“Tales of Wonder” in Photos – (Part II)
All photos by Jonathan Steffan.
My First Sell-out!
We had a great opening night of the world premier of “Tales of Wonder.” Great crowd – even for a weeknight, but as we head to the weekend, we’re in new territory! Friday night’s show is SOLD OUT and Sat night’s show is SOLD OUT! Wooohooo! Even our Saturday matinee show is approaching a sell-out with only 17 tickets remaining.
I’m so excited for my actors, and they deserve a packed show because it’s super fun and meaningful. This is my 14th, original, full-length dramatic production, and perhaps it’s one of our best. It is Christmas, after all.
Playbill for Opening Night
Just returned from the amazing opening night of my new play, “Tales of Wonder.” Here’s middle two pages from the playbill which lists the show order.
Tales of Wonder: A Drama Medley
“Arise & Touch the Dawn” by Mark W. Sasse
Recorded & Arranged by Elisabeth Brokaw
¨ Snow Fort Boys & girls fighting in the snow
Starring: Seth Kelley, Sara Stoltzfus, Ysabel Loh, Aaron Kelley
¨ Santa Daddy A little girl mistakes her daddy for Santa
Starring: Joel Halbedl, Lilian Li, Hannah Graves
¨ You Gotta Get Up Two excited girls wake up their parents on Christmas morning
Starring: Hinako Kawata, Lexi Zimbulis, Joel Frohlich,
Kimberly Horton
Christmas in the Trenches, 1914
Three British soldiers reminisce of Christmas Eve memories as they look out across the battlefield. They go on high alert when they hear strange noises from the other side. Inspired by true events.
Starring: Aaron Chand, Seth Kelley, Joel Frohlich
Season’s Greetings
Mrs. Banks is preparing her house for her family’s first Christmas visit in four years. Will the mailman ruin everything?
Starring: Kimberly Horton, Seth Kelley, Aaron Chand
Jolly Old St. Hick
Two city slickers are stuck having Christmas Eve with a redneck.
Starring: Hannah Graves, Aaron Chand, Joel Halbedl, Sara Stoltzfus
National Toy Day
A new law has been passed declaring Dec 25 as National Toy Day
Starring: Ysabel Loh, Seth Kelley, Sara Stoltzfus, Kimberly Horton, Lilian Li, Hinako Kawata
The Spies & Mrs. Claus
Two elves spy for Santa to see what Mrs. Claus got him for Christmas
Starring: Kimberly Horton, Lexi Zimbulis, Aaron Chand
Tree Talk
The ornaments are happy to out of storage again! But candy cane freaks out when she finds out what will become of her.
Starring: Sara Stolzfus, Lexi Zimbulis, Lilian Li,
Hinako Kawata, Joel Halbedl, Ysabel Loh, Joel Frohlich,
Kimberly Horton
The Christmas Banquet
An invitee shows up early for the Christmas Banquet. When the host asks her to help invite others, the invitee realize it is not what it seems.
Starring: Lexi Zimbulis, Hannah Graves & the RLT Players
A Vigil for a Starry Night
A broken soul looks to the skies for hope.
Starring: Ysabel Loh, Hannah Graves
“Silent Night” Dance choreographed by Ysabel Loh
The Last Shepherd: A Musical
A musical of the last shepherd to be alive the night of the birth in the manger, and an outcast woman looking for mercy and hope.
Starring: Joel Frohlich, Ysabel Loh, Kimberly Horton
& the RLT Players’ Ensemble
Lyrics by: Mark W. Sasse
Music by:
Elisabeth Brokaw, Christina Kim, Hannah Buhr, Mark W. Sasse
Arrangements and recordings by:
Elisabeth Brokaw, Christina Kim, Hannah Buhr
Sketch #5: The Christmas Banquet
Here’s my next in a series of vignettes about the dramatic sketches I wrote for our show “Tales of Wonder” which opens next week.
“The Christmas Banquet” is a poignant piece, an allegory of sorts, about a person who shows up at the Christmas banquet and gets asked to hand out invitations. It’s unclear who asks her to help. An angel, perhaps. I’ll let the audience decide. Anyways, as the invitee gets the invitations, she is prodded to give one to everyone. Everyone. Absolutely everyone. Even drug addicts and illegal immigrants and people with rainbows on their Facebook profiles and homeless people and atheists and criminals and … well, you get the idea. The invitee is alarmed and shocked at all the people she’s supposed to invite but just quite can’t do it. Eventually, everyone shows up at the banquet and she has to decide what she’s going to do.
With this piece, I wanted to highlight the compassion needed in this world regardless of the background or circumstances of the person. I hope it’s a meaningful poignant piece for everyone to enjoy.
Previewing (Actually)Tales of Wonder
My new show is called “Tales of Wonder,” but there is a drama medley in the show also called “Tales of Wonder.” Yes, I get the show name from that.
What’s a drama medley? I don’t know. I just made it up. It’s three dramatic sketches wrapped around an original song which holds them all together. These pieces are meant to be nostalgic reminders of what it’s like to be a kid at Christmas. The first piece is called “Snow Fort,” it’s a really funny piece with young kids bantering back and forth as they prepare for a snow ball fight. The second piece, “Santa Daddy” is a piece where a child wakes up to see her daddy putting presents under the tree. The daddy tries to convince her that he’s Santa Claus. The last piece is “You Gotta Get Up,” inspired by Rich Mullins’ Christmas song of the same name. Two excited girls wake up early to see their presents under the tree. Then they tear off to jump all over their parents.
Each piece is sewn together by an up-beat song called “Arise and Touch the Dawn.”
Here’s the first verse:
Magical flights of fancy free
Wings of the night we welcome thee
Arise my heart, Arise and touch the dawn.
Joyous sights to welcome thee
The dark of my soul releases free
Arise my heart, Arise and touch the dawn.
I had a lot of fun writing these, but even more fun watching them come together. It’s going to be great. Dec 3-5 @ penangpac.
