‘A Christmas Carol’ cast highlight: Meet 11-year-old Cecilia Currie

Cecilia Currie is 11 years old, but for all intents and purposes she is well into her professional acting career.

In the past two years she has appeared in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and School of Rock for Storybook Theatre. At Theatre Calgary she appeared in the international premiere of Beaches, A New Musical last season — which will be produced on Broadway this year at the Majestic Theatre.

This holiday season she is returning to Theatre Calgary for her second round of A Christmas Carol, the annual traditional show at the theatre company.

Adapted by Geoffrey Simon Brown and directed by Stafford Arima, the production runs Nov. 28 to Dec. 31. Doug McKeag returns as Ebenezer Scrooge, leading a large ensemble cast through a story that blends memory, fear and redemption.

For Currie, returning to the show after a year away felt familiar, even if she had to relearn parts of the show.

“I was like, ‘Oh yeah, after this I go here and then I go here.’ And then you kind of remember the rest from there,” she said.

Now in Grade 6, Currie is balancing school, dance, and rehearsals, while also thinking about how theatre fits into her education long term.

“We’re looking at a school for the arts right now,” she said. “So that’s exciting because it’ll be all the art, and I do dance as well. So everything that I’m interested in — so like doing theatre — will count towards school and doing dance will count towards school.”

When it comes to the story itself, Currie sees A Christmas Carol as more than a holiday tradition.

The moral for her? “That you can change no matter how old you are or how unwilling you are to change,” she said. “There just might be some difficulties with that.”

Her favourite moment in the show is not one of Scrooge’s ghostly visits, but the Cratchit household.

“I really like watching the Cratchit scene because it’s chaotic in its organization,” she said. “But it’s also like they just are all like this. They’re literally the definition of a working family, and they all love each other so much that it’s really fun to watch that.”

Performing throughout December can be demanding, but Currie says the schedule still leaves room for school and friends. Heading into the new year she intends on continuing to audition and perform, whenever she finds a role that is interesting.

A Christmas Carol runs through to New Year’s Eve, tickets and more information visit the Theatre Calgary website.