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In this festive episode, we delve into the rich history of Raleigh's cherished 'A Christmas Carol' production at Theatre in the Park. Ira David Wood III and his son Ira David Wood IV to reflect on the musical comedy adaptation that has delighted North Carolina audiences for over 50 years. The Woods share anecdotes about the origins of the theater, the heartfelt impact of the show, the camaraderie among the cast, and the trials and joys of playing Scrooge across multiple generations. This episode offers a heartfelt and humorous look into a holiday tradition that has touched countless lives.
00:00 Welcome to the Holiday Season
01:25 Meet the Royal Family of Raleigh Theater
02:25 The Beginnings of Theatre in the Park
04:34 The Birth of A Christmas Carol Tradition
09:19 A Family Legacy Continues
14:58 Passing the Torch
18:38 The Magic of the Lamplighter
26:01 The Annual Transformation
27:13 Keeping the Show Fresh
27:45 The Power of Laughter and Unity
29:27 Reflecting on Personal Loss
31:21 The Joy of Character Acting
33:52 Theatre in the Park and Future Plans
37:24 Family Legacy and Community Impact
41:34 Lightning Round: Bah Humbug Edition
46:22 Final Thoughts and Gratitude
Creators and Guests
Host
Ira David Wood III
Ira David Wood III was born on November 19, 1947 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA.
Guest
Ira David Wood IV
Ira David Wood IV was born on November 20, 1984 in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. He is an actor, known for One Tree Hill (2003), Down in the Valley (2005) and Once and Again (1999).
What is What’s Up, Wake?
What’s Up, Wake covers the people, places, restaurants, and events of Wake County, North Carolina. Through conversations with local personalities from business owners to town staff and influencers to volunteers, we’ll take a closer look at what makes Wake County an outstanding place to live. Presented by Cherokee Media Group, the publishers of local lifestyle magazines Cary Magazine, Wake Living, and Main & Broad, What’s Up, Wake covers news and happenings in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Wake Forest.
41 Whats Up Wake - Scrooges
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[00:00:00]
Melissa: It's officially the holiday season. And while some people count down to Santa Raleigh, counts down to Scrooge. Few traditions have stood the test of time, like theater in the parks, a Christmas Carol. Ira David Woods' [00:01:00] musical comedy adaptation of the Charles Dickens Classic has become as synonymous with holiday traditions in the triangle as the lighting of the capitol.
Christmas tree Natives and newcomers alike flock each year to see performances at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium and Durham Performing Arts Center and is lauded as one of the most successful shows in North Carolina theater history. That's really to say it mildly. If Raleigh had a royal family of theater, today's guest would most certainly be crowned King and Prince.
They've made us laugh, cry, and occasionally fear for tiny Tim's safety for an incredible 50 years. 50 plus years at this point Here to talk about the ghost or Scrooge of Christmas', past, present, and future, please welcome Scrooge of Christmas's past Ira David Wood iii, AKA, David. Scrooge of Christmas's Present and future Ira David [00:02:00] Wood, the fourth, AKA ira.
Welcome, and a resounding Baja bug to both of you.
Ira David Wood III: You beat us to it.
Melissa: Yes, I, I wore my Baja Bug shirt for the occasion. I broke it out just a tad early this year. Thank you guys for being here. I know you're in the busy season.
Ira David Wood III: Well, thank you for having us.
Melissa: Which I was saying to Ira when you guys came in is kind of always your busy season because you're always having something going on at theater in the park.
That's where I wanna start. I would love you, David, to talk to us about the beginning. Just give us a brief story and with you, I use the word brief very loosely because I've known you for a few years now and nothing really about you is brief.
Ira David Wood III: Bless you.
Melissa: But a brief, a brief story of the beginnings of theater in the park.
Ira David Wood III: It started as the Raleigh Children's Theater in 1947. And we changed the name in the oh 72 [00:03:00] to theater in the park. Mm-hmm. When we stumbled on the old Pullin Park Armory and it was a catchall for city groups. Dog obedience, karate summer camp. Oh, that building was camp. Yes. I
Melissa: didn't realize that.
Ira David Wood III: Yes, we walked in.
To the building, and I looked around and I said, this is a theater. Of course it was a gymnasium, but that's what we had at the School of the Arts in 1965 when it opened, was a gymnasium painted black floor ceiling and walls. Mm-hmm. So when I saw this building, I said, it's a theater. And they looked at me like I'd lost my mind, but 60 gallons of black paint later.
They could start to see the theater emerge from that gymnasium. And we've been going strong ever since. We're a year round theater organization sponsored by the city of Raleigh, and we do four or five main shows a year, and we play to over 30,000 people. [00:04:00] One of the largest community theaters in the state, the oldest children's theater, when we, you know, do well, we call it family theater.
We don't call it children's theater. Children's Theater oftentimes is a babysitting service, is what it ends up being.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And rather than just have the parents drop the kids off to see a show, we wanted the whole family to walk in together and have a shared experience. So we're very pleased with what's happened in all those years.
I was only 12 when I started.
Melissa: Of course.
