Sturgeon Bay, WI (November 18, 2025) - Third Avenue PlayWorks (TAP) is proud to announce its upcoming production of A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, adapted for the stage by Joe Landry, Music by Kevin Connors, from the novella by Charles Dickens. The final show of the 2025 season at Third Avenue PlayWorks runs from December 3 through 28, 2025, featuring performances by Cassandra Bissell, Neil Brookshire, Ray Jivoff, Dan Klarer, and Rána Roman, with sound design and foley by Brian Grimm.

The WBFR Radio Players are back with the assistance of a gifted musician and foley artist to bring scores of colorful characters, inventive sound effects, and musical underscoring to vivid life. In this refreshed version with all new staging, the talented team of artists creates an authentic 1940’s radio experience in front of a live studio audience. This unique, family-friendly production runs one and a half hours with no intermission. 

“It’s the most famous holiday story ever told and for nearly two centuries, it has endured because it reminds us that even the hardest of hearts can wake up to a second chance.” says director Elyse Edelman, “Beneath the ghosts and the carols, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is a story about someone rediscovering the parts of himself that once knew joy, connection, generosity, and love.”

If you are lifted with the spirit of generosity, please consider bringing a shelf-stable pantry item to donate to help Feed our Neighbors this holiday season. Donations can be left in the Box Office lobby through December 31 and anyone may take what they need during regular box office hours Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or one hour prior to a performance. Donations of non-perishable food items go directly to helping our neighbors right here in Door County. 

TAP’s own Theatre Education Program is the Community Partner for a Pay-What-You-Will Preview on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. With this program, the theatre is able to bring theatre experience to the community- regardless of age, means, or ability- through participatory classes, discussions, assembly-length shows, internships, and partnerships with civic organizations. Those interested in attending the preview to support this organization, may arrive as early as 6:30 p.m. on the evening of the performance for general admission seating. Space is available on a first come, first served basis. Donations may be made in cash or with checks made out to Third Avenue PlayWorks. Half of the proceeds will benefit this show’s Community Partner.

The production at Third Avenue Playworks is directed by Elyse Edelman with scenic design by Alex Polzin, costume design by Kärin Kopischke, lighting design by Colin Gawronskil, sound design and music by Brian Grimm, props design by Haley Anne Cranstoun, and production stage management by Kelsey Brennan York.

THE CAST

Cassandra Bissell as Sally Applewhite

Neil Brookshire as Jake Laurents

Ray Jivoff as Freddie Filmore

Dan Klarer as Harry “Jazzbo” Haywood

Rána Roman as Lana Sherwood

Brian Grimm as Foley Artist and Musician

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

December 3- 28, 2025

Wednesday-Saturday and Tuesday, December 23 evenings at 7:30 p.m.

Special matinees December 12, 24, and 26 at 2:00 p.m.

Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

• Pay-What-You-Will Preview: Wednesday, December 3 at 7:30 p.m. with half of the proceeds benefiting TAP’s Education Program

• Ticketed Preview: Thursday, December 4, 2025 (SOLD OUT)

• Opening Night Reception: Friday, December 5, 2025

• Post-Show Conversation: Friday, December 12, 2025, following 2:00 p.m. matinee

• Closing Day: Sunday, December 28, 2025

For more information about performances of A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play at Third Avenue PlayWorks or to purchase tickets, visit thirdavenueplayworks.org/a-christmas-carol-a-live-radio-play or call the box office at (920) 743-1760.

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Click to Download Photos (Show photography available December 1)

2025 Media Kit

ABOUT ELYSE EDELMAN

Selected Production Credits: Acting and Directing combined (in Wisconsin): A Wonderful Life: A Radio Play, A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, Boeing Boeing, Third Avenue PlayWorks; Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Life *****, 46 Plays for America’s First Ladies, The Wanderers, Forward Theater; The Drowning Girls, Top Girls, The How and the Why, The Wolves, The Nether, Renaissance Theaterworks; Fires in the Mirror, Indecent, Anarchists, Every Brilliant Thing, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; Big Nate, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Mockingbird, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Nate the Great, A Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit, The Laramie Project, First Stage; Scrooge in Rouge, In Tandem; Circle Mirror Transformation, Next Act Theatre; Pride and Prejudice, Private Lives, A Streetcar Named Desire, American Players Theatre; Ragtime, Woody Sez, The History of Invulnerability, Milwaukee Rep; The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Heart of Robin Hood, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry V, Door Shakespeare. Regionally: multiple productions with The Guthrie, Park Square, Minnesota Shakespeare, Riverside Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, among others. Training: UMN/Guthrie BFA. Website: elyseedelman.com

ABOUT THIRD AVENUE PLAYWORKS

Located in downtown Sturgeon Bay, Third Avenue PlayWorks (TAP) presents riveting performances of comedies, dramas, and musicals in the Steve and Jackie Kane Theatre. This unique 124-seat space brings audiences face-to-face with powerful stories by creating the most intimate theatrical experience possible. With its ever-growing reputation, varied educational opportunities, and long-standing presence in the community, TAP is an integral part of Door County’s vibrant arts scene. TAP is Door County’s premier year-round professional theatre. For more information, visit thirdavenueplayworks.org.