Rosemary Cline on Hampton Theatre Company’s “A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play”

Rosemary Cline is presently the 6th President of the Hampton Theatre Company and will be participating in their production of “A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play” that is being performed at the Quogue Community Hall on Friday, December 12, at 7pm, Saturday, December 13 at 2:30pm, and Sunday, December 14 at 2:30pm.

She was kind enough to give Hamptons.com an exclusive interview about the show.  

This performance will feature actors from the HTC family of players—including Andrew Botsford, Rosemary Cline, George A. Loizides, Nicholas Auletti, Scott Butler, Stephanie Moreau, and Lindsey Sanchez. They will each take on multiple roles in the story and present vintage radio commercials, performing in period costumes on a set depicting the studio of the fictional “WBFR” radio station in 1940s New York City. 

The production is directed by Andrew Botsford, with incidental music recorded by Dee Laveglia, lighting by Sebastian Paczynski, and costumes by Teresa LeBrun.

Is there something special about participating in a seasonal holiday show?

I’ll say there is. I can’t remember how many years we’ve been doing this at the HTC. This is the third year for a Christmas Carol, but we’ve done a “What A Wonderful Life,”
so we are at least five, six, seven years in, and what I think is we all love to do this together. Sometimes the cast of characters changes; we have a few new actors this year, which we’re so happy to welcome. But it’s so special to be giving to the community what we love to do with the people we love to do it with, and to get to share it with them.
You know, it’s just wonderful to be out in the community at the holiday time, giving and taking of all the cheer, and then also being able to present such a traditional piece of theater, especially  “A Christmas Carol.” People love it. There are these hilarious jingles from the ’40s. And afterwards, we do a sing-along, and we give hot cocoa and cookies ahead of time, and people of all ages come, and they always tell us throughout the year how much they enjoy it. So that’s another thing that’s really special.

Why is it a pleasure to work with Director Andrew Botsford?

Andrew Botsford and I have been best friends. We have known each other for probably 50 years. We have worked together for 40 years. 
We have been husband and wife, as you know, many times, we’ve been brother and sister, we’ve been lots of different permutations of the male and female roles, and relationships. So, working with him, for me personally,  there are so many inside jokes. We know each other really, really well, and we understand each other’s pleasure in doing what we do. And we love to mix it up. We argue. And sometimes we argue in front of the rest of the cast, but it’s just part of who we are, and I think when people have been with us just a few minutes, they get that it’s all very good natured, but we don’t always agree, and we have the comfort of this very long-term friendship in which we can express our differences. 
We don’t have to walk on eggshells around one another. This is the only time he ever directs me. So that’s kind of cool. 
And I’ve only directed him once  (“A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”), and that was really fun for us. So we don’t know what the future will hold.

What are the challenges facing an actor doing a radio play?

Number one, you’re not using your whole body. You’re not moving. On the stage, you’re staying in one place. And because it’s a radio play, we have to play to the microphone, to the audience, instead of really being able to turn to one another and do it back and forth the way we’re used to. 
So just constantly remembering, okay, you can look to the side, you can relate to the other people, but you really have to be focused on the microphone and out. So that’s a challenge, not being able to move around the stage. That’s a real challenge. We are also not really in full makeup and costume. We’re just in a suggestion of the era. And this set is sort of two-dimensional.

It’s not like a real set. But that’s also part of what makes this so special. 
It’s just a different way to use what we know how to do, and it’s always fun to do that. It’s always fun to say, okay, here are the restrictions in this game. So here are the challenges. 
Now, let’s see everybody do this the best they can.

All tickets are $18, available at Hamptontheatre.org or by calling 631-653-8955.