Ira David Wood III: Yes,
Melissa: yes, of course. And back when you were 12, can you. Tell me why a Christmas Carol? Why? Why was that the story in your mind that you wanted to retell? Of course, you didn't know then that it was gonna be over 50 years later. You were gonna have to play the same character, but,
Ira David Wood III: well,
Melissa: but why that story?
Ira David Wood III: When I was at School of the Arts, I went to my first ballet performance and it was the Nutcracker. When the curtain came down at the end, I couldn't get up outta my seat. I was [00:05:00] just bowled over by this incredible. Two hours that I've spent with Tchaikovsky and these incredible dancers. What impressed me so much was that the first act, there's the Christmas party, and the boys and girls get Christmas gifts.
The girls got a doll, the boys got a trumpet or a drum, and they were ecstatic. And I don't know why that hit me. I just thought, isn't that amazing? They got one toy and they were happy. That was Christmas. I knew when the curtain closed that I wanted to be a part of a show that left people feeling like that.
And so flash forward to 1974 at Theater in the park. We had done a season of Shakespeare. We had done Romeo and Juliet. Taming of the shrew we were getting to the Christmas season. Charles Dickens was the next best English author [00:06:00] after Shakespeare, and so we decided, let's do a version of a Christmas Carol.
I knew I wanted to make it a musical comedy, and I wanted to have some topical humor in it because I wanted people to see the relevance of the story as it applies to us today. When we opened the show, we knew we were in the right place at the right time because most other theaters in Raleigh were closed for the holidays.
And I thought, no, that's when you wanna open the doors to the theater because families wanna do things together over the holidays. So when we opened the show, we had to sell the cushions off the sofas in the lobby. Put 'em on the floor in, in front of the audience platforms and people just came in and sat on the cushions.
And I think I knew then that our production had a life. And I
Melissa: Yeah. You, you really hit something.
Ira David Wood III: Yes. And I was, [00:07:00] it's one of those things that you just settled into the happiness and contentment of that feeling of being able to share this with people. Who walk in during the holidays, so emotionally ready to be taken on a journey.
joe: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And particularly when the journey is about our ability to transform ourselves and become better people than we were. And we take that journey with Scrooge and if we do it in a way that you can identify with Scrooge, it, it makes it so much easier to step into that journey with him. So that's why.
I thought comedy would en enabled us to do that. If we laugh with Scrooge 'cause there's a little bit of scrooge in everybody around the holidays or
Melissa: we all know a lovable curmudgeon type. Exactly. Like Scrooge, you know? Exactly. And if, if you don't know one, you are. You are it.
Ira David Wood III: Right, right. Well, I've said, you know, television commercials make us think that the holidays have to be [00:08:00] perfect.
The turkey's perfect, the house is always clean,
Melissa: and we all know that is not
Ira David Wood III: the case. Oh, no. It's the
Melissa: ever,
Ira David Wood III: oh, it's the most tense time of the year, you know? Yeah. So if you can walk into a production reduction of a Christmas Carol or the Nutcracker, or the Messiah. And blow some carbon out of the pipes.
Have that emotional connection. Mm-hmm. Laugh, cry, shed some laughter, shed some tears. Um, you're better equipped to face the holidays and, and join the reason for the season.
Melissa: You at least feel lighter walking out than you did walking in. That's the goal. I, I, I've seen the show truly. I, I don't even know how many times because I've seen it since I was a kid.
It's one of my favorite memories with my family going and, and, and sitting with my parents and my brother to see the show. So, I mean, honestly, I thank you on behalf of everybody in Raleigh because it gives, it [00:09:00] gives a memory that you always look back fondly, and now I take my own kids. My daughter just said last week before I even reached out to you, she said.
I hope we're going to a Christmas Carol. I said, really? Are you not getting tired of it? And she was like, no. Like it was not even, so why would I get tired of it? But it is different every year too, which I'm gonna get into. But I, I first want to ask Ira and hope, hopefully I'm getting this story right.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I know that you, you grew up, this was your playground because like I said, it's been over 50 years. You are not 50. Thank you very much. So you've grown up on the stage, behind the stage, but in it was 2015, is that right? That you were in LA working, you got word that your dad was gonna have surgery?
Ira David Wood IV: 2010.
Melissa: 2010. Okay. You got word your dad was needing heart surgery. Of course you're gonna come back, be with your dad, but did you immediately know, oh, I'm gonna have to take [00:10:00] over a scrooge.
Ira David Wood IV: He had gone in for some preliminary testing.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: And we were getting word back that something might be a little off.
I got the sense that maybe they were using a lighter touch about the news on me. So I was a little, oh, I was a little concerned something might be going on.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood IV: Um, and I remember dad calling me over to the house and that's when I knew I was gonna get some kind of news.
Melissa: Oh yeah.
Ira David Wood IV: Um, so I was bracing myself a little bit that, that I might have to step in.
Um. Because that was always kind of a contingent plan, just in case. Okay. And, and I was, I believe, 26 at the time. So I was at that age where, you know, if dad had broken his leg, if something gone wrong mm-hmm. I think that would've been the option and the choice,
Melissa: and I'm sure, I mean, you knew the part inside and out.
It's literally in your blood.
