The Christmas Pageant for this past Christmas was called a No Rehearsal Pageant and was researched by Sandra Squires. When asked why she chose this particular pageant, she said, "I read the pageant, and I laughed out loud. So I took the idea to the Christian Formation Committee and they approved it. It is called a "no rehearsal" pageant, and I did have moments of panic about that since all the stress rests on the behind the scenes adults, but that is what I wanted so the kids could just enjoy it."
And enjoy it they did! Luke Cudly was kind enough to answer some questions about the pageant.
What part did you play in the pageant?
"Head Shepard"
What was your favorite part of the pageant?
"Leading the others down the aisle."
Did anything really funny happen? If so, what?
"Yes. The narrator made funny comments to the kids. He was very funny."
Were you nervous?
"Yes."
Would you like to do this kind of pageant again?
"Kind of. It was fun."
Luke mentioned the narrator. The role of the narrator was to guide the characters through the play. Remember, this is a no rehearsal play. The children showed up, dressed in their assigned costumes, and did what the narrator told them to. It was important for them to listen to the narrator as they were to act out what he was saying. This left a lot of room for interpretation!
This type of pageant could not be done without the help of some adults. Sandra was asked about those wonderful adult volunteers and she responded, "I knew we had few people in the congregation who could do the role or Narrator, and Jim Tomanek, a naturally funny man, agreed to do it. I also knew that Summer Murray had really good acting skills from a Christmas play I had seen her in a couple of years ago. So I got them on board early. I also knew I needed a costume person, and Robin Proctor (BLESS HER HEART) agreed to be head of costuming. Mary Wells, who also can do anything, offered to help and I asked her to be in charge of props and work with Robin on costumes. They are the real unsung heroes in this entire process."
Sandra herself did quite a bit of background work to ensure that this really was low stress for the children. As a parent of a children in the pageant, I had no idea what all went into it. I sure was enlightened when she explained the process to me.
"We signed kids up for parts for about 3 weeks ahead of time, pulled them out of Sunday school to find costumes for them (Robin and Mary had to make a lot of costumes since the kids were pretty young).
I talked to the middle school and high school kids about being wranglers a couple of weeks ahead of time, and they were great. They also helped with the dressing, supervised the kids who were coloring and doing things to keep busy while we were getting everyone ready.
I met with the kids after church the Sunday before the pageant to show them where they would be sitting in the church and sort where they would walk to the front. It was then I assigned everyone colored bracelets, including the wranglers, so they would know what they group was to sit with. That was just an idea I came up with to make sure they knew who were the other people in their group.
Then the morning of the performance, we asked people to come at 9:15 to get dressed, and they were really good to do that. I had announced for a couple of weeks in advance that we could take kids the day of the performance who were visitors, and we did get a few of those as well.
When it was time to go into the church to seat them, I called all the kids together, and we prayed, which we do using "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." We sang, "He's Got the Whole Pageant in His Hands."
I talked to the middle school and high school kids about being wranglers a couple of weeks ahead of time, and they were great. They also helped with the dressing, supervised the kids who were coloring and doing things to keep busy while we were getting everyone ready.
I met with the kids after church the Sunday before the pageant to show them where they would be sitting in the church and sort where they would walk to the front. It was then I assigned everyone colored bracelets, including the wranglers, so they would know what they group was to sit with. That was just an idea I came up with to make sure they knew who were the other people in their group.
Then the morning of the performance, we asked people to come at 9:15 to get dressed, and they were really good to do that. I had announced for a couple of weeks in advance that we could take kids the day of the performance who were visitors, and we did get a few of those as well.
When it was time to go into the church to seat them, I called all the kids together, and we prayed, which we do using "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." We sang, "He's Got the Whole Pageant in His Hands."
I have to say, this pageant was a hit with the congregation as well as the children. Were you there? If so, please share your thoughts in the comment section. We'd love to hear what you thought of the whole thing!
