Interview: Kimberly Hickman on A CHRISTMAS CAROL and the Nebraska Theatre Caravan

Kimberly Faith Hickman is the Artistic Director of the Omaha Community Playhouse, which has a long and impressive history dating back to the 1920s. The Playhouse is not only a community theatre, it is the originator of the Nebraska Theatre Caravan, a professional touring company most well known for its fabulous productions of the Christmas classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Can you give us some background on the Nebraska Theatre Caravan?

The Nebraska Theatre Caravan is our professional touring wing of the Omaha Community Playhouse. It was started by Charles Jones in 1976. It was a joint project between the Playhouse and the Nebraska Arts Council. The purpose of it was to take productions, and performers and teachers to do workshops and performances in Omaha, but also throughout the state. As the company grew, we started going beyond just Nebraska. We started going to neighboring states, and as we kept growing, we started touring our production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. That started in 1978. So we've been touring A CHRISTMAS CAROL since 1978. Over the years we've toured other productions as well, but A CHRISTMAS CAROL has always been the constant.

At one time there were up to three companies of A CHRISTMAS CAROL that were touring at the same time: a Midwest, an East Coast, and a West Coast. Now there's only one. Part of what I've been working on since I got here with Greg Sheer (Greg is our production coordinator for the Playhouse and managing director of the Nebraska Theatre Caravan)...and along with Katie Broman, our Executive Director, has been finding the right title to tour in addition to A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL is such an important part of people's tradition all over the country. We have a really great roster of theaters that host us every year. We want to continue doing that. But we also want to bring other stories to people as well. We're always tossing around ideas about what's the next great thing that we can take on the road.

Kate Whitecotton is our company manager, so she oversees when we do job postings online, because we accept resumes or video auditions online, and she oversees all the postings. She does all the contracts for the company members. She works with our road manager to secure hotel bookings and help with travel for everyone. She is also the point of contact for all of the venues that host us, as well.

I looked at the 2018 tour schedule on the website and see that most of the theaters are on the East Coast.

Yeah, when we had three companies at one point and then cut down to two, we tried to hit as much of the roster as we could. When we cut down to one company a few years ago prior to my arrival, we still tried to fit in as much as we can. But because of travel logistics, we have to follow a pattern. We sometimes end up in one geographical area more than another. (laughs) So that's why it's looking East Coast heavy this year.

How do you manage transportation for the tour? Do the cast and crew travel on buses?

They do. We have a touring bus that the actors ride in. The actors and musicians ride in the bus and then we have a sleeper coach that the crew travels in. Sometimes after the show the crew has to load out and may need to start driving that night in order to get to the next place in time, so we have a sleeper coach for them which is really helpful.

Tell me about the audition process. Where do you find your actors?

We go to a couple of professional theatre conferences. Every year we go to the United Professional Theatre auditions. Those are in Memphis, Tennessee in February of every year. We also go to the South Eastern Theatre Conference (SETC) auditions which are held in different cities. At these conferences we watch people audition all day, and at night we do callbacks. I attend those conferences or other artistic personnel here at the Playhouse will do that if I'm unable to. We have local auditions as well, because I love to cast people from Omaha as often as possible. Or have them be part of the crew, or what have you. So, we do local auditions too. Those auditions are separate from our regular season auditions. Since the tour requires them to be available for daytime rehearsals, we have to put the show together pretty quickly. Whereas our MainStage version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL has seven or eight weeks of rehearsal, our tour has only two weeks. We rehearse from 9-5 with one day off a week. It is a very intense process!

What's the size of the tour group?

There are 23 actors, and 14 crew and orchestra.

So the crew and orchestra...you pick these up exclusive of the audition process?

The crew and orchestra we hire a little bit differently. We do video submissions for orchestra. We send them the music and they'll send us a video or audio of themselves playing. Or for the crew members, at the SETC, they have a technical hiring process where Greg will attend and do interviews.

Speaking of hotels, I understand that the cast and crew who are in Omaha rehearsing are housed with local families.

When they're here in Omaha rehearsing, we have host families. That's been really great for us. People in Omaha really love having our artists with them. They're very generous people to allow these artists to stay in their homes. We've been doing that for several years now. The families are incredibly gracious. A lot of our actors and crew members are invited back, and some of them go back to the same host families. It's like their own Omaha family. It's a lovely part of the process.

I would enjoy doing that myself, but we have three cats.

Oh! This year it's so funny. We have a lot of cat allergies so we're looking for cat-free houses (laughs)!

How is the Nebraska Theatre Caravan funded?

We get some interested donors and sponsorships. We prepare a budget every year. When we make the touring bookings, we are making sure that we are covering our costs in a responsible way. It's not reliant on a particular donor.

Does the Playhouse do the costuming for the tour?

We have a great stock of costumes that Georgiann Regan designed for us over the years. Lindsay Pape is our new resident lead Costume Designer now. Every year we find something from MainStage and tour that we can work on just to refresh or put a little new perspective from the new designer. We may focus on one of the parties or on one particular character. That's really exciting for Lindsay to be able to put her stamp on it. This has nothing to do with the tour, but one of the coolest things about A CHRISTMAS CAROL is that we still have the original beggar hat from the MainStage production, and it still gets worn.

I just think it's a really unique program that we have. Not a lot of theaters have a community component and a professional component. I think it's a really great way for our volunteer actors-if they want to make that transition-this is something we have for them. One of our actors for this season is playing Peter Cratchit for the tour. He played Peter on the MainStage last year. It's a great way for people to Take That step forward if they want to do this professionally. It's a great opportunity for them. I'm happy that we can provide that. We also have three children that go on the road with us every year. It's an incredible experience for them. Our Tiny Tim from the MainStage last year is going to be Tiny Tim on tour this year. It's a really good way for people to take another step in their development and see how doing theatre translates to so many life skills.

You can find more information on the Nebraska Theatre Caravan on the Omaha Community Playhouse website. http://www.nebraskatheatrecaravan.org