Ira David Wood IV: It's, yeah. Yeah. I, I, that's safe to say. And and then I, it was pretty much confirmed without dad saying a word when I walked in. Our business manager, who I adore, Brent Simpson, who also plays the baker, was [00:11:00] sitting there, I think it wasn't even noon, and he had a martini as he, oh.
And I went, I'm about to get some news.
Melissa: Yep. Yeah, here it comes.
Ira David Wood IV: And dad looked at me and he said, hello, Mr. Scrooge. And there was a, a weight, I think maybe a little bit of blood left my, my face. Yep. And to have that confirmation, but. You know, I, I nodded and mm-hmm. And took it with Grace and said, okay.
And I, I knew that we had the time. I was doing the math in my head real quick. Mm-hmm. I said, okay, we got two weeks. I've been doing this show my whole life. I'm, I'm familiar with the lines, with the blocking. Um, I think, I think we can do this. Mm-hmm. And and the reception from the community and, and more importantly, the people who've been doing the show for years and the staff of theater in the park.
Um, Deanne Jones, who was there the first year with my father. I think the biggest compliment I got was she came and was sitting there with someone and I came out and I started doing Scrooge and she said, I thought, I thought Ira was playing [00:12:00] Scrooge. And the, and the person said, no, that's, that's Irish.
She said, no, that's David. I know David. Yeah, that's David.
joe: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: So I think that was one of the biggest compliments I got from, from Deanne Jones. And and the cast was so supportive. Every step of the way and believed in me and their belief helped elevate me and my performance where I felt comfortable and confident.
Um, obviously dad was there to direct and, and show me the ropes real fast. Um, so yeah, it was, it was an interesting year. Not as stressful as you would think because there was so much love coming from the community and from the cast that ever since then I've, I've felt like I've, I've, I've earned it and I've, I've been, um.
I've been honored and privileged to be a part of people's holiday season. It's just like you said, every Yeah. You know, every year we do this, it's like being in a living, breathing Christmas card or, or, or just to be involved in that story every year, um, [00:13:00] is, is really fantastic. But that, so that was, that was kind of the first year jumping in and, and getting into it.
Melissa: And it could have felt like you were being thrown to the wolves, but like you said, you. You know the story, you know the lines, you know the part and the community. I'm sure they would've much rather have had you than have to cancel the whole season because it's really. One or the other at that point, I'm assuming.
Um, then was it the next year that you started taking over every other performance or did you take a few? In other words, did you know at that point Okay. I am Scrooge now.
Ira David Wood IV: Um, well, we got good reports back once dad had the surgery that he would be able to step in the next year. Mm-hmm. And I can't remember, did I just do the Lamplighter the next year?
And you did Scrooge again and then we started doing.
Ira David Wood III: I think that's, I think that's what happened.
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah. So I think I,
Melissa: because at some point it was like every other night you were Scrooge. Yeah. You guys took turns.
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah. And oh, one thing I forgot to mention is, [00:14:00] is some of the best training I got before stepping into Scrooge was I did the lost Colony just the year before.
Oh
Melissa: yeah.
Ira David Wood IV: Which is outside in. Real wool and rabbit fur. Yes. And 95 degree heat. And I was playing, the character was of Old Tom, which is actually an elderly comedic character, and it was kind of Navy Seals training. Mm-hmm. Because you're out there every day in the baking sun. You gotta give 110%. Yeah. So I had done some weight training before, before going into it.
Um.
Melissa: I didn't realize that you had, you had done that.
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah.
Melissa: Which, I mean, I've, I've seen that production as well. And is there's truly nothing like that production.
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah,
Melissa: because you are outside in the outer banks. Um, and the, the audience feels like we are a part of the show. Um, so I would've loved to have seen you in that role as well.
David, I don't know if you will take this. Maybe you will, [00:15:00] but you are known as being the person who single-handedly transformed Raleigh Theater, North Carolina Theater. Um, you have sold more than 2 million tickets as your tenure as Scrooge. Could you ever have guessed that you would've played the same character for an actor that's really what you, you, the joy of being an actor, I would think is getting to take on so many different roles, which you've also taken on different roles throughout your career.
But to get to return to the same guy for 50 years has got to be unheard of and quite remarkable to, to have that feeling.
Ira David Wood III: It is a great feeling, but the holidays are family time and the cast of a Christmas carol's not really a company or cast. They're a family.
Melissa: Yeah. 'cause you guys have had the same [00:16:00] people, a lot of those for almost the 50 years that you did it.
Right.
Ira David Wood III: That's that's true. And they've, they, some of 'em have. Been in the show since they were children. Mm-hmm. And now they're adults with their own children and they're back in the show as a family. Mm-hmm. Group. And that's pretty amazing. But I think because the holidays are a family time and because that company is family.
That's the way we approach the show every year, and I tell them that at the first company meeting, you are, you're not a cast, you're not a crew. We are a family. We're huggers. We are celebrating the holiday. We are so lucky because we come in in October and it's Christmas.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: And we have Christmas all the way through to Christmas Eve.
