The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

. . . . by Doug Higgs

 "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" will be performed by an all youth cast of singers, dancers and actors in four shows early next month at Rachel's School of Dance, 638 Klamath Ave. The play is a joint production of two non-profit organizations, Northwest Youth Theatre and Rachel's School of Dance.  Performance times will be 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6; Friday, Dec. 12; and Saturday, Dec. 13; and 3 p.m. Sunday Dec. 7.  Tickets are $6 for children under 12 years of age and senior citizens and $8 for adults.

Lois Lents, president of Northwest Youth Theatre will be directing the play and Rachel Glenn, president of Rachel's School of Dance, has choreographed several dance numbers for the show. 

"The show centers on an annual Christmas pageant put on in a small town each year by the youngsters in one of the town's churches.  But one year, everything went wrong," Lents said.

"The usual director was laid up In the hospital with a broken leg and the pageant auditions , were  hijacked by the worst kids In town - the Herdmans.

"They smoked cigars, cussed their teachers, stole other kids' lunch money and filched the doughnuts that were meant for the firemen after  they put out big fires," she said.

Even so, the story is "uproariously funny and manages to touch the heart and illustrate the true meaning of Christmas," Lents said.

"This is a rare opportunity for young performers in our community to be featured this way.  All of the performers range In age from 6 to 18 years old and there are more than 50 performers Involved in the show," .she said.

 The cast Includes Duncan Bakke as Sam, John Goldsmith as Charlie, Garrett Washington as Ollie Herdman, Jon Knight as Claude Herdman, Jolie Cavaretta as Gladys Herdman, Derek Baker as Leroy Herdman, Aaron Clopp as Ralph Herdman, Annie Goldsmith as Imogene Herdman, Sarah Shelton as Maxine, Becky Freeman as a church lady and Karly Law as Doris and Juanita.

Also in the cast are Daniel Frentzko as Elmer Hopkins, Chris Knight as the Rev. Hopkins, Matt Lents as Bob Bradley, Faire Holliday as Grace Bradley, Noel Swartz as Alice, Rebecca Mathis as a church lady, Lori K Fisher as Helen Armstrong, Firefighter, Katie Lents as older Beth, Brianna Frentzko as a church lady, and Melissa Smith as younger Beth.

Performing in a 15-minute pre-show act and also as the choir during the play are members of the "younger brats," Molly Baldock, Katrina Brown, Ashira Clingman, Katie Day, CJ Duffy, Jonathan Fernandez, Emily Funkhouser, Brytney Gray, .J:azzmyne Holden, Skylar

Hunt, Marissa Hurley, Rachel Hurley, Holly Ironside, Ash Leigh Kerekes, Samantha Livingston, Rebecca McCabe, Sarah Muller, Autumn Phillips, Daniela Pimentel, Danielle Pimentel, Naomi Reeves, Kelsey Skinner, McKenzie Verling, Garrett Washington, Shanea Whitmore and Nikole Wyles and members of the "older brats" Derek Baker, Duncan Bakke, Hannah Berg, Leah Byrd, Shaun Carter, Jolie Cavaretta, Jessica Funkhouser, John Goldsmith, Khrystian Hoehn, Janet Ibarra, Jon Knight, Karly Law, Sharaya Marcon, Karley McCabe, Landon Morrison and Sarah Shelton.

The set was created by Doug Bakke and Kirk Smith both parents of performers; the Bethlehem costumes were donated by Cathy and Gary Baker, parents of another actor, Diamond Lumber, donated materials for the set, and Klamath Open Door Clinic is making some important props available for the play.

This is reprinted with permission of the

Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Home | Site Map | Contact us