Christmas Pageant 2006
Our 64th year of Christmas Pageants at Trinity!
Well, it's that time again! The new church year begins with the Sunday known as Advent I, and on the Saturday preceding Advent I we traditionally have our first rehearsal for the upcoming Christmas Pageant.
2006 is no different. We've got our cast pretty well set (with the ongoing possibility of addition of angels, animals, and an occasional "big kid") -- and on Saturday we started rehearsing, right on time.
We're all pretty excited this year. You see, we have a brand new Vicar coming on board just about the same day we start rehearsals, and we all wonder what he will be like. The acolytes are a little nervous, because they know that things will be just a little bit different with a new priest, but they're excited about learning new things, too. But we all know that Christmas Pageant will be our new priest's first chance to see all the Trinity Kids in action and our chance to show what we can do.
We've got a few pictures of the first rehearsal -- just click on any of them to see a larger picture:
| Christmas Pageant 2006 -- first rehearsal | ||||
 Angel Gabriel, in costume |
 Two of the small angels waiting to go on |
 Mary and Angel Gabriel going over their lines |
 We enlisted a mom to read the Angel Narrator parts that day |
 Christine worked with Mary and Angel Gabriel on some special music |
 Another view of Christine working with Mary and Angel Gabriel |
 Fr. Clements, our new Vicar, stopped in to view the proceedings |
 One of our small angels |
 More small angels |
We'll have more pictures next week!! |
Then came week 2!
This rehearsal was intended more for the principal players, and we had a successful one -- and we had a few light moments as well! We think they're going to do a GREAT job!
| Christmas Pageant 2006 -- second rehearsal | ||||
 One of our Angel Narrators shows her brother (a donkey this year) what it's like to read from the pulpit. |
 We've got quite a costume trunk, but this prop doesn't look like it belongs in the Christmas Pageant. |
 Mom provides Joseph a little assist with his headdress. |
 We did make a costume selection for the Angel Narrators -- who also served as the acolytes. |
 And, we also got Shepherd #1 costumed. |
 Here are the Angel Gabriel and Mary working hard on the Annunciation. |
 Joseph, practicing for the sequence when an Angel comes to him in a dream. |
 Mary and Joseph en route to Bethlehem. |
 Rehearsing the part when the Angels inform the shepherds what's happening. |
 The shepherds arrive at the stable. |
 Christine worked with us on the music -- including the Offertory, which will be a special treat this year. |
 Then, the rehearsal was over and it was time to go home.... |
 ...just as soon as the costumes were properly hung up, that is! |
More to come next week! | |
And now week 2 has come and gone...then came week 3!
Again, we concentrated on the principal roles today -- and on the music. The players are delivering their lines pretty well now (although the scripts are still pretty much in evidence), and their movements are becoming largely second nature. Christine has made up study CDs for the kids to take home to learn the music -- just like the adults get when they sing in Crescendo! The kids are doing really well, and we think this is going to be a really good Pageant!
| Christmas Pageant 2006 -- third rehearsal | ||||
 Mary tells Angel Gabriel that she is the handmaiden of the Lord. |
 Joseph tries a different position for his dream. Unfortunately, those steps just are not really comfortable! |
 Joseph and Mary negotiate with the Innkeeper. |
 Our head Shepherd gets some coaching. |
 Singing practice around the piano. |
 One of the little angels gets it just right! |
 The boys are happy with their solo rendition of that verse. |
 The Angel Narrators begin to work on the mechanics of passing a live mike back and forth. |
DRESS REHEARSAL next Saturday, and PAGEANT next Sunday morning!! | |
Dress rehearsal time!
THIS is when people start getting nervous -- especially the director! Somehow, no matter how well we do in dress rehearsal, there always seems to be something that looks, for the moment at least, like a real career-ender.
Strangely, it never really seems to turn out that way. As one cast member said late in the dress rehearsal, "I think we're going to have a real Christmas Miracle!"
| Christmas Pageant 2006 -- dress rehearsal | ||||
 The little angels -- all set to go! |
 The Gospeller marks her script, while her sister, one of the little angels, listens to her big sister's music. |
 We had a MAJOR music practice -- we went into the Guild Room so we wouldn't be distracted. |
 Yes, it was definitely a MAJOR music practice. |
 Then we went back into the church and ran through the entire pageant, beginning to end, including all the hymns. |
 Here's one of the animals practicing his entrance. |
 Here's the Gospeller, singing. She's really good. |
 Here's a picture of the Virgin Mary with Jesus in the manger. |
 Here's the Vicar (he stopped by to see how we were doing), and one of the Assistant Directors, with the cast. |
 Well, here's a cast picture -- at least a picture of most of the costumed cast! They've got the instruments for the offertory. |
Well, tomorrow at 10:30 AM we do the real thing. By noon, Christmas Pageant 2006 will be in the history books.
But we do already have some good news! One of the angel narrators missed the dress rehearsal due to a bug, but she's a lot better and will be definitely be here tomorrow. And so will her brother, an experienced animal. We'll definitely bring you pictures of the REAL Pageant!
Christmas Eve, 2006: the day of the performance.
We're off to a good start! Everybody's here, and everybody's on time.
| Christmas Pageant 2006 -- Christmas eve | ||||
 Fr. Clements tells Mary and Angel Gabriel how to light the Christmas candle in the Advent wreath. |
 Mary meets the baby who will be Baby Jesus for the first time -- they are getting along fine! |
 The Angel Narrators practice -- here, the line is "...and SHE'S reading the Gospel according to Luke." |
 The Innkeeper catches a few winks before the performance. |
 Angel Gabriel and Mary run through the Annunciation one more time. |
 It's always hard to pick THE cast picture, but this is it for Pageant 2006! |
 Or, maybe this one is.... |
 A photo of the live Pageant, with Baby Jesus and Angels. |
 Mary with the Baby! And what a great baby! Not a peep through the entire Pageant! |
 And, here's a picture from the Offertory! The congregation actually applauded! |
And, as they say, Pageant 2006 at Trinity Lime Rock is now one for the history books. We had our usual capacity crowd, and the cast and the volunteers and staff all absolutely outdid themselves.
Do you know what? Tomorrow is Christmas, and in eleven months we'll be getting started on Christmas Pageant 2007 at Trinity Lime Rock, our 65th Christmas Pageant. We hope you'll come back then for sure and watch us prepare and present it. But meanwhile, there's a lot going on at Trinity for young people beside Christmas Pageant, so we hope you'll come participate in that ... but if you can't be here in person, at least you can follow it on the web!
(As one of the Angel Narrators said after the Pageant, "Summer Soccer starts in June, right?")
Thanks for joining us!
Other pages of interest:Pages about past Christmas Pageants (with lots of photos):Related: |