You know, I joked about, you know, on Christmas morning you wake up and you go Whoopee and you turn over, go back to sleep 'cause you've had Christmas, you know, for three months.
joe: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: So, [00:17:00] um, it wasn't really a surprise to me. It was a delight and an honor and a privilege to be on the stage with my family.
Mm-hmm. With my two sons now. And, um. So I don't,
Melissa: and Evan has had turfs. Oh, on stage as well. Yes.
Ira David Wood III: She was
Melissa: what, ghost of
Ira David Wood III: Christmas. Christmas past.
Melissa: Yep. Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And on our 50th anniversary, she came back and walked on stage as the ghost and surprised me and, oh, you didn't
Melissa: know?
Ira David Wood III: No, that was my last, oh.
Performance as Scrooge when I passed the torch to Ira.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: So it was really a homecoming. Yeah. And we had around 200 former cast members come back.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And they all came up on stage and sang the, the closing number and took the roof off of Memorial.
Melissa: And you melted. I'm sure
Ira David Wood III: I did. Well, I was gone by then.
I, I took my Santa robe off and passed it to Ira. Oh. And I let him sing the last song and I walked off stage. I was in the dressing room going. It's [00:18:00] over. I'm done. Mm. It's his turn now and that was it. Mm. And I haven't looked back. I missed it last year.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: You know, because I was sitting out, I got to do a lot of things that I haven't been able to do in 50 years.
Melissa: Yeah. I bet you had a little bit more time on your hands.
Ira David Wood III: I did. And that was nice, but I missed a half hour where you are in your dressing room, getting your costume on. Um, and so I, I talked to Ira earlier this year and I just said, what do you think? And he said, sure, dad, I know you, you know, you wanna come back.
That's great. And I can do this role because it's easy for me.
Melissa: And you're speaking of the Lamplighter, the
Ira David Wood III: Lamplighter,
Melissa: which is essentially. Kind of like a narrator. Yes. In a, in a, in a sense, that's
Ira David Wood III: exactly what he is.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: And he's a little magical because he Yeah,
Melissa: magical.
Ira David Wood III: He knows the story. He knows how it's going to end.
And he's telling you the story. Yeah. At the beginning he sets it all up. And he comes back in at the end and wraps it up for you. Mm-hmm. And tells you [00:19:00] how, how everything worked out.
Melissa: And it's perfect for you because the lamplighter still has that twinkle in his eye. You've got to have that, you know, and, and, and you've got, I think you've, I think you were probably born with the twinkle in your eye.
You've just got that natural, you know, sense of wonder about you.
Ira David Wood III: Well, I've found early on in my life, the theater.
Melissa: And
Ira David Wood III: that is a wonderful thing at an early age to know this is your life. This is what you are going to do. And I knew at 14, 15 years old this, this is what I wanted to do. And I've never looked back.
And when people said, what are you gonna be when you grow up? I said, who says I gotta grow up?
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And I never did. Yeah. And, and now I get to still play cowboys and Indians, you know, and it's fun.
Melissa: So Ira and, and David, you can also take this question too. If you knew that you had to be a character other than Scrooge for 50 years, is there a character that comes to mind that you would say, [00:20:00] yeah, I would happily take that on.
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah, I think that might be an easy question. Um, because I, I played the Lamplighter for about about three years and. That's actually a part that I miss a little bit. Yeah. I love playing Scrooge Uhhuh, but there was something, it's just like you said, the little twinkle in his eye. Yeah. That the narration, because when I,
Melissa: he knows something, we don't know
Ira David Wood IV: that
Melissa: type of
Ira David Wood IV: thing.
Yeah. And there had been some, the, the standard for the Lamplighter for the longest time was older gentleman Beard. And me and dad had a discussion one year, which, well, what if we, what if we make him younger? What if he's a little more Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins, a little more Johnny Depp and mm-hmm.
So I sat down with him. My my Aunt Carol and, and we talked about a design for his costume. And Sean Larson, who's the costumer, who's no longer with us, God bless her, um, made this, this costume that we had designed and it was a beautiful coat, and when you turn the bottom of it, the tails moved and it was just magic by itself.
But what I loved about that part was I could, I could really just be myself [00:21:00] as long as I just used, you know, an accent that was appropriate to London in the time period. I could just be Ira, because the, the, the Lamplighter only job is to be a storyteller. To take the audience's hand, kind of explain what's happening, fill them in on the magic and the meaning of the story and of of Christmas, and also why this particular tale of a Christmas carol is so special.
So. I got to be Ira and use the Lamplighter words to say, Hey, this is where we pause just for a second to remember that special thing floating around in the ether that we can all feel on Christmas morning and Christmas Eve where there's a tangible electricity.
joe: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: Um, and I think that's, that's, that is a part that I, I could happily do again, um, and miss just, just a little bit and would add my own details.
The years I was doing it, I think. Um, if you remember when it snows at the end. Mm-hmm. I just made the choice as the lamper, like, well, he knows it's about to snow, and I had a pocket watch, so I'd take out the [00:22:00] pocket watch and look at it and when it was hitting the right, you know, the clock hand hitting the right number, I would point up at the sky and go and.
