MIDDLETOWN >> After a two year hiatus the Middletown Christmas Pageant and Feast will return again this year making it the 19th production of the pageant at the Middletown Methodist Church. During those two years without the pageant the Church received numerous phone calls and inquiries as to when the Pageant would return. Tickets are now on sale and performances will take place during the second and third weekends in December. Tickets are $30 before Nov. 21 and $35 after that date. Groups of 10 or more at $25 each. No tickets will be sold at the door. Contact Shari Garret at 707-987-2653.
For 18 seasons Middletown has been home to an event that began as a small local church program and has become a true holiday tradition. The Pageant began in 1989 when the choir director at the Middletown Community United Methodist church, Claudia (Dressler) Listman, found a simple script with directions for creating a Renaissance type program with no authentic dinner and Christmas music.
She assembled a cast from the church membership, while other members prepared the Renaissance recipes. The social hall of the historic stone church was decorated as a dining hall under the direction of Kathy (Hutchinson) Dunklin, who also assembled costumes for the cast.
She painted backdrops and dubbed the church “Greystone Castle” and thus the pageant was born.
Voris Brumfield, who directed and acted in the first two seasons of the pageant, felt the pageant, while Christ centered, was missing the focus of the season: the birth of Christ. Brumfield”s degree in theater inspired her to write an original script that highlighted how the poor can be neglected and dismissed as being worthless.
Guests experience an evening that includes singers, actors, “noble” Lords and Ladies, serving maidens, guards, pirates, dancers, and other entertainers, but the picture is much bigger than that. Behind the scenes, pageant organizers work almost year-round to develop this event. Over 60 volunteers are needed. Singers are cast in the summer. Costumes are created and modified in early fall when rehearsals begin to intensify.
Over 400 guests experience the pageant each year at two previews and six full dinner performances during the second two weekends of December.
Local high school students earn community service credits by participating as dancers, serving maidens, guards, and pages, or by providing dinner entertainment ranging from musical acts to juggling and tumbling.
Members of the cast and choir often carol, as a community outreach, at local hospitals, retirement homes, care facilities, clubs and other events during and after the run of the pageant, and give special mini-previews at local venues to promote the pageant beforehand.
This year under the direction of Kinene Barzin and Gail Albin, a program of music is developed with old favorites and new songs to vary the program and challenge the choir. They begin rehearsing in August, memorizing up to 18 songs since no music is allowed on set.
During performances the songs are sung without accompaniment, although occasionally a musician will play guitar, mandolin, or another instrument.
Music historian Kinene Barzin, the only compensated staff, has assisted with music selection and provides piano accompaniment during rehearsals. Kinene is also rehearsal accompanist and historian for “My Divas” a professional group that began singing together during the pageant. “My Divas” fans will be happy to know that the group will perform as part of the pageant cast this year.
The pageant drama this year will be co-directed by Dr Kimberly Fordham and Dennis Fay with music direction by Kinene Barzin.
