assembled that evening. Featured artist CY Muzik was also celebrating their 30th birthday that evening, so the showcase also doubled as a birthday celebration. Follow Clearbrook Center of the Arts on Instagram @clearbrookdmv and Facebook @contacttackettsmill for more information on future Producer Showcase events.”

—John Wooten