Spirit, it comes. Mm. And it would snow. Just finding little details like that. Like, I don't know if anyone in the audience saw that or saw what I was doing. Yeah, yeah. But it's, it's, it's fun to be absorbed in, in that kind of storytelling and magic. So yeah. Maybe the, the, the lamplighter, you're gonna love it, dad.
I'm telling you. It's,
Ira David Wood III: well, I don't think he's realized this, but the character that he created was, I think the best lamplighter.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: This year, I'm following his footsteps.
Melissa: Are you?
Ira David Wood III: I'm getting his costume that he designed and I watched him do the lamplighter. So the whole role reversal thing now has switched off.
And I'm following his, the student has become the
Melissa: teacher.
Ira David Wood III: Yes, exactly. And that's a great feeling.
Melissa: [00:23:00] [00:24:00] and to your point about bringing in your own, um, spin on the character, have you found your way with Scrooge? I think at first when you took over Scrooge, you were really trying to keep it as close to your dad's.
Version if, if you will, as possible. But ha are you really finding your own ways to, to bring in ira?
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah, I think as, as the years go by, you find little new things [00:25:00] and mm-hmm. And little new dimensions. Um, but I mean, the great gift to me when I started was I, I greatly respect. Dad, not just a Scrooge, but as an actor.
And he's had all this time to perfect it.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: So if I can go back and watch and shadow box a little bit because he's had all these years to refine these choices. Yeah. Because that's what acting is, just picking the right choice, Don mess with
Melissa: what's already
Ira David Wood IV: good. Yeah. If, if you've got a chef who cooks the best steak in town, yeah.
You might wanna follow his recipe and not mess with it too much.
Melissa: Very good point.
Ira David Wood IV: Um, but, but I do, I do find little discoveries and things every year that, that might be a little different. Dad loves when I do. My Christopher Walkin imitation every year. He goes, you gotta do the Christopher Walkin thing.
I'm like, really? All
Melissa: right, go ahead. Give it to us. Christopher, I'm gonna, no.
Ira David Wood IV: Oh, why did I even say anything?
Ira David Wood III: I'm on the floor when he does it and I can't. I can't do it.
Melissa: You can't. Okay.
Ira David Wood III: No. I cannot imitate then walk. And he does such a brilliant job and I love it. And he has, and I, I told him too, I said, in 50 years playing Scrooge, you're gonna [00:26:00] discover each year.
A, a depth another dimension to him. Mm-hmm. And he becomes like this old friend that you can't wait to meet again. Mm-hmm. Each December. And when you sit in front of that mirror and see that transformation. It's like, it's like meeting an old friend who maybe has a new coat or a new hat. Mm-hmm. Because it's something different.
You're gonna add something new each year and he's going to grow and become, I mean, more than you imagined at, at, you know, when you started. It was certainly true for me. It is said the delight to watch him make these discoveries.
Melissa: I bet it is.
Ira David Wood IV: Oh, of course. Being a little younger now, dad and the choreographer get to look at me and go, Hey, we've got an idea.
Melissa: Oh yeah.
Ira David Wood IV: How about you pop out of this door on stage, right? Yeah. Run across the bridge and then pop out a door on stage left than eight. Jump off the do a back flip, but I'm going. Sure. Yeah guys, that sounds great.
Melissa: Yeah. Yeah,
Ira David Wood III: yeah, yeah.
Ira David Wood IV: You know, if I [00:27:00] sprain my ankle, there's no one else. Now
Melissa: your knees are nice and young and healthy.
They're can, you can do all these things. Yeah. And
Ira David Wood III: we just say, let's run him a little bit.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood IV: We'll launch you out of a cannon and you catch tiny tam and you, I'm sure. Yeah. Alright,
Melissa: I know that you work hard each year to, to try to keep it fresh. You bring in new topics, new jokes. Is there anything you can share with us that maybe would be a topic, a hot topic that you're pulling, that you wanna throw into the show?
Ira David Wood IV: We did have a discussion that we wanted to pull back from.
Pop culture, political stuff this year and not do anything divisive.
. It's like I having a rug burn. And even when you just blow on a little bit, it's sensitive.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: Um, so we talked about focusing a lot on, on the message of Christmas and, and humor that everyone can laugh at. Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: I have never seen so many angry people in society on a daily basis.
Melissa: It's scary.
Ira David Wood III: [00:28:00] It really is. Yeah. There's so much anger and tension.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: So I think if you can walk in and we can make you laugh a little. Relax you a little bit. You know, we got medicine here we're gonna give you, but it's not gonna taste bad.
Melissa: This is safe space.
Ira David Wood III: Yes, it's safe.
Melissa: Yes.
Ira David Wood III: The message is about transformation and the Ghost of Christmas presents says we are one family on a globe that grows smaller every day. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to point out our differences, but that's what we hear over and over, how different we are.
And that creates,
Melissa: and you're right. And Oh, absolutely. Or you're wrong. I'm
Ira David Wood III: right.
Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Everything's divisive. Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And we have to transform and it starts with each of us, and we have to reach out to that other family member and listen.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And try to understand. Try to get out of that anger immediately because we're [00:29:00] different, but to absorb the differences as a positive thing,
Melissa: especially during the holidays,
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah. And I think, and I think the holidays and
Christmas time are, are time. You can pause and focus on commonalities instead of mm-hmm. Instead of differences. And that's something that we could all be reminded of a little more.
