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…”

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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.