Hartford, CT – November 13, 2019 – “Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” So begins Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. But how much do we really know about Jacob Marley and his “friendship” with Ebenezer Scrooge?  When and how did it begin? How would it have evolved had Marley lived?

Hartford Stage and The Mark Twain House & Museum will reveal the secrets behind their relationship with Marley and Scrooge: Frenemies Reimagined, a free community event on Tuesday, December 10, at 7:00 p.m.

 Acclaimed author Jon Clinch (Finn) will read passages and reveal shocking secrets from his new novel Marley, a reimagined origin story that dives deep into Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge’s twisted relationship. In Marley, Clinch reinvents Scrooge and Marley as two rival scheming business partners conspiring to destroy each other no matter the cost to those around them. British actor/director/writer Simon Callow in the New York Times praises Marley as “Startling and creative…remarkable. Masterly.”

Actors Michael Preston and Noble Shropshire, who portray Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol–A Ghost Story of Christmas, Hartford Stage’s beloved adaptation of the Dickens story, will read a scene from the play and share the inside scoop about their characters’ relationship.

 Rachel Alderman, Director of A Christmas Carol-A Ghost Story of Christmas, will moderate the event.

 Copies of Marley will be available for sale and signing by Clinch immediately following the event, at which time guests may find themselves haunted by a few ghostly spirits.

Admission to the event is free, but RSVPs are recommended (https://forms.hartfordstage.com/marley-scrooge-rsvp/). This event is recommended for ages 16 and older. The lobby will open at 6:15 pm. Convenient, on-site parking is available at the MAT garage at 50 Church Street. Christmas Carol tickets and discounted parking vouchers can be purchased from the Hartford Stage Box Office.

About Jon Clinch

Clinch’s new novel, Marley, revisits the world of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and creates deeply entwined personal histories for Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge. Finn—the secret history of Huckleberry Finn’s father—was named an American Library Association Notable Book and chosen as one of the year's best novels by the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Christian Science Monitor. It won the Philadelphia Athenaeum Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. It’s taught in high schools and colleges, both alone and alongside Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Clinch has lectured and taught widely, in settings as varied as the National Council of Teachers of English, Duke University, the Mark Twain House and Museum, and the Pennsylvania State University.

About Michael Preston

Michael Preston, an Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance at Trinity College, served as co-director of a' Fräulein Maria, performed in New York, at Jacob's Pillow, around the country and at Hartford Stage. He also portrayed Egeus/Peter Quince in Darko Tresnjak's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in collaboration with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in January 2014. Before he took on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol-A Ghost Story of Christmas, he played Mr. Marvel. Preston is a member of the Shaliko Company and has also worked with John Sayles (including the films Eight Men Out and Matewan), David Cale, Wynn Handman, and Theodora Skipitares. From 1991 through 2000, Preston toured internationally as one of the Flying Karamazov Brothers, including in three different runs on Broadway. He collaborated on and performed nine different shows with the Flying Karamazov Brothers, ranging from the post-modern tragedy Le Petomane to an update of Room Service (winner of an L.A. Critic's Award in 1998).

About Noble Shropshire

Noble Shropshire has appeared in The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, La Dispute, The Tempest, The 39 Steps, Noises Off!, Macbeth (2000), Our Town, and as Jacob Marley/Mrs. Dilber in A Christmas Carol–A Ghost Story of Christmas at Hartford Stage.  Shropshire’s Broadway credits include The Drowsy Chaperone and Candida at Roundabout. He appeared in the Royal National Theatre’s premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Not about Nightingales with Trevor Nunn and his Off-Broadway credits include The Killer (Theatre for a New Audience); Parris in The Crucible (Roundabout); CSC (9 seasons): title roles in Hamlet, Peer Gynt, Tartuffe, Leonce & Lena, as well as the Fool in King Lear, Mephisto in Faust, Hummel in Ghost Sonata, Robespierre in Danton’s Death, and Gayev in The Cherry Orchard.