And, and Christmas is a great time to hit that pause button and do that. And then you can go back to strangling each other after.
Melissa: Yeah. December 26th. Yeah. Let it, let it, let it go. Go. David, someone were to play you in a movie about your life, you cannot say your son. Who would you want to play you and what part of your life do you feel like Hollywood would want to exaggerate the most?
Ira David Wood III: Oh my gosh. Um, I think there is a great truth to. The axiom, show me a clown [00:30:00] and I'll show you a tragedy.
Melissa: Hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And I think for me, it was losing my dad when I was 12 years old and growing up without the father figure trying to be a father to this guy and to Evan, and now to my 13-year-old son. Without having an example to follow.
Yeah. And then taking that sadness and that hurt and turning it around, putting it on stage in a Christmas Carol, which we do during the lullaby that Bob Raett sings to Tiny Tim. , that to me is my Christmas present when Bob Raett sings that lullaby to Tiny Tim, because that was the last time I saw my dad.
Mm-hmm. When he took me in. At night. And when he walked out of that bedroom, I never saw him again.
Melissa: Wow.
Ira David Wood III: So when I see that scene every [00:31:00] year, I get to visit with my dad again.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And it's bittersweet. And it's not painless, but I, I get close to him again. Yeah. And it's a very pal palpable feeling. Um, I don't know who would play me.
My gosh. Um. Yeah. Anthony Hopkins,
Melissa: that's a great one.
Ira David Wood III: No, I,
Melissa: I mean, everybody goes straight to the Brad Pitts and George Clooney, but,
Ira David Wood III: oh, no, I, I love the character actors. I've always been a character actor. I was playing old men. When I was very young in at School of the Arts.
So that's been a part of me and I think they're the most interesting characters anyway. Mm-hmm. I love Mio more than Romeo and you know, and I think they had to kill Mio off in Romeo and Juliet because he was. He was getting ready to wipe Romeo off the stage. Yeah. Was the audience really loved cus he was stealing
Melissa: the show?
Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: So those character actors, I [00:32:00] think we remember them and the villains. Mm. Ira just got through killing it and wait until dark. No pun intended. Pun. Oh my gosh. It's so evil. And when you've got a good villain, you got a good story.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: Because the villain makes the hero. I, I know that's really weird, but like Alan Rickman, you know, playing it.
The villain he made Robinhood?
Ira David Wood IV: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: I mean, he came in as a sheriff of Nottingham, which was a nothing role, and he added so much to it. That it just helped Kevin Costner elevate, you know, the hero. So those kinds of roles when you're doing theater are the ones that jump out to you. I think. I never thought I was a Romeo.
I always thought I was a Mio or Cyrano or somebody like that. Real
Melissa: meat in the character though. Yes.
Ira David Wood III: Oh gosh. More meat
Melissa: on the bone. Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: Yes. It, it, it really is. And to go in, for instance, like Olivier did when he played Hot Spur and he looked at [00:33:00] hot Spurs last lines and he said, I'm, I'm food full worms.
And from that line, Olivier said, I'm gonna make Hot Spurs stutter. And he can't say words that begin with Ws. So when he's dying, he said, I'm food full. And he dies. So frustrated that he can't say the word, and then Prince Hal steps in and finishes the sentence for him. Full worms. Brave Percy. Fairly well.
Great heart. So when you can add that kind of meat to a bone. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. You've made such an incredible theatrical discovery that says so much about the character too. In one little word, Olivia found a key and that's what you hope you can do.
Melissa: What about you, IRA? Is there, is there a, a role or a character or, or even a whole show or play that [00:34:00] you're dying to bring to Raleigh?
Ira David Wood IV: Oh, you know what, um, we're getting ready to do a Cyrano at theater in the park after we close a Christmas Carol, and that's one that has been. On my bucket list for a long time and we finally had a good opportunity to do it. Um, there's a wonderful actress in town Kristen Bailey, who has done, she was the niece in a Christmas Carol.
And I knew that I didn't wanna do Cy no, without a good, um, Roxanne. So once she signed on, I said, great, we can do, we can do an awesome production of Cyrano. So I think that's, that would be. That would be one that we're, we're getting ready to do as soon as Christmas Carol closes. Yeah.
Melissa: And you're, you're executive director of theater in the park now, is that correct?
Ira David Wood IV: That is still I am autistic director.
Melissa: Oh, Wei Wei.
Ira David Wood IV: Yes. Wei Wei.
Melissa: Okay. But that, that really does give you, um, an, an open. Playing field that you can kind of bring all these ideas that you've probably had on your, on your list.
Ira David Wood IV: Yeah. Yeah. And, um,
Melissa: and, and we do have so [00:35:00] much talent in Raleigh. Oh. And the triangle.
Triangle that you, the, you know, if you have an idea, you probably have in your mind already, oh, this person would be perfect for this.
