Franklin local to star in Christmas Carol

FRANKLIN — After you deck the halls you might want to consider jingling all the way to the Tri-State Actor's Theater for their 10th annual production of "A Christmas Carol." Albert Weitz of Frankin will be making his acting debut in the show.

"I have been working with the Tri-State Theater for about six years now," Weitz explained, a 2013 graduate of Wallkill Regional High School. "I was backstage before but the director wanted to know if I wanted to be in it this year. I do want to get involved in acting so I said 'Yeah, totally.'"

Having been involved with this theater for the last few years, Weitz's interest and understanding have certainly grown.

"You definitely learn a lot through the internship program," he said. "I was in the program for four years so I learned a lot from Paul [Meacham, the artistic director] and everything that I did just made me want to go into it a lot more."

He was accepted as an intern into the Tri-State’s Intern Training Program in 2010 and played the title role in the Youth Acting Company’s "Hey Ho, Pinocchio." Weitz continued his stage training in acting classes and as part of the Intern Program for the next three years playing major roles in "The Jungle Book" (2011), "The Wind In The Willows" (2012).

Drawing a crowd
"It is a really good show," said Weitz. "It's a great Christmastime show. It has comedy and drama and it is good for the whole family to see. It gets emotional at times as well and ours is different because it is only six actors. It's more intimate."

The show itself is a classic so most people will be familiar with the story.

"This adaptation was actually done by the director himself," Weitz said. "It is his own version. The director is playing Scrooge and then five people are playing all the other parts. It is very true to Dickens' original novel. There is a lot of it that is word for word."

While he doesn't have any commitments, Weitz knows what he wants to do after this production.

"I definitely want to keep working with Tri-State a lot in the future, either in the shows or backstage" he explained. "I want to see what pops out soon but nothing set yet."

The show will run from Wednesday, Dec. 17 through Sunday, Dec. 28 at the Bickford Theatre, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown. Tickets are available at the box office or by calling 973-971-3706.