The Dickens Project - Press Release
Issue: Immediate Release
Kill Date: January 7th, 2024
Media Contact:
Caledonia Skytower, Seanchai Library
The
2023 Edition of The Dickens Project
Opens
December 7th
Second Life – Seanchai Library is pleased to announce the opening of The Dickens Project 2023 Edition. This Second Life winter holiday tradition invites guests to walk in the steps of Ebenezer Scrooge in an environment inspired by Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol.” An invited community of Second Life residents, groups, and organizations will present a variety of music events, performances, tours, and story presentations. Other features include skating, sledding, a balloon ride, a horse cart tour, plenty of photo opportunities, and several new features this year. The Dickens Project regions will open on Thursday, December 7th, and close at the end of the day on Sunday, January 7th.
"This
project has a lot of history and long time fans have a lot of ownership over
elements that are favorites. If we decided not to have Bay Rum Royal and the
horse cart tour, there would be a riot!" said Caledonia Skytower of
Seanchai Library. "We try to balance retaining things that are familiar
with exploring new ideas and new ways to improve the experience for our
guests.” Seanchai Library has presented Dickens’ work throughout its 15 years
in Second Life, with the seeds of what is currently known as “the project”
starting in 2012.
Inspired
by the enthusiastic reception of “Where’s Mr. Lurky?” at this fall’s Bradbury
Project, a search-and-count style hunt will be one of the additions to this
year’s activities. Guests will be invited to “Help Tiny Tim!” who has left his
crutch somewhere, everywhere across the two Dickens regions. Information on
“Help Tiny Tim!” will be available at the Welcome area.
“Even though we’ve
worked with this historical period for quite a while, we still make discoveries regarding
Victorian culture that intrigue us,” Skytower commented. Such a discovery has led
to another new feature this year: mermaids. The mermaid has been depicted in many
ways throughout history, from lithe beautiful maidens to grotesque fish
hybrids. The stories and the art that tell the tale of this fascinating
creature are parts of a wildly varied collage. The Dickens Project offers a
display of some of these fascinating pieces of art and story in the Lighthouse
on
Returning
after several years is the Dickens Open Art Show. Second Life artists and
photographers are invited and encouraged to display their work inspired by The
Dickens Project, Victorian Christmas, or Winter Beauty. Information on the Call
to Artists can be found on the Seanchai Library website
in a dedicated page, or at the Dickens Project Welcome Area. The deadline
for submissions is December 17, and inquires should be directed to Stevie
Basevi.
“A whole community has grown around this event,” said
Skytower, “I start getting messages in August ‘will there be Dickens this
year?’” The Dickens Project promotes community – with individuals and
organizations coming together to perform and present for the annual
celebration. Organizations and performing groups include Virtual Community
Radio, Innsmouth in SL, Evolution Dance, Idle Rogue Productions, Misfit Dance
and Performance Art SL, and Virtuoso Dance, eClipse Club & Resort, and the
SL Hawks Aerobatic Team. New this year will be the Angelicus Boy Choir, with a
single performance on December 30th. The Community Virtual Library
will again provide research and information on Victorian life in the time of
Dickens’ works. Numerous DJs and Live Musicians will be performing during
the month-long festivities.
These are all in addition to the live story reading programs which Seanchai Library is known for. The popular "Carol Week" will begin with The Big Read on Sunday, December 17th at Noon. The relay-style presentation involves a chorus of voices in a continuous reading of "A Christmas Carol" from the beginning to end. The week will continue December 18 – 21st with a section of Dickens' novella presented live each day in a "Story Tour" presentation to the sites on the estate inspired by the story. A listening room is available 24/7 where guests can listen to different recordings of “A Christmas Carol” on the media stream. A simple hud is available for residents who would like to explore listening to the story stream, rather than the music stream.
The Dickens Project was created for Seanchai Library by Da5id Abbot, Dagmar Kohime, Gloriana Maertens, Stevie Basevi-Morane, Iniry Vaher, and Caledonia Skytower.
Seanchai Library is grateful to Linden Labs and Patch Linden, our 2023 Region Sponsors.
Specific information and schedule details for The Dickens Project will be available in Second Life and through the Seanchai Library website. All tips from events will be donated to Reading is Fundamental.
(Note: Seanchai Library is not an official representative of Reading is Fundamental)
About the Seanchai Library
Seanchai Library
(pronounced Shawn-a-kee, which means
"Storyteller" in Irish Gaelic.) was founded in March of 2008 in
Second Life. The program remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to
transform and inspire through live voice presentations: "We bring stories
of all kinds to life, in Second Life and other virtual worlds." http://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/
About Seanchai Projects
Special
projects produced by members of Seanchai Library date as far back as 2008 and
its first special adaptations of A Christmas Carol, Dracula, and War
of The Worlds. In addition to The
Dickens Project, other immersive literature projects have included Arthur Conan
Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Agatha Christie’s Murder
on the Orient Express, Murder on the Nile, Murder at The Vicarage,
and Evil Under the Sun. Projects on the Kitely grid have included F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and
Men. The Bradbury Project debuted this October as the newest Seanchai
Project created to inspire individuals to engage with great literature.
“We
call them ‘project’ because every other name we think of is either too
complicated or too goofy.” ~
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