A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANUKKAH, MERRY KWANZAA, HAPPY RAMADAN

Directed by Vit Horejs
December 26 – January 11
DEC 26 - JAN 11; THU, FRI, SAT at 8 PM, SUN at 3 PM

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field

Presents

CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATRE

in

“A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANUKKAH, MERRY KWANZAA, HAPPY RAMADAN”

December 26, 2025 – January 11, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

Tickets $20, Students, Seniors, Children $15
Run Time: 75 minutes
COMMUNITY SPACE

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
Directions

Adapted, directed, reinvented and performed by Vit Horejs
Set and Costumes by Michelle Beshaw
The Singers: Katarina Vizina, Valois Mickens

Scrooge, chastened by his visitations, is finally generous with his charity. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

For the delight of audiences aged 5 to 105, this toy-puppet theater extravaganza is a new take on Charles Dickens’ classic with Old World accents and New World inclusiveness. Into the familiar story are woven a surprising and delightful blend of English, Jewish, African, American and Czech winter rituals, customs and holiday songs, all performed by over three dozen marionettes ranging in size from four to twenty-four inches as well as found objects and toys.

Vit Horejs operates the whole cast of puppets, backed up by a live chorus: Czech, English, Hebrew, Slovak, Spanish & Swahili songs are performed by an “a capella monumentale” choir of Valois Mickens (West African/Celtic/Native American origin) and Katarina Vizina (a transplant from Slovakia).

The scenic design uses elements of a made-in-Prague 1920’s toy marionette theater donated recently by Madeleine Albright and a smaller set that Vit Horejs and his mother played with in their respective childhood years.
The production made its live TNC debut in 2019. In 2021 when theaters were closed due to the pandemic, it was offered as a virtual fantasy tour. Now playing again for live audiences, the show will be updated to contemporary sensibilities and restaged for this new TNC production.

“[a] delightful holiday hodgepodge that still hews closely to Dickens’s tale and also has contemporary humor.” –Laurel Graeber, New York Times
“exactly what an audience would want from a holiday show. It tells a familiar tale with an added twist, it reminds us about the spirit of the season, and it puts a smile on the face of even the scroogiest of spectators. –Kelly Aliano, New York Theatre Wire
“a refreshing theatrical oasis in the holiday desert of over-ripe TV films, large Broadway musicals and the Radio City Christmas Show” — Joel Benjamin, TheaterScene.com

Supported by GOH Productions. Made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional support: Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, Materials for the Arts, Czech Center NY, and private donors.