Virginia Repertory Theatre is gearing up for the holidays with a new staging of A Christmas Carol, adapted and directed by Artistic Director Rick Hammerly. The production opens November 28 and runs through December 28 at the November Theatre, and if ambition counts for anything, Virginia Rep may be trying to carve out Richmond’s next annual holiday ritual.
Hammerly knows this story well, maybe too well. He spent a decade performing it at Ford’s Theatre in D.C. and once promised himself he’d never revisit the material. Of course, human beings are famous for breaking promises, especially to themselves. “I’m living Christmas Carol,” he said. “I wake up singing carols.”
No one has seen the finished product yet, but Hammerly has been clear that this won’t be the standard-issue regional staging. The bones stay the same, but the flesh gets updated: modern design elements, extensive projection work, bigger visual swings, and some technical choices that seem designed to nudge Richmond audiences out of their comfort zone.
Virginia Rep has spent the past few years quietly upgrading its productions, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Actors from D.C. and New York are now reaching out unprompted.
For A Christmas Carol, Scrooge will be played by D.C. regular Thomas Adrian Simpson, joined by Richmond favorite Katrinah Carol Lewis as Mrs. Cratchit, and a mix of local talent and twelve young performers. Hammerly has been trying to create a hybrid model, regional polish blended with Richmond’s own bench, and this production looks like another step in that direction.
Behind the curtain, the creative team arrives with serious credentials: scenic designer Daniel Conway (16 Helen Hayes nominations), costume designer Kendra Rai (Head of Costume Design at VCU), lighting designer Joe Doran (10 Artsies), and media designer Mark Costello, who has a Helen Hayes Award of his own. Between them, and with Hammerly steering, the show appears to be reaching for something bigger than a simple retelling of the old Dickens morality tale.
When asked why audiences keep returning to A Christmas Carol, Hammerly didn’t dress it up. “Generosity, transformation, hope, they always resonate. Maybe even more right now.” And he’s drawing directly from Dickens’ original text, including smaller scenes most productions cut. The quiet moments. The lighthouse keepers, the sailors, the little pockets of humanity at the edges of the map that remind you Dickens wasn’t just writing about Christmas. He was writing about people trying to stay decent in a world that doesn’t always make it easy. That’s the part that sticks..
Also, this year’s production continues Virginia Rep’s practice of partnering with a local nonprofit. The cast voted to support Feed More, and after each performance, Scrooge himself will ask the audience for donations on their behalf. If Dickens taught anything, it’s that generosity isn’t seasonal, but a show with ghosts certainly helps people remember.
Hammerly and his team are already planning a multi-year evolution for this production like small changes, new scenes, adjustments, refinements. They’re not trying to preserve A Christmas Carol in amber; they’re trying to make it grow.
“What I want is the thing families come to every year,” Hammerly said. “Like The Nutcracker at Richmond Ballet. Something Richmond can rely on.”
Time will tell. But if nothing else, Richmond is about to meet a new Scrooge, and maybe a new holiday ritual along with him.
A Christmas Carol
November 28 – December 28, 2025
Arenstein Stage at the November Theatre
Tickets: va-rep.org or 804-282-2620
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