By Xinhua Writer Li Huizi     

    BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Drama in Beijing is no longer only the preserve of the top-billing, professional artists at the Peking Opera House. Community theater has come to Beijing -- and in English.

    A new theatrical troupe called Beijing Playhouse drew theater fans into the magic of a traditional English Christmas this December. Drama lovers were able to watch "A Christmas Carol" -- or even audition for a part themselves. They could be the main character Mr. Scrooge or a member of the stage crew.

    Chris Verrill, executive director of the semi-professional English theater, staged Charles Dickens' traditional play "A Christmas Carol" in December 2006, bringing to the Beijing theatrical scene an art form that in the United States is commonly referred to as "community theater", a tried and true formula in the West for more than 200 years.

    "Community theatre pulls in people who love theater. Some of them are brilliant and some of them are performing for the first time. Community theatre is new to China but audiences love to watch it," said Verrill who has produced, directed and acted in over 40 shows totaling 2,000 performances in the U.S..

    Verrill's Beijing Playhouse is an English theater ensemble in which all the actors have day jobs, some running a school, some working in companies and some as translators. But at night, they come to the community theater and have fun.

    Verrill said Beijing has been enjoying an economic boom for many years, and now art and culture is booming too. "I hope the theatre can be a part of what's going on here in China."

    Verrill, an enthusiastic drama lover and the original producer and co-host of "China Drive" on China Radio International, started searching for venues and ideas for his theatre last January and started to put together a theatre company from scratch. Finally he found a theatre in Beijing City International School (BCIS), located in the eastern part of the capital, and made it his temporary headquarters.

    "The semi-professional theatre business model, which is sustained by ticket sales and retains cast and crew mostly on a part-time or volunteer basis, is a new critter here," said the American director from San Francisco, who had always dreamed of running his own theatre.

    Sponsored in part by the BCIS, a school for children of expatriates as well as English-speaking Chinese, the theatre group found some lively children to act in its first play "A Christmas Carol". And, after a total of 18 performances, Verrill is delighted to have achieved both an artistic and a financial success.

    Statistics show about 40,000 foreigners now live in Beijing, making up 0.3 percent of the total population of the capital, among whom 85 percent are professional personnel. Nationwide, more than 60,000 foreigners reside in large cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.