Hartford Stage announced recently that Trinity College Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Michael Preston has been cast as Ebenezer Scrooge in its annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol. Preston will be taking over the lead role from Bill Raymond, who had performed as Scrooge since 1998 before retiring last year.

Trinity College Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Michael Preston. Photo courtesy of Hartford Stage.

Preston has been involved with A Christmas Carol at Hartford Stage since 2011, playing the inventor Mr. Marvel. In an interview with The Hartford Courant, Preston said that he understudied the role of Scrooge last season. “I had a very deep connection to it. Both the dark and the comic side,” Preston told Courant reporter Christopher Arnott. Read the full Courant article here. Preston spoke about his new role in a press release distributed by Hartford Stage and shared by Broadway World Connecticut. Read that release here.

Rachel Alderman, the director of A Christmas Carol, said that Hartford Stage is thrilled to welcome Preston to his new role. “The fact that Michael has been involved for the past six years, and that he’s going to take the lead in the show this year, is just another wonderful way that Hartford Stage and Trinity are able to help knit the city together and also highlight the city’s cultural capital,” Alderman said.

Michael Preston as Mr. Marvel in a previous year’s production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Hartford Stage. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

Preston, who teaches acting, stage production, and playwriting at Trinity, has been sharing a teaching position with his wife, Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Barbara Karger, since 2004. Prior to that, he studied mime and comedy and lived for many years in New York, where he was a member of the Shaliko Company, founded by Leonardo Shapiro. He also worked with artists including John Sayles, Richard Elovich, David Cale, Wynn Handman, and Theodora Skipitares. From 1991 until 2000, he toured the world as one of the juggling Flying Karamazov Brothers, which included three different runs on Broadway.

A Christmas Carol at Hartford Stage opens November 24 and runs through December 30. For more information, visit www.hartfordstage.org.