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The Christmas season at Alliance Theatre brings the magic of A Christmas Carol to life, lighting up the Atlanta theater scene with warmth, joy, and timeless tradition. Every year, the stunning costumes, designed by Mariann Verheyen and Laury Conley, play a crucial role in guiding the audience through the emotional depths of the story through their work.

Over the years, Verheyen and Conley have sifted through over 700 fabric swatches and designed more than 200 pieces that have defined the look of the production. Each costume helps convey not only the time period but also the characters’ emotional journeys. From Ebenezer Scrooge’s worn, solitary dressing gown to the vibrant, festive robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present, the costumes elevate the story, enhancing its themes of redemption, love, and family.

The synergy between costume, set, and lighting design is key to the production’s emotional impact. The set, with its cobbled streets, flickering lanterns, and snow-dusted rooftops, provides a rich, textured backdrop that makes the costumes come alive. Lighting design further heightens this effect, using cool blue tones to evoke Scrooge’s lonely chambers and warm golden hues during Fezziwig’s festive party scene. Fabrics like wool, velvet, lace, and cotton add authenticity, helping the audience feel as though they’ve stepped into the world of Dickens’ London.

“Each year, we gather the scale and placement of the new cast members, and what’s on the page is only the beginning—it evolves from there…Some dresses may take up to 30 hours to create, while frock coats can take anywhere from 35 to 60 hours.”

Creating these costumes, Mariann says, is like working with ever-shifting clay. “Each year, we gather the scale and placement of the new cast members, and what’s on the page is only the beginning—it evolves from there.” One challenge they often face is the fluctuating cast, which means that sometimes costumes designed for previous performers need to be altered or redesigned for comfortability and confidence within the role. “Some dresses may take up to 30 hours to create, while frock coats can take anywhere from 35 to 60 hours,” Conley expressed.

Despite the challenges, Verheyen and Conley’s meticulous attention to detail, collaboration, and trust with their team ensures that each costume helps drive the emotional narrative. Their work is a testament to the power of women in theater design, breathing new life into a classic tale. Their costumes don’t just reflect the world of A Christmas Carol—they help shape it, making this beloved story even more unforgettable for every audience that experiences it.

A Christmas Carol runs on the Coca-Cola Stage November 15 through December 24, 2025 – learn more.

Amanda Watkins Marks Main Stage Directorial Debut with A Christmas Carol

If there is anything Amanda Watkins loves the most, it’s Christmas. “I love it so much!”

And it’s not that she loves Christmas because it’s considered the most wonderful time of the year, or because she’s one of those crazed Christmas fanatics itching to put their Christmas tree up as soon as the summer solstice ends. No, even though at least one of those descriptions is true. Her reason for loving Christmas is much deeper, more personal, and more heartfelt.

“It’s because of my dad. He is why I love Christmas so much.”

As she reflects on her dad and what he meant to her, she admits he wasn’t the most demonstrative when it came to his emotions. But when it came to Christmas?

“He was like the Christmas ambassador or something. He just loved Christmas. Especially the shows. We were so into Charlie Brown Christmas. He would do the half-eaten cookie and the half glass of milk and leave it on the hearth like Santa had been there,” she remembers. “So, I really had this belief that this magical thing had happened, you know. He always hung on to the joy of it. And when he died, he died over the holidays – right after Christmas, but before the new year. I thought there was something very poetic about that.”

This year marks the 36^th season the Alliance has produced the beloved holiday classic, A Christmas Carol. For Watkins, who also serves as the Alliance’s Director of New Works, it’s her first time directing on the main stage at Alliance. She’s only directed on the Hertz Stage.

To be directing this show on the same stage where her father witnessed her acting for the first time feels kismet.

“My dad is all over this theater,” she said. “To be on that same stage working on a show that I know he would love. It is. It is…”

Special!

A Christmas Carol is, without a doubt, a staple here at the Alliance. For years, families have made seeing the production part of their annual tradition. For many in and around Atlanta, it’s the official kick-off their holiday season. From her perspective, Watkins believes part of the motivation for Atlanta families is that it’s a bulletproof show.

“Who doesn’t love this story? Especially this adaptation? It gets to the heart of this opportunity for people to change their minds about who they are,” she said. “Who doesn’t want to be uplifted by that?”

She also points out that, even though some audience members may have seen the show countless times, they aren’t seeing the show in the same way each time.

“Each time they see it, they’re meeting it as a totally different person,” she said. “Because 365 days have gone by. No one is returning as the same person they were the last time they saw it. Something in them, something in their life has changed which has changed them.”

Every Christmas, you are a different person.

What she considers to be the magic about the story in A Christmas Carol is the message that everyone can see themselves within it. Yes, for generations, we have understood it to be a story about Ebenezer Scrooge and how his life is changed on a specific Christmas Eve night. And yes, that part of the story is important. But, as Watkins points out, it’s not just Scrooge we are tracking in this story.

“We’re tracking what’s happening with the Watkins family. We’re tracking what is happening, what’s certainly happening with young Matthew. We’re certainly looking at the Cratchits. We’re looking at Tiny Tim. I mean, some could say that Tiny Tim is like the heartbeat of the piece,” she said. “I think one of the reasons the story is so universal, and evergreen is because you have a lot of opportunities to see yourself, right? You can look at Scrooge and think ‘I have nothing in common with that guy.’ One could, right? But I think we all could look at Cratchit, Bob Cratchit, and think, ‘I have the world in common with that guy. I’m tired. I’m overworked. I’m underpaid. And I’m still going to invite a sense of graciousness for other people into my day to day living,’ right?”

In reality, A Christmas Carol is a story about community, this community, who, as she puts it, gives HIM a second chance.

“Otherwise, it’s this white savior story,” Watkins adds. “And who wants to see that? No one.”

It’s not really the ghosts who give Scrooge a second chance. Yes, they create a pathway for his change, but it’s the community.

“The only thing any of us can control is how we treat people and change how we see people,” she said. “All we can do is address our own heart and mind, and this play does that so well through these characters. It certainly is the way I’m approaching the play, I think.”

It is a production that just works, she said. And she credits Leora Morris, who was instrumental in the development of this current adaptation of the Alliance’s production, and Caitlin Hargraves who directed the 2024-25 season’s production.

“Leora’s original direction is so good. And the design is so good,” she said. “Caitlin made all the right choices, and she’s taken such good care of it. So, I don’t feel the pressure because I know how to get out of the way of something that works. I know how to do that. I’m not a fool. And this works, you know?”

A Christmas Carol runs on the Coca-Cola Stage November 15 through December 24, 2025 – learn more.