The Clinton County Civic Theatre will debut its rendition of “A Nice Family Christmas” on Thursday, Oct. 12 with a cast of new and seasoned actors in the Frankfort Community Public Library Skanta Theatre.
Director Stacey Martin expressed that the show was nearing completion during the final week of tech rehearsal, and the cast members have mastered their lines and comedic timing to deliver a heart-warming and comedic performance with minimal sound effects and lighting tricks.
Martin stated that the play, originally written by Phil Olson, was a sequel to “A Nice Family Gathering” and features numerous returning characters with new antics, problems and solutions. In the original play, the mother, known as “mom,” recently lost her husband and the family comes together to support her as she processes the situation. Three years later, “A Nice Family Christmas” sets the stage for continued relationships and antics among the family.
“A Nice Family Christmas” revolves around a family from Minnesota who come together for a Christmas gathering, which Martin commented was one of the only times during the year that the family convened together, including the mother, her three children, Carl, Michael and Stacy, their grandmother and Michael’s fiance, Jill.
“We kind of found out about the ins and outs of each member of the family, what’s going good and what’s going bad–what’s going to bring the family together at the very end,” Martin said. “It’s a heartwarming story. There’s plenty of laughter in it.”
Martin expressed that the decision to perform a Christmas play during the month of October was a result of the upcoming season schedule alongside a theme in the play that reflects upon the month of October without relating directly to the most popular holiday, Halloween. Martin encouraged members of the community to attend the play this weekend to learn about the correlation for themselves.
“When you see it, it’s obviously about Christmas, but it goes along with something that’s happening in October–not Halloween obviously, but there’s something else in October happening that maybe people will catch,” Martin said. “They’ll catch it once they see the show and everything, but maybe they’ll catch it by just saying that much.”
Martin continued to comment that the theater enjoys producing Christmas-themed performances every few years, but the layout of the season with performances in October, February and May causes the directors to contemplate the ideal time to debut the Christmas shows.
“We don’t do any shows at Christmas time,” Martin said. “We’ve done another Christmas show in the past, and we did it in February. This year, because of the three shows that we chose, we didn’t have any one that was truly what you would call an ‘October show.’ It wasn’t a mystery. It wasn’t a suspense or something about Halloween, so we thought this year, we would go with the Christmas story first.”
This year’s production features a cast of new and seasoned professionals, including a duo with a specialized connection to the original play of “A Nice Family Gathering.” Jada Cannell, Jill, and Aaron Moon, Michael, played opposite each other in the Center Stage Community Theatre production of “A Nice Family Gathering” last year in Lebanon, and Martin jumped at the opportunity to cast the pair in their original roles for the sequel to maintain the chemistry that inspired her during her first viewing of the original in Lebanon.
Martin encouraged families to attend the show to experience a heartwarming story of a family progressing through difficult situations and conversations with comedic antics and jokes for all ages to enjoy.
“We always put on a good show,” Martin said. “It’s a good time to come, relax, enjoy yourself, have two hours of laughing and leave feeling good about yourself, the world and your family.”
Tickets may be purchased at ccctonline.org or by calling the box office at 765-654-6307. Tickets are $12 for the shows running from Thursday, Oct. 12 through Saturday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday, Oct. 15 matinee at 2 p.m.
