On Monday, Dec. 22, the drama students of Cranston High School East will be putting on a modern-day version of the seasonal favorite, “A Christmas Carol.”

The new version of the show was co-written by faculty drama director Joe Wallace and East alumnus Brendan Iacobucci, a 2013 graduate.

“Brendan had volunteered to help write our children’s theater plays and he agreed to work on ‘A Christmas Carol’ for this performance,” Wallace said. “We do children’s theater two or three times each year, and this show is the first for this year.”

Wallace said local elementary school students will be coming over to East for the show on Monday morning, but there is still room for more students to attend. Parents, home school students and senior citizens are also welcome to attend the morning show.

“The same play will be shown in the morning at 9:30 and in the evening for the 7 o’clock show,” Wallace said. “It’s kind of like ‘Sesame Street’ where it’s got humor that adults will appreciate mixed in with all the fun things that kids will get. A couple of the characters will be puppets, and there will be a life-sized robot costume that reaches seven feet tall. The script has a lot of topical humor with mentions of Fox News, Batman, liberals and conservatives and funny things like that. It’s definitely a twist on the regular ‘Christmas Carol.’”

The students performing range from grades nine through 12, and represent a mix of introductory and advanced drama students.

“All three of the classes are rehearsing scenes and working in small groups during their own class times, and then one day before the show we’ll be bringing the whole group together for a big rehearsal,” Wallace said. “It’s a challenge to them to do the foundation work in their groups and to pull it all together for a seamless production at the end.”

Wallace said that due to the fact that the drama department doesn’t have a budget to cover the expenses incurred when putting on such a production, the show itself acts as a fundraiser.

“We spent several hundred dollars on this show, so we’re going to need to make that money back on the ticket sales from the show,” he said.

Tali O’Brien, a sophomore at East, has been the student director for “A Christmas Carol,” taking the lead on directing the rehearsals for the small groups whenever possible. Approximately 60 students are taking part in the show.

“This show is close to the basic storyline but with some unique differences. Scrooge is a male character but is played by a female student, for example,” Wallace said. “We wanted to keep it fresh for those people who see the show at places like Trinity Theater every year.”

Wallace is grateful to have the support of his colleagues, Cranston East administration, central administration and the student body at East.

“Things like this wouldn’t be possible without the support of the community here,” he said. “They’re supportive, the students are excited and want to see the show, the teachers want to bring them down to the show, and I’m very happy with the support that we receive.”

Anyone with questions about attending the show either Monday morning or evening can contact Wallace at jwallace@cpsed.net. Tickets for the morning performance are $4, and tickets for the evening performance are $7. Children under 10 years of age attending the nighttime performance will be admitted free of charge.