A Noise Within (ANW), is dedicating a special performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for an audience of 280 underprivileged children and families from the local community, organized and hosted by the Bolton Foundation, a component fund of the Pasadena Community Foundation.

This is the Foundation’s first annual charity event. Entitled Granting Holiday Wishes, the event includes a luncheon, a performance of A Christmas Carol, and a holiday toy giveaway for over 280 children and families from Bienvenidos, Hillsides, Foothill Family Service, LA Inner City Arts, and Five Acres.

Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott (who adapted the play from the novella) and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott co-direct Dickens’ masterpiece about the redemptive and transformative power of love. In this production, hailed for its “enchantment” by LA Weekly, Dickens’ poignant tale is matched by evocative original music by composer Ego Plum. This is the third consecutive year that ANW has presented the timeless holiday classic.

“Our presentation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol allows families to once again take a supremely theatrical journey, and celebrate the transformative power of forgiveness during the holidays – and it is especially poignant to share this experience with underserved members of our community,” says Elliott. Rodriguez-Elliott adds, “Ebenezer Scrooge’s rebirth from miserly curmudgeon to the epitome of love and generosity affirms our faith in the potent goodness of human kind during this beloved time of year.”

A Noise Within is located on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena.

Bolton Foundation, launched in 2014, is a 501c (3) nonprofit organization, operating as a component fund of the Pasadena Community Foundation. It is the philanthropic arm of Bolton & Company, one of the nation’s largest employee-owned insurance brokers, who has a long history of partnering with nonprofit organizations in Southern California and currently supports more than 200 nonprofit organizations. The Bolton Foundation exists to empower those who serve others, providing annual grants to local nonprofit organizations that address community development, education, youth services, and multiculturalism.

About Bolton Foundation: Launched in January 2014, the Bolton Foundation is a 501c (3) nonprofit organization operating as a component fund of the Pasadena Community Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to empower those who serve others by providing grants to local nonprofit organizations that address community development, education, youth services, and multiculturalism within our local communities. For additional information, please visit www.boltoncofoundation.org. For additional information about the Bolton Foundation, please contact Kim Johnson at (626) 535-1976 or [email protected].

A Noise Within, founded in 1991, is among the country’s pre-eminent presenters of classical theatre and is the leading presenter of these plays in Southern California. The company’s mission is to produce world-class performances of the great works of drama in rotating repertory with a resident company; to educate and inspire the public through programs that foster an understanding and appreciation of history’s great plays and playwrights; and to train the next generation of classical theatre artists.

Originally based in a former Masonic Temple in Glendale, the company moved to its present home—a building of architectural distinction designed by Edward Durrell Stone of Kennedy Center fame—in 2011. Helmed by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, who hold MFAs from San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, A Noise Within delivers a seven-show repertory season and a wide range of educational programs to diverse audiences from Los Angeles County and well beyond. Voted “Best Theatre” by readers of both Time Out Los Angeles and Pasadena Weekly, A Noise Within is indeed “California’s Home for the Classics.”

A Christmas Carol is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission, and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division. The 2014/15 Season Sponsor is the Wells Fargo Foundation and Media Sponsors are Pasadena Weekly and KPCC 89.3 FM.