MIDDLETOWN — The Community Arts Academy and Parents and Community for Kids (PACK) is inaugurating a holiday tradition, a holiday performance of “The Nutcracker.” “This will be an annual production,” said Jamie Zimmerman Bracisco, a former San Francisco Ballet dancer who is choreographing and staging the performance.
The Community Arts Academy celebrated its grand opening in January 2007. “We came together with PACK to open an arts academy,” Bracisco explained.
The Community Arts Academy recently joined the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce; director Shannon Malone Sorci said she attended an orientation for new members of the chamber.
A local performance of “The Nutcracker” will feature 47 performers ranging from 5 to 41 in age. A unique aspect of the local performance is that Sorci has written the first act, the party scene, as an original play. Bracisco has choreographed a fight between the Nutcracker”s soldiers and the mouse army to include hip-hop moves.
Look for a selection from “The Nutcracker” during Hospice”s annual “Light up a Life” celebration, taking place Sunday, Dec. 2.
Full performances take place at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21, and 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 22, in the Coyote Valley Elementary School multi-purpose room. A reception follows the Friday evening performance and a Sugar Plum Party follows the Saturday matinee. Characters will be available to mingle and pose for photos.
A total of 200 tickets will be issued for each show. Tickets are $17 for adults and $10 for children with ages 3 and younger admitted free.
Admission prices are yet to be determined for the reception and party. A commemorative program is being compiled that will be sold at an additional cost.
For information about tickets or about being a program advertiser, please call 987-8230. Tickets are also available at the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Contact Cynthia Parkhill at cparkhill@clearlakeobserver.com.
