For years, the Black Box Theatre’s annual run of “A Christmas Carol” has packed houses at its home at Artists’ Exchange, a nonprofit arts collaborative at 50 Rolfe Square in Cranston. Casts have committed to weekends upon weekends of performances, responding to the growing demands of the theater-going public, which is at its largest during the holiday season. Still, when Artistic Director Rich Morra looked at the count of 1,000 seats at the newly renovated Park Theatre in Cranston, where Artists’ Exchange had booked a culminating performance after a run of five performances at their home base, the task of filling them seemed a daunting one.

The Black Box Theatre’s intimate house typically seats 27 for performances of “A Christmas Carol,” sometimes booking up to 12 shows. Approximately 30 seats and 12 performances translates to a typical 360 tickets sold. To fill the 1,000-seat house at Park, the Black Box would have to nearly triple their audience.

However, booking a performance at a theater whose uncertain outcome had stirred the interest of an entire community could certainly help reach this lofty goal. Being the first to actually stage a theatrical production in the newly renovated theater after its long-anticipated reopening held quite a bit of promise. Touted as “the show that’s giving the Trinity Rep classic a run for its money,” by New York Times best-selling author and RI Monthly contributor Ann Hood, the growing popularity of The Black Box Theatre’s version of “A Christmas Carol” only added to the recipe for a sold-out show. With not a ticket left for Saturday, Dec. 19 at the Rhode Island Center for the Performing Arts at the historic Park Theatre, and still a month to go before the show date, Artists’ Exchange and the Black Box Theatre have elected to extend the run with an additional matinee performance at RICPA on Sunday, Dec. 20.

“I’m dumbfounded and thrilled,” says Morra. “This is a really big deal for us, and we’re so excited to share it with a community the Artists’ Exchange and the Black Box Theatre have called ‘home’ for these past five years. The cast can’t wait to get up on that stage to share this story in such a grand way.”

“A Christmas Carol” will open on Thursday, Dec. 10 and will run through Thursday, Dec. 17 in the Black Box Theatre at Artists’ Exchange, closing at RICPA on Dec. 20. All performances are scheduled for 7 p.m., with the exception of Sunday, Dec. 13, which will be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. and Dec. 20, which will be a matinee performance at 3 p.m. All tickets are $15. Groups of 15 or more will qualify for a reduced ticket price of $10 per ticket.

For those seeing the show on Dec. 19, there remain a very limited number of tickets reserved for guests at a preceding VIP Party from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Artists' Exchange, hosted by Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and Steven Feinberg of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office. The party will include a silent auction, food from local restaurants including Arunothai, Efendi’s Mediterranean Grill, Café Luna and Phu Lam, wine from Jonathan Edwards Winery and beer from Rapscallion Brewery. There will be live entertainment provided by Mark Taber, Linda Succi and the Always on Sunday Ballroom Dancers, and the chorus from “A Christmas Carol,” finishing with a horse-drawn carriage ride down the street to the theater. Tickets to the VIP Party are $75.

Artists’ Exchange is located at 50 Rolfe Square in Cranston. For more information, call 490-9475.