This year’s gift from the Box in the Wood Theatre Guild will be wrapped up in red, white and blue.
“Star Spangled Christmas” debuts Thursday at the Mielke Arts Center and will feature songs and scenes from a number of American shows. This is the sixth year that the guild has given a free Christmas show to the community.
Many of the cast members were part of the guild’s summer children’s theater workshop in August. The children will perform a variety of scenes, including one from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” where the characters from the late cartoonist Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip are preparing for the school Christmas pageant and need to find a tree to be the centerpiece of the show.
The children will also perform a number of songs under the guidance of musical director Miriam Nelson. “Christmas Waltz” and “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” are among this year’s selections.
There will also be participation by the adults of the community in “Star Spangled Christmas.” Ann Van Grinsven, a longtime veteran of the Mielke stage, will play the role of Mrs. Claus in a scene called “A Bit of Applause for Mrs. Claus.” Ralph Beversdorf and Sandra Wehmeyer will sing “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “Let it Snow.”
Jerry Buerer, who recited the Christmas story last year from the Gospel of Luke in the Bible, returns this year to recite the Christmas story as told in the Gospel of Matthew. He will also be playing Santa Claus in a scene from “Miracle on 34th Street.”
Sisters Mary Beth Kuester, who was president of the Shawano County Arts Council, and Kay Kuester Doran wrote this year’s Christmas show. Doran came up with idea of the patriotic theme because she and Kuester had twirled during childhood to the patriotic song “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
“She said ‘Star Spangled Christmas’ could be the Christmas star, but it could also be patriotic,” Kuester said.
Doran will also dish out Christmas trivia during the show, such as the fact that “The Stars and Stripes Forever” was composed on Christmas Day in 1896 by composer John Phillip Sousa. Another fun fact — that animal crackers were originally created to serve as Christmas ornaments — will result in the children in the audience getting free animal crackers.
Mary Beth Kuester said this year’s cast of almost 30 is a family affair with several families, including one family of seven, taking part.
“It’s been wonderful because this has been a real family effort,” Kuester said. “We haven’t had that before.”
This will likely be the last year the sisters write the Christmas show, Kuester said, and next year’s presentation will probably be an established play.
The show is free, but donations are being accepted to benefit the Shawano Humane Society, Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary in Green Bay and the Healing Hearts Pet Hospice in Appleton. Thrivent Financial is sponsoring the show through a grant.
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