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. 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.

Joe Landry’s Live Radio Play lets us see this beloved tale come to life in a new way. Inside a 1940’s radio studio, in front of a live studio audience, a small company of performers — Harry, Sally, Lana, Jake, Freddie, Chet, and their steady stage manager — gather to tell the story live on the air. With just their voices, quick instincts, and a table full of instruments and household knickknacks, they become dozens of characters. They conjure weather, location changes, and soundscapes, creating an entire world together out of almost nothing.

The artists behind this production — onstage and off — share that same story. They’ve returned to Third Avenue PlayWorks for a third season to bring this tradition to life again, stepping into the same ritual as their radio counterparts: showing up, spinning a bit of magic together, and trusting that the audience will too. Because the live studio audience isn’t just part of the play — it’s part of the point. Each December, we all gather — artists and audience alike — to be reminded of the main message in the source material: that we are not just responsible for ourselves, but for one another.

God bless us, every one!

Elyse Edelman

Director, A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play

December 3 – December 28, 2025