From left, Rachel Hitchcock, Lila Boyle and Miguel Rodriguez dance in honor of the grinch-iest character himself. Hitchcock was the student choreographer for the number featured in Holiday Collections at Act Out Theatre Group.
Photo Credit — Submitted by Act Out Theatre Group
Snoopy, played by Miguel Rodriguez, gives a surprise kiss to Lucy, played by Raelinn Stefanski, who does not share his enthusiasm. However, Sally, played by Ainsley Kile, seems to find the whole thing pretty amusing.
Photo Credit — Submitted by Act Out Theatre Group
Lila Stefanski and Miguel Rodriguez play Mrs. Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge, respectively, in one of the short plays found in this weekend’s Holiday Collections at Act Out Theatre Group in Taylor.
Photo Credit — Submitted by Act Out Theatre Group
TAYLOR — Act Out Theatre Group will present “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” as well as Holiday Collections, from December 13 through 15.
“We were very excited to be granted the rights to perform Charlie Brown,” said Dan Pittman, the theatre’s owner and artistic director. “This is a holiday classic that so many of us have grown up with. It was a great experience for me to help our teens bring this production to our stage.”
“In addition, however, we also have several other short, holiday stories that we’ll be performing along with A Charlie Brown Christmas. We are definitely in the holiday spirit, and we can’t wait to share it with others.”
Miguel Rodriguez plays everyone’s favorite beagle, Snoopy. Although the role has no lines, the amount of physical acting — and reacting — is demanding. He particularly enjoys the liveliness of the character.
“There are moments Miguel absolutely steals the scene,” said Kalen Churcher, who runs sound for the production. “I’m really impressed with what he’s able to do on stage.”
In addition to A Charlie Brown Christmas, audiences will also get to see Holiday Collections, a variety of plays, dancing, monologues and vocal performances. The holiday shorts are five to 20-minute plays that range from comedic to more dramatic. Several were directed by the teenage workshop participants.
According to Pittman, participants had options as to what they wanted to learn about from the Holiday Collections workshop. Every person developed their own monologue and acted in the plays, but additional opportunities existed to choreograph, costume, sing or work on set construction.
Lila Stefanski worked on choreography and costuming. She found costuming to be most enjoyable.
“(Costuming) is my favorite because I am able to add a creative touch.” Stefanski said. “The costumes represent different emotions that relate to characters. For example, (one actor’s) outfit has both yellow and blue. The yellow represents her happiness for most of the play. The blue represents her tiredness and sadness. For (another) dress, I went with a dark purple to represent her secret keeping…”
A Charlie Brown Christmas and Holiday Collections run about 150 minutes. There are two, short intermissions. Everything is family friendly. The theatre will also host a Vintage Christmas holiday revue on Friday, December 20.
Tickets for A Charlie Brown Christmas and Holiday Collections can be purchased online at www.actouttheatre.com.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at the door, but advance, online ticket sales are encouraged.
Tickets for a Vintage Christmas will go on sale the weekend of Friday, December 13. Act Out Theatre Group is located at 802 S. Main Street, Suite 804D, in Taylor.