Ira David Wood IV: And that's kind of how it starts, is you, you see an actor or, or you see a performance or and you go, oh, you know. They would be great in, yeah, in X, Y, and Z. And then you pick up the phone and make a few calls.
And once you assemble a, a good, a team, I think that's when you can move forward and go, okay, I think we can, we can, we can do this.
Melissa: And with your A team, you guys really already have that base, a team with the two of you and with Brent, like you were talking about, and you, you've had the same people in your, on your team for so long
Ira David Wood III: that's a wonderful thing about the cast. A family of a Christmas carol working, for instance, with David Henderson as Jacob Marley, who's been in the show, what, 25 years. It's like an orchestra.
You know, the trumpet player's going to play a certain note. Mm-hmm. He's gonna, and you've got a violin player and a flute player. And when you put 'em [00:36:00] together like instruments, it is a symphony. And playing with David Henderson was such a joy for me. It was like sitting down to a seven course meal and we lived to crack each other up on stage.
Mm-hmm. Because we cracked up one night and the audience loved it. Mm-hmm. So it's like, okay, let's go for it. Let's see if we can do that.
And we do. We step outside of the play sometimes. Yeah.
Melissa: You get to play.
Ira David Wood III: Oh, we do.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: And, and because we get to play. The audience has fun.
Default_2025-10-22_1: Mm-hmm.
Melissa: Definitely.
Ira David Wood III: And they'll come in and go. I was there the night you and David Henderson cracked up, and I go, which night was that? Yeah, because we crack up about every night.
Yeah. Because we're having fun and that's my message to the family each year. They won't laugh in the audience unless we laugh. They won't cry unless it moves us to tears on the stage because that radiates off a stage. Oh,
Melissa: you feel it? For
Ira David Wood III: sure. Yeah, you do. You do. And I tell you, you can't pay these [00:37:00] volunteers what they're worth because these people come in, they're not paid to do this show.
They give up. Halloween, they give up Thanksgiving. 'cause we're in rehearsal during those holidays. Mm-hmm. And like I said, when Christmas rolls around, I know they're so tired. So many of 'em can wake up on Christmas morning and go Whoopee. Yeah. And roll over. It's Groundhog Day. Yes. It's, it really is.
Melissa: So for those who do not know, your daughter is Evan Rachel Wood.
She has of course gone on to Hollywood stardom. Your son Ira has is a director, producer. I, I had to write this down so I'm checking my notes. Director, producer, artistic director continued your legacy of Scrooge and Thomas, like you said, he is 13 now. He has more theater credits to his name than many people who have spent decades trying.
How does it feel as a parent to, to watch your children succeed in the same career path that has brought [00:38:00] you so much joy?
Ira David Wood III: Um, it is humbling.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: Gratifying. I think anybody, if they were honest, would say, I would like to have something that I could leave behind that will outlive me. Yeah. That will outlast me and I look at them.
And I see it,
Melissa: and I think every parent can say that to, to a certain extent that, you know, our, our children are a legacy. That's who will, you know, continue our, our our pride and our, our our lives. Um, but you are just, you took it to a new level because I mean, you, you are. You are our guy, and you, you, you belong to Raleigh.
You are, you are known for, you know, for so much and you brought so much joy to everybody's lives that it's, to [00:39:00] have that legacy is, is incredible.
Ira David Wood III: It's been an honor. Mm-hmm. It's a responsibility because every year we know that the audience has had a year off to make this show grow in their imaginations.
Mm-hmm. And, and the colors maybe have become richer. And so every year I have to say, look, we gotta be better than we were last year.
Melissa: Yeah. Because those people want to come back
Ira David Wood III: and they want it to be what they've imagined it to be.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: And so that is a, that is a challenge. Mm-hmm. You know, every year, and these, these volunteers rise to the occasion.
I'm telling you. We laugh together, we cry together. We have Christmas together. When that curtain opens, I just have told 'em, I said, just turn and give it back to these people who've come hungry for the message of this show. Hungry to walk into a place with other people for two and a half hours and let the real world go.
joe: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And to hear the lamplighter say on Christmas Eve. [00:40:00] Peace on Earth, Goodwill to men is more than just a song. And to accept that challenge in our own lives, which is why you walk out feeling better, because suddenly you're giving back the possibility of improvement. And when you've got that, you've got everything.
And for me, knowing I'm closer to the end than the beginning, I'm, I'm not gonna be around too much longer. I'm 78 this year, so I, you know, the clock is ticking for me and I can see my children happy and content and successful, and I know that that day they wake up and I'm not in the world anymore.
They're gonna be okay. Not only that, they're gonna continue that message of transformation, and that's the little bit of immortality that I take with me, you know, [00:41:00] when I make the transition.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: And I'll be watching. You know, with a lot of pride and a lot of joy. And a lot of love,
Melissa: and what more can we ask for as a parent to Oh, to see that your children are doing something they love.
Ira David Wood III: Yes.
Melissa: I mean, that's, not many people get to say that in life too.
Ira David Wood III: No. And to know that they, they're helping other people.
Melissa: Yeah. I think what you have created is amazing. I think it's even more amazing that you, IRA, are continuing it and, and we, we get to always have this as a part of our lives, so thank you.
