Penning the Carol

[ID: A picture of Aiden Flynn as Charles Dickens at a desk with a feather quill writing on parchment. Text reads: Penning the Carol December 19-20, 2023 at 8 pm At the LSPU Hall , 3 Victoria Street Directed Courtney Brown Designed by Brian Kenny A Fundraiser for RCAT/LSPU Hall Tickets available by calling 753-4531 or visit tickets.lspuhall.ca]

Synopsis

Cast and Creative Team

Dedication and Thank-You’s

Coming Up Next for RCAT

Seat Campaign

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AN RCA THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION

Created and Preformed by Aiden Flynn
Directed by Courtney Brown
Designed by Brian Kenny

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Land Acknowledgement

RCA respectfully acknowledges that the land on which we currently create, perform, and gather is the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk, whose culture has now been erased forever. The island we call Newfoundland is the unceded, traditional territory of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq. Labrador is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Innu of Nitassinan, the Inuit of Nunatsiavut, and the Inuit of NunatuKavut. We ask that before you watch the performance tonight, you take a moment to reflect on whose land you are standing on, whose land you were born on, and whose land you currently live on. We ask that you reflect on how that land was taken care of, and how it is taken care of now, and finally who currently walks freely on it. If this reflection makes you uncomfortable we ask that you sit in that feeling and question it. Let it help you work towards reconciliation, something we can only achieve together. Thank you.

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Synopsis

Written and performed by Aiden Flynn, Penning the Carol is in its 20th year of production and is a solo retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The play supposes that Scrooge and the accompanying cast of characters are created in a session of intense writing and storytelling on Christmas Eve, 1843.

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Cast and Creative Team

[ID: Aiden, a white man dressed as Charles Dickens, has a full white beard and shoulder length grey/brown hair. He his smiling at the camera and his holding a quill on a wooden desk.]

Aiden Flynn
Actor

Aiden Flynn is an actor, producer, writer, director, promoter, and administrator. He has creator status on numerous festivals, venues, and companies and has worked alongside many great NL and Canadian artists, across all disciplines. 
In 2002 Aiden premiered a show titled Charles Dickens Writes a Christmas Carol (later to be titled Penning The Carol).  In 2004, Aiden opened the Rabittown Theatre Company in St. John’s and was awarded Patron of the Arts by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council for his work at there, an honour he shared with his father, Neil Flynn. Aiden was a founder of the New World Theatre Project during this time (now called Perchance Theatre) and also wrote 2 plays for the Norstead Foundation that were later published in the NL Anthology of Plays by Breakwater books. 
In 2011, Aiden began his tenure at the helm of the 6 provincial Arts and Culture Centres, first as programming manager and then director, a position he holds to this date. He has produced and presented works across all disciplines in this position and had great success in 2023 as co-producer of the Gander production of Come From Away.

[ID: Courtney, a white woman with blue eyes and blonde shoulder length hair is facing the camera and wearing a black tank top.]

Courtney Brown
Director

Courtney is a director, actor and dramaturge from Musgravetown, NL. She is also a resident artist and Artistic Associate with Terra Bruce Productions. Courtney has worked with the Women’s Work Festival, Mindless Theatrics, the National Arts Centre, Soulpepper, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, New World Theatre Project, c2c theatre, Rabbittown Theatre Company, Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company, newfoundlandartistx, Rising Tide Theatre, Groundwater Productions, Red Sky Performance and Project Humanity. She is also an Artistic Associate with Mindless Theatrics. Courtney holds a BFA (Honours) in Theatre (Acting) from York University.

[ID: Brian, a white man with brown hair and beard is smiling at the camera and wearing a black t-shirt.]

Brian Kenny
Designer

Brian is a designer for theatre and performance from Mt. Pearl and is a graduate from The National Theatre School of Canada, and Sheridan College. Recent selected credits include: Everybody Just C@lm The F#ck Down, Between Breaths [Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland], Dear Rita [The Charlottetown Festival], The Dialysis Project [RCA Theatre Company], Come From Away in concert [Mirvish Productions], The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Elliott, [The Stratford Festival], Tibb’s Eve, Chapel Arm [Mindless Theatrics], Marry Poppins [The Grand Theatre, London], Once, Mamma Mia [Theatre St. John’s], Brian is a member of the board of directors for RCA as well as the I.A.T.S.E Local 659, The Associated Designers of Canada.

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Dedication and Thank You’s

 I would like to dedicate this year’s performance to the memory of my beloved father, Neil Flynn, who was a great theatre lover, an award winning patron of the arts, and someone who will be dearly missed this time of year. – Aiden

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[ID:A photo of a black Hall toque in front of the NL Republic flag. Black text reads Get your very own Hall Hat! Available at the box office for $20 + tax.]

[ID: A photo of the red theatre seats. A red square with white text reads Seat Campaign Back in the seats again! Ask us how to get your own seat in the historic LSPU Hall’s mainstage theatre.]

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