Hart to Hartt: A Conversation with Johanna Morrison

“Most of all, I will miss ‘The Past.’” – Celebrating and Saying Goodbye to A Christmas Carol

By Rachel Alderman, Artistic Associate

“He hadn’t even stepped into the house properly, and he said ‘So, have you done some work at Hartford Stage yet? How would you like to play the Ghost of Christmas Past?’ and I thought, ‘Good gracious, I have avoided A Christmas Carol throughout my whole career.’”

With cheerful laughter, Johanna Morrison recalls the beginning of her illustrious 18-year run as Bettye Pigeon (the Doll Vendor) and The Ghost of Christmas Past. A beautiful journey marked by only one season’s absence, when she went to perform Noises Off at Indiana Repertory Theater, and a role which she will now pass on to her friend and colleague, Rebecka Jones, for the 20^th anniversary season.

Morrison was reluctant to take the part when director Michael Wilson came to dinner that night in 1998. It meant her family wouldn’t have a “proper Christmas holiday” if she was performing 10 shows a week from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, which is why she had declined previous offers for other productions of the Dicken’s holiday classic. Now, Morrison is thankful for the artistic fulfillment and close-knit family the almost 20-year experience provided. It has become “a huge part of my identity, which I am so grateful for.”

Taking inspiration directly from Dickens, Morrison was initially drawn to the impish, joyful and child-like aspects of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Each director, from Michael Wilson to Jeremy Cohen, Max Williams and, most recently, Rachel Alderman, have helped her build upon this first impulse. Through the years, her characters have evolved in response to major life events, as well. There was the year her granddaughter was born during rehearsal in November 2001 and the year her beloved husband Malcolm Morrison passed away in November 2013.

Morrison’s family also included hundreds of youth ensemble members, many of them have known Morrison since they were 5 or 6 years old. She has kept up with them over the years. The saying goes that one shouldn’t act with children or animals because they usually steal the audience’s attention, but for Morrison “if you give them your love, they return it and the trust is born.” Each night she put her trust in her young sleigh pullers who gracefully and grandly presented the Ghost of Christmas Past to audience members amidst a magical snowfall. To keep that moment alive performance after performance, “with seconds to spare before the [entrance], I would tickle them and sprinkle them with snow. Then I would say something funny to one of them each time…Gosh, there have been some marvelous children!”

When reflecting on her career beyond A Christmas Carol, Morrison says, “I’ve done most of what I’ve wanted to do…Titania, Hedda, Gertrude, Shirley Valentine, Lady M.” At Hartford Stage alone she has appeared in the BrandNew Play Festival, 8 by TENN, Summer and Smoke, Noises Off, Ether Dome and, most recently, Comedy of Errors, directed by Darko Tresnjak. This list doesn’t account for the work she has done in her native England or from coast to coast across the United States – not to mention the students that she nurtures as a teacher at the Hartt School.

“At this point, I just need to have a Christmas…a home Christmas. I do have family coming over from England this year. I made the difficult choice to step down. I will surely miss that family. I’ll miss my colleagues, GREATLY, the ones onstage and backstage. I’ll miss the audiences.” But, she does mention with a smile, “I’d love to play Mariah in Twelfth Night.”