When he was about one or two years old, Caleb Baumann attended his very first theater performance. New to Atlanta, his mother felt it important that her young sons be exposed to the arts.
“As a single mother,” Erika Baumann explained, “I knew it was important!”
She took them to a Theater for the Very Young production at the Alliance. The show? Goodnight Moon, directed by Rosemary Newcott. She still has pictures of him sitting in her lap in the lobby on the night they saw the show.
Over the years, whenever they could, she made sure to take them to a production. When Caleb was around four or five years old, she bought them tickets to see the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol.
There is a picture of Caleb, all of about four or five years old, in the lobby of the Woodruff Arts Center Memorial Arts Building, outside of what is now the Coca-Cola Stage. It was the night he and his family saw A Christmas Carol for the first time. He came across it one day recently. In the picture, he is with Andrew Benator in costume as Jacob Marley. Benator played Marley for many years before assuming the role of Ebenezer Scrooge a few years ago.
“It’s kinda surreal,” said Caleb. “Here I am, roughly four or five or six, and I was lucky enough to meet some of the actors in the lobby and Andrew, in his full Jacob Marley garb, is one of them. And now I call him a friend.”
His mother calls the night serendipitous. “During the show, Caleb tugged me and asked, ‘Mom, how do I get to be one of those kids up there,’ pointing to the stage,” she remembers. “I said, ‘You don’t honey. We sit in the audience and clap. So be quiet cause the kids are gonna do their thing.’”
But Caleb was determined. Four years later (and after the continuous hounding of Caleb), his mother enrolled him in acting classes at the Alliance. Not long after, his dream came true when he was invited to audition for A Christmas Carol that year.
Now at 18, Caleb has appeared in countless productions at the Alliance Theatre. They include In My Granny’s Garden, The Jungle Book, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Shakespeare in Love. He has also done Where Butterflies Go in Winter as part of the Kendeda Festival. But nothing holds a candle to A Christmas Carol for Caleb. This year he will reprise the role of Matthew Watkins, a role he has held since the new adaptation premiered on the Coca-Cola stage in 2021. He will also understudy as Fred and Dick Wilkins.
“We’re a family. And I don’t exaggerate that at all. I grew up with these people. I mean Andrew and Brad [Raymond] and so many others have taught me [so much including] how to be a professional working actor,” he said. “I know how much joy it brings. I know how much tradition it is. So, to be able to be in it is… it’s surreal. It is. The first day of rehearsal is always like no time has passed, you know. We start right back where we left off. That’s a family, you know!”
This show, his mother said, has helped raise Caleb.
“For several months during the year he would spend 10 to 12 hours a day with these individuals, right? I didn’t go to rehearsals, right? I would just pick up my son. And at the beginning of the rehearsal process to the end he was a different person,” she said. “It was a completely different life experience, and we’ve been really grateful for the contribution that the Alliance has made to helping us, you know, raise our family, literally.”
Caleb is not the only beloved and familiar face returning to A Christmas Carol this year. Other members of the “family” include Benator as Scrooge and Raymond as the Ghost of Christmas Present, as well as other favorites including Asia Rogers as Alice and Fan, Rhyn McLemore as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Caleb Clark as Young Scrooge and Peter, and Thomas Neal Antwon Grant as Tom Watkins, Mr. Fezziwig, and Topper. There is also another beloved cast member returning this year, but in a different role.
This year, Caitlin Hargraves returns to the Alliance as director of A Christmas Carol.
“I’m really excited to be able to be directed by Caitlin,” said Caleb. “She’s an amazing person. And I know I know she’ll do amazing. In past productions, she has played my mother. I know she’ll take the reins and she’ll direct gracefully.”
Not only is she honored to be directing the production this year, but Hargraves also looks forward to what this opportunity means for her family. She was pregnant during last season’s production.
“This year, I’ll get to bring my baby daughter, Ophelia, to rehearsals with me. That alone fills me with hope and joy,” she said, “Knowing that she will get to take part of a theatrical tradition celebrated across the globe, with many of the artists and friends who have inspired and encouraged me since I moved to Atlanta in 2017. What a gift, and I’m beyond grateful that it continues to give.”
As someone who has probably seen the show more times than anyone else, Erika Baumann considers the show a unifier.
“It is such a uniting message, right? It might be a tried-and-true story, but there’s a reason that it stands the test of time. And I think in these times, where things are so volatile and tumultuous, it’s even more important,” she adds. “The story, the show, and the cast have a very unique way of always of making it very alive and very relevant to what’s happening in the world.”
And no matter what is going on in his career (before the WGA and SAG AFTRA strike he was planning a move to Los Angeles), the Baumanns describe the Alliance’s production of A Christmas Carol as Caleb’s anchor back to Atlanta.
“Oh, I’m coming back every year,” he said. “Plus, playing Jacob Marley has always been the dream role since I was a kid. I look forward to that. I look forward to that for sure.”
Just like when he was four or five, he is determined. He has never been more determined.
