Trial at the Commonweal Theatre - Mark Brown

The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge at the Commonweal Theatre

What do you do if you don’t like cold weather and hate traveling when there are large crowds at the airport? Well if you’re me you go to Minnesota over the Thanksgiving long weekend. But it was worth it as I was visiting friends at the Commonweal Theatre Company to see their production of The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Three years ago the good folks at the Commonweal Theatre invited me up to see their production of my play Around the World in 80 Days. It was a fantastic production. More importantly I made some good friends while I was there. (A trip where my friend Jeremy van Meter and I found ourselves at the Miehlisch Turkey Farm, in the middle of nowhere and owned by a lovely German family, to watch Germany play in the finals of the World Cup).

Jeremy and me. He’s the better looking one.

The Unnecessary Travel Details

Well this year I was invited up to see their production of The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge. I flew out on Black Friday and came back on Cyber Monday, so I missed most of the insane crowds. I stayed at the Thompson House, a lovely B&B in Lanesboro, MN. If you ever decide to go to Lanesboro, stay at the Thompson House. Owners David and Marti are loads of fun and they make you feel like family.

<– Here I am pretending to be the Third Duke of the Manor of Chigglesybridge.

I attended opening night, gave a wee speech at the opening night party, did salon talks after the matinees on Saturday and Sunday and shot a promo video. And drank a lot of wine. I mean, a lot of wine.

Trying to look like I know what I’m talking about.

The Show

The production was fantastic. The play premiered in 2005 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and I don’t think I’ve seen a production since then. It was great to see it again.

The show stars Ben Gorman, Jeremy van Meter, Eric Lee, Philip Muehe, Abbie Cathcart, Elizabeth Dunn, Megan Hanks and David Hennessey. It was directed by Hal Cropp. Wine freely poured by Adrienne Sweeney

Here’s a great review of the show.

“The beauty of this production is that it’s a hilarious romp with quirky characters that fill in some blanks of what happened AFTER Scrooge found his heart…“The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge” is a superb show for all ages with a cast that is incredibly talented…see it yet with your family and make some great memories this holiday season.”

A Special Bonus

And a great bonus of my trip was my old high school friend, Jon Smits, drove two hours or so with his wife and son to come see me and the show. It was wonderful to see him. We haven’t changed a bit in 35-or so-years. And we both tried some aquavit at Granny’s Liquor and are huge fans of it now.