Directing the Joy of the Season
The approaching holiday season brings to mind Black Friday deals, gingerbread and, of course, the return of A Christmas Carol at the Playhouse. This year’s production will be directed by Bridget Leak, a prolific and innovative member of the Cincinnati theatre community.
After working on the all-new A Christmas Carol as Assistant Director to Blake Robison last year, Leak is ready to take the production into her own hands, while still honoring the heart of the story and traditions that audience members will expect to return. “Working with Blake as both playwright and director was a great insight into how he views and values this story,” Leak said. “We knew then that I would be directing the following year, and he put a lot of trust in me to help shape the scenes and guide the actors.”
Audiences can anticipate another magical year of Cincinnati’s joyful holiday tradition. Last year’s all-new production marked the return of A Christmas Carol after a year off in 2022 while the Playhouse’s mainstage theatre complex was being constructed, and it played to a completely sold out run in its inaugural season. Now, the team is getting ready to kick off the second year of the holiday production in Moe and Jack’s Place – The Rouse Theatre. “I suspect that getting back in the rehearsal room is going to feel like a family reunion, full of joy and fond memories, but also excitement for the work ahead,” Leak said about this year’s production. “I think part of the power of this production is the annual tradition of our family telling a story to your family. There are also some new faces in the cast this year, and I’m so excited to welcome them into the Playhouse family.”
Andrew May (Ebenezer Scrooge) in A Christmas Carol
For the Cincinnati theatre-goer, Leak’s name may be familiar. Besides her work
on last year’s A Christmas Carol, she was recently named the Producing Artistic
Director of the Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Leak is also the co-founder of Queen
City Flash – known for developing innovative and interactive theatre
experiences and a mainstay at the annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
Queen City Flash is also a resident artist in the Playhouse’s Arts and
Culture Incubator.
Leak originally came to Cincinnati as Robison’s first Directing Fellow at the Playhouse. “The original plan was to move here for nine months, assist on 13 productions and then move directly back to New York City,” Leak said. “But what I found in Cincinnati was an eager audience with a big appetite for new theatre, in a gorgeous – and affordable! – city with an amazing artist community. I applied for the final round of the Cincinnati Arts Ambassador Fellowship, and that grant allowed me and my husband to create our own theatre company and start self-producing.”
Since then, she has accumulated many directing credits across Cincinnati, including the Playhouse, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati and the Know. She is also a faculty member and director at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Xavier University. “We moved here for theatre and stayed because of the audiences. It’s been 11 years and I couldn’t be happier, or luckier, that we decided to make Cincinnati our home.”
Even as A Christmas Carol changes its director, the heart of the classic story will always remain the same. “Dickens’ text is timeless because its message is so simple and enduring,” according to Leak. “It’s a story about redemption, a lesson: it's never too late. And that message resonates as profoundly whether it’s coming from Albert Finney or Fozzie Bear. Our family traditions are a shorthand for love. They anchor and center us.”