Meet An Experienced “A Christmas Carol” Creative Team

As the holiday season approaches, the creative team of A Christmas Carol returns to SCR once again to reawaken the holiday magic of this annual production. Some of these talented and accomplished artists have been with the production since the beginning, while others have joined along the way. Led by director Hisa Takakuwa, A Christmas Carol runs Nov. 30-Dec. 24 on the Segerstrom Stage.

Adapter Jerry Patch served as dramaturg on more than 150 new plays, including SCR’s world premieres of Abundance, Freedomland, Golden Child, Intimate Apparel, Search and Destroy, Three Days of Rain, Ruined and Wit. He was the founding project director for SCR’s Pacific Playwrights Festival and artistic director of the theatre program of Sundance Institute. A professor of theatre and film, he was consulting dramaturg for Roundabout Theatre Company in New York for nearly a decade and resident artistic director at The Old Globe in San Diego. He is now artistic consultant for Manhattan Theatre Club, and is resident dramaturg at SCR.

Director Hisa Takakuwa has worked at theatrical institutions around the country, including the Sundance Children’s Theatre, The Music Center on Tour and the Indiana Repertory Theatre. At SCR, she appeared in The Man Who Came to Dinner, as well as 14 seasons of A Christmas Carol. She is the Director of SCR’s Theatre Conservatory and has directed many Players productions, including Metamorphoses, Matilda The Musical, Cinderella, Into the Woods, Seussical, The Wizard of Oz and the world premiere of Cursed, among many others. While a longtime resident artist at A Noise Within, she appeared in many productions including The Triumph of Love, The Misanthrope, The Seagull and Our Town. She holds a BA from Smith College and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.

Scenic Designer Thomas Buderwitz returns to SCR and to his 22^nd production of A Christmas Carol, having previously designed Outside Mullingar, The Trip to Bountiful, Crimes of the Heart, Doubt and Bach at Leipzig, among many others. He has received six Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards and three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. He has been honored with three Emmy Award nominations and an Art Directors Guild Award nomination. Buderwitz is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts.

Amy L. Hutto (Additional Costume Design) has been managing SCR’s Costume Shop for 27 seasons. In addition to designing additional costumes and maintaining the design integrity for A Christmas Carol, she designed costumes for Lobby Hero, Oleanna and a streaming version of Red Riding Hood at SCR. Her other design work has been seen at Foothill Theatre Company, Sacramento Shakespeare Festival and High Point Theatre Company. She is also a blue-ribbon quilter, winning several awards at the Orange County Fair.

Lighting Designers Donna & Tom Ruzika celebrate both their 44^th year of designing for A Christmas Carol and their 52 years of marriage. They have enjoyed collaborating on productions at SCR, the Hollywood Bowl and other regional theatres. Ms. Ruzika has designed 23 seasons for the Utah Shakespeare Festival and 30 seasons for Fullerton Civic Light Opera. Her work has also been seen in Egypt, Colombia and Spain. Mr. Ruzika’s designs have been seen on Broadway, in national tours, at major regional theatres and with many national and international dance and opera companies. His entertainment lighting can be seen at theme parks in six countries and his architectural lighting can be seen in prestigious hotels, casinos, restaurants, retail centers and performing arts centers across the world.

Dennis McCarthy (Musical Arrangement/Composer) previously composed music for An Italian Straw Hat, Ben and the Magic Paintbrush and Much Ado About Nothing at SCR, among other productions. During his career, he has written music for more than 2,000 films, television movies and series episodes including “V,” “MacGyver,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Dynasty.” He won two Emmy Awards during his 18 years of music for “Star Trek” and composed the music for the series’ feature film, Generations.

Drew Dalzell (Sound Design) returns to SCR and A Christmas Carol, having also previously designed Cloudlands, An Italian Straw Hat, A Little Night Music, Bunnicula and Intimate Exchanges, among others. He is the president of Diablo Immersive, which designs immersive experiences such as Delusion for 13th Floor, Stranger Things: The Drive Into and Arcane with Secret Cinema and Netflix, and other clients around the world.

David Nevell (Dialect Coach) previously appeared at SCR in A Raisin in the Sun, Shakespeare in Love, Peter and the Starcatcher and Arms and the Man. He is also the understudy for Ebenezer Scrooge. Nevell has appeared in productions at Laguna Playhouse, New Swan Shakespeare, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Utah Shakespeare Festival and La Mirada Theatre, as well as in numerous roles while a resident artist at Pacific Conservatory Theatre/PCPA. He earned his MFA in Acting at UC Irvine and his BA in Political Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.