Ira David Wood III: Oh, thank you.
Melissa: It is time for our special ba humbug edition of What's Up Roundup, where I ask a series of lightning round questions before we go.
Ira David Wood III: Oh gosh.
Melissa: You either of you are welcome to answer these questions and the first one is, what makes you personally say ba humbug?
Any pet peeves or moments that you really just [00:42:00] wanna turn on your inner scrooge?
Ira David Wood III: How do you
Melissa: memorize? Stop somebody with your cane?
Ira David Wood III: How do you memorize all those lines?
Ira David Wood IV: I really like the play, but we don't like to go to theater to think. Where do you go? To think I'll meet you there.
Melissa: Y'all are making me very glad that I did not ask these questions.
Scrooge lived in Raleigh today, current Raleigh, what do you think he would complain about?
Ira David Wood III: Everything.
Melissa: Definitely the traffic.
Ira David Wood III: Yes.
Melissa: I mean, that means
Ira David Wood III: the roundabouts.
Melissa: Oh, the roundabouts.
Ira David Wood IV: Feeling bad for Bob Raett in 2025.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: He, he lives in a two story home in London. He's supporting a wife and five children. Mm-hmm. He's, he's killing it.
Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. By today, standards. It's fine.
Ira David Wood IV: There's millennials out there going, this, this guy's living the dream. Yeah,
Melissa: what ghost past, present, or future would you like to have knock on your door and [00:43:00] why?
Ira David Wood III: I love the past.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood III: I think the older you get, the more you look back at the past with great affection and
Melissa: yeah.
Nostalgia,
Ira David Wood III: love and tenderness and wish you could go back and sit with those people who you loved, who were part of you live, who are no longer with us. I, I think that's one of the things about Christmas that we don't recognize often is that, you know, the Christmas tree goes in the same place. It always goes in and the decorations come out of the box.
They go in the same place as past. Mm-hmm. Christmas past. That's your ghost of Christmas. Past. We create the past every holiday season if we can. The same plates on the table, the same, you know, the decorations Yeah. Come out of the box because there is that. Need and desire to go home again.
Ira David Wood IV: Mm.
Ira David Wood III: And we can't, we can't, in our minds, we can't in our imaginations.
And we learn the [00:44:00] lesson that how you do that is you create all the joy you can in the present, because that will be the memory tomorrow. And I, that's, for me, it's the, it's the past. I love, I love thinking about the people. Who were part of my life in the past.
Melissa: Yeah.
Ira David Wood III: And I the older I get, I go, gosh. And that would be, oh, that would be my urging to young people.
Sit down with these older people in your life. Ask questions. Yeah, talk to them. Listen to the stories because one day you will wish so much. That you could sit with them one more time and say one more thing to them?
Melissa: Yeah. You'll never regret asking the questions.
Ira David Wood III: Never.
Melissa: But you will regret not asking the questions.
Not, yes.
Ira David Wood III: Absolutely.
Melissa: Yeah. What about you, IRA?
Ira David Wood IV: What was the question?
Melissa: I told you he can't [00:45:00] keep things brief. Which ghost would you want to knock on your door?
Ira David Wood IV: I'd? I'd have to agree. I think. I think Christmas passed. Um. Recently I was, I was visiting Eve and she took out some DVDs of, um, rehearsal footage from 1992 that I hadn't seen in a long time.
So I did have a little bit of a window to the past and, and you get to look at all these, and we were kids at the time. Mm-hmm. So you're looking at all these kids who are adults now and have families and you're going, oh my God, they're so and so, and they're so and so. My grandmother was in the show.
We're going, look, there's grandma. And yeah. When a show has gone on for, for 50 years, there's cast members who have, who've passed on and gone to the other side of the veil.
Melissa: Mm-hmm.
Ira David Wood IV: So to be a fly on the wall and to go back and look at some of those memories that you've forgotten or, or to be refreshed about or even just, you know, to hear, just to hear laughter of people who aren't even there anymore.
Um, yeah, I think I would reiterate that that Christmas pass would, would be fun. And and if [00:46:00] she had a DeLorean to take me to, that'd be, that'd be, that'd be a plus too.
Melissa: That would be awesome.
Ira David Wood IV: I haven't been in one yet. I want so bad.
Melissa: Yeah. I mean, well that's just, that's just getting my wheels turning.
That's an idea for a future, a future production. A DeLorean into there. You, you go. We'll
Ira David Wood IV: borrow one from the, from the back to the future music. There you go.
Melissa: See, I, I will be there. I would like to see that myself. Well, thank you. And I certainly will be there this year because it is a part of my, my Christmases now too.
So thank you guys for all that you do for our community, for theater in North Carolina and for our holiday seasons.
Ira David Wood III: Thank you. Thank you. Ba Humbug. Yeah.
Melissa: Ba humbug. Right back to you.
Thanks for listening to What's Up. Wake with Melissa Wister Huff, presented by the publishers of Carry Magazine. Wake Living and Main and Broad. Follow them on social media at Care Magazine, NC at MB magazine, nc and at Wake Living Magazine. Visit each magazine's website@caremagazine.com. [00:47:00] Main and broad mag.com.
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