Miracle on 34th Street

Theater department preparing an entertaining Christmas show

“As we grow up we tend to lose our imagination and our faith that things like Santa Clause do not exist,” theater teacher Kristopher Owens said.

This year the theater department is taking on the play Miracle on 34th Street. The play is about a department store Santa who claims to be the real Santa Clause. Of course, no one believes him and he is admitted into an insane asylum and then has to go through a competency hearing where it will be determined if he can be on his own or stay at the asylum.

“Compare to the first play of the year, rehearsing for this one is a lot different,” Owens said.

This is a two hour play so it’s much longer and just after fall break when students tend to be lazier. But the cast has been working hard during rehearsals and are making sure that they are prepared. Sophomore Shawn Charleswood plays the lead role and has been reading through the play a lot.

Charleswood also prepared by watching the original film. He wanted to see what those actors lacked in so he could bring that into his performance. Many of Charleswood’s friends and family are huge fans of the movie so he wants to make sure that he won’t disappoint them.

“Theater is an art that not a lot of people value these days so I think this play will be very entertaining for everyone,”  Charleswood said.

The play also has challenged the tech theatre department, which had to creat 12 different sets.

Audiences can expect a family oriented show with a lot of Christmas spirit in it. It will be a fun play to watch. You can catch the show this Friday at 7 p.m. or Saturday at either 2 or 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for all ages.