Meet our Narrator and Solo Performer for Holidays Around the World!

Steve Williford, Narrator

It takes much talent to play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge as expertly as our own Steve Williford, but he has it mastered! For twenty-five years, Williford has played Scrooge in Saugatuck’s production of A Christmas Carol. In a costume consisting of a fraying suit, under which he wears a long night shirt, he dons a pair of stage glasses pushed all the way to the end of his nose and attaches graying mutton-chop sideburns to the sides of his face. However, the knack that Williford has mastered in order to step into character is that Ebenezer voice! “I have a special voice for Scrooge of which I must continue to practice just to keep it authentic,” he said. If you have had the privilege to see Williford in action, you realize that once he steps on stage, Williford IS the miserly, grim, and grouchy Scrooge. While Williford has performed in different productions across the country, Scrooge is a character that he loves to return to every season. “Early on, it was something to do,” he said. “Now, it’s a tradition for me. I love playing this part”. A “reformed” Ebenezer Scrooge will be narrating the “Holidays Around the World” concerts. He might use the same voice, and he may look the same, but since his visits from the ghosts of Christmas’ Past, Present and Future, Ebeneezer has become a “changed man” trying to make up for lost time. His journey around the world learning about holiday traditions will help him do just that!

Gracie Potter, Solo Performer

Gracie Potter, 23, is a lyric soprano originally from Midland, Michigan. She studied voice at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and was a frequent soloist with the Kenyon College Chamber Singers until her graduation in 2017. Her solo work twice awarded her entry into the prestigious Angela Waite honors recital. She was also a featured actress in Kenyon College’s Opera and Musical Theatre Workshop, playing the role of Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, among other roles. In 2015, Gracie won the Young Musicians of Knox County, Collegiate Division competition, performing Deh vieni non tardar from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. She went on to perform with University College London’s Chorus and its select Chamber Choir while studying in London, England. Since graduating, Gracie has studied voice under Ms. Barbara Scanlon in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she now resides. She is the program and development coordinator for Girls on the Run of Southeastern Michigan, a physical activity-based positive youth development program. Gracie is the daughter of Gregg Potter and Mary Terzino of Saugatuck.