INDIANOLA — The Roving Players actors will be delivering lines in a place that normally elicits children’s laughter and arts and crafts, drawing winter audiences to a place that it typically reserved for summer use only.

Camp Indianola will be putting on its holiday best as it plays host to the Roving Players’ “A Christmas Carol in Kingston.”

The group had originally planned to have the Dec. 1-16 production at the Indianola Clubhouse, but foundation work there has yet to conclude and the entire structure is presently resting several feet off the ground on supporting pillars.

“The clubhouse just isn’t going to be ready. They’re replacing the heating and replacing the foundation, which is the problem,” said Roving Players director Stu Smith, adding that the foundation work is taking longer than initially thought. “At first, they said it would be done by Halloween, which slipped to Nov. 15. Then a week ago, they called us and said it wasn’t going to be ready in time.”

Far from being left without Tiny Tim’s crutch, the Roving Players had already taken steps to ensure the show would go on, with or without the clubhouse, said Roving Players business manager Sue Michaelis.

“They called from the clubhouse as soon as they knew it wouldn’t be ready in time,” she said. “We called around, and a lot of places were already gone. Camp Indianola had been an option before, and we decided to take it.”

The panto play will now take place in a large room, that has a nice kitchen and better parking than the clubhouse, Michaelis said. The only drawback is the stage: there isn’t one.

“As it turns out, we can adapt that room to the theater situation,” Smith said. “It’s a nice big room with two closets on either side, and on the floor performing room. Even without a stage, we’ll still be able to use the space.”

The clubhouse itself is not behind schedule, said Indianola Beach Improvement Committee President Bo Blakey. He said he was simply overly optimistic about finishing in time for the holiday play.

“A few things came up that needed to be done,” he said, adding that even those few hitches didn’t slow the construction process. “I thought we’d be done by middle November. Now it’s looking like December, and to be on the safe side, we decided not to have the play there.”

Camp Indianola was offered to the group during the summer when the concern the clubhouse might not be ready first arose, Smith said.

“We’ll still use the clubhouse for future plays,” Michaelis said. “We’re committed to working with the clubhouse. That’s not to say that if Camp Indianola asks us to do a special show, we wouldn’t do it.”

The clubhouse is expected to be through Phase 1 of repairs by the end of the year, Blakey said, adding that no other events should be affected by the construction.