Adapting A Carol for Cleveland with Les Roberts and Eric Coble

Bestselling author Les Roberts and playwright Eric Coble discuss their collaboration, turning Roberts’ heartwarming novella, A Carol for Cleveland, into Cleveland Play House’s latest Holiday treat. The book, long out of print, has been reissued by Gray & Company and will be available for sale and signing at the event.

The new play runs at the Allen Theatre from November 30 to December 23. Adapted by Eric Coble from an overlooked gem by Roberts, the story hits home in the tradition of Dickens by confronting the audience with a striking moral dilemma and resolving it with generous humanity.  No punches are pulled. But after all is said and done, there is real hope for Ed Podolak, an unemployed Ebenezer Scrooge, after a cash-strapped Christmas Eve leads him to commit a desperate act.

Les Roberts is the author of 16 mystery novels featuring Cleveland detective Milan Jacovich, as well as 11 other books. The past president of both the Private Eye Writers of America and the American Crime Writer’s League, he came to mystery writing after a 24-year career in Hollywood. He was the first producer and head writer of the Hollywood Squares and wrote for The Andy Griffith Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among others. He has been a professional actor, a singer, a jazz musician, a teacher, and a film critic. In 2003 he received the Sherwood Anderson Literary Award. A native of Chicago, he now lives in Northeast Ohio.

This free event will be held at Lakewood Public Library at 15425 Detroit Avenue in the Main Library Auditorium. Visit www.lakewoodpubliclibrary.org/calendar for more events. No registration is needed.  Call (216) 226-8275 ext. 127 for more information.