COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL November 30, 2016
'A Christmas Story
opens Friday
Christmas kickoff!
Cottage Theatre concludes its
2016 season with a holiday treat
for the whole family. "A Christ-
mas Story," written by Philip
Grecian and based upon the
1983 movie of the same name,
will run for three weekends at
Cottage Theatre from Dec. 2
through 18.
It’s Hohman, Indiana, 1938,
and Christmas is on its way
– lovely, beautiful, glorious
Christmas, around which the
entire kid year revolves – and
young Ralphie Parker des-
perately wants a genuine Red
Ryder BB gun. His mother,
Cottage Grove's got a lot going on this holiday season.
Here's a bit of what's happening in the lead-up to Christmas, 2016
Trees of Joy
Cottage Grove’s Trees of Joy program has
provided less fortunate kids in the area with
Christmas presents for over two decades.
Parents apply for their kids’ Christmas
wishes to be included on the tree through
Community Sharing, which monitors the
federal income guidelines that participants
must meet. Christmas trees at Bi-Mart and
Walmart display ornaments on which are
written each child’s wish, and helpers take
the ornaments and then buy the appropriate
gifts. This year, presents are due back to the
store by Sunday, Dec. 18, and a massive vol-
unteer effort aids their distribution (and the
distribution of Community Sharing’s holi-
day food boxes) at Our Lady of Perpetual
Help Catholic Church on Dec. 20.
Holiday Food Boxes
On Tuesday, Dec. 20, Community Shar-
ing will hold its annual holiday food box
distribution. However, the window to sign
up closed last Wednesday, Nov. 23. The
Executive Director of Community Sharing,
Mike Fleck, said that this year has seen a
slight drop in sign-ups. Fleck says that this
year only 304 have signed up as opposed to
teacher, and even Santa Claus
aren’t so sure it’s a good idea.
Cottage Theatre's production
of A Christmas Story is direct-
ed by Eliza Roaring Springs,
with costume design by Me-
lissa Cooper, lighting design by
Ward Fairbairn, and set design
by Tony Rust. The cast features
K.D. Carver as young Ralphie
Parker and Brian Bull as adult
Ralph Parker, who serves as
narrator to the story.
Performances are Thursday,
Friday and Saturday evenings at
8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at
2:30 p.m.
Ralphie's
father
wins a
'major
award' in
the Philip
Grecian
classic.
Rotary party
Tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 1, the Rotary
Club will hold its 26th annual Christmas
bash at Bohemia Elementary School at 6
p.m. The party will have a variety of food
and punch for kids in attendance. The Rota-
ry Club will also be setting up arts and crafts
and other games for kids to enjoy.
Each year, the party includes a gift give-
away, and this year it will be a Christmas
tree giveaway. This year, the Rotary Club
has spent around $2,000 on the party’s en-
tirety.
3A
courtesy photo
Walmart associate Arletta Snyder handmade 30 stockings for the Kiwanis
Christmas party.
last year’s 360-plus. Community Sharing
has been fundraising the event by selling
holiday buttons and some of the money is
offset by the county. Fleck says that the av-
erage cost of the event each year is $4,500.
Kiwanis holiday party
The Kiwanis club’s annual holiday party
will get an added touch of homemade charm
this year, thanks to the efforts of Walmart
associate Arletta Snyder. Cleo Dahlen of
the noon Kiwanis club said that the party —
scheduled this year for Saturday, Dec. 10,
has been catering to “children who probably
aren’t going to have a Christmas otherwise”
for about 30 years. Kids are brought to the
Elks Lodge, where they’re fed a hearty
breakfast, play games and are visited by
Santa and Mrs. Claus, who distribute gifts
and place goodies in each child’s stocking,
before the children are whisked back home.
The Elks Lodge is a big help with the
party, Dahlen said, and members of the
CGHS Key Club help with the shopping.
Walmart helps out with the gifts, and this
year, Manager Leah Cooper said she had
hoped to ask a few of the store’s associates
to create stockings for the kids. Yet Cooper
needed only ask one employee, Snyder, who
has handmade 30 stockings for area young-
sters.
When Dahlen asked Snyder why she
wanted to help out in such a personal way,
her answer was a simple yet profound one:
“Because I was one of those kids.”
For more holiday events, includ-
ing Saturday's Christmas in Cot-
tage Grove kickoff, see page 12A.
Storybook Theatre
brings 'Little Women'
to Opal Center
BY BRADYN DEBYSINGH
For the Sentinel
F
eaturing youth ages 8-19
(with the exception of a
few who are bit older), Story-
book Theatre’s upcoming pro-
duction of “Little Women” has
provided both a challenging and
heartwarming experience for
participants charged with rec-
reating the ethos of Civil-War
era Concord, Massachusetts
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in downtown Cottage Grove’s
Opal Center for Arts & Educa-
tion.
Bringing Louisa May Alcott’s
beloved 1868 novel to the Opal
stage has been long in the mak-
ing. Director Judy Smith began
adapting her own rendition of
the story over a year ago, “see-
ing an opportunity to work with
her most advanced students
possibly for the last time, and
desiring to fi nd a storyline that
would showcase not only their
extraordinary talents but honor
and challenge them and the his-
torical literature in the beautiful
way that all deserved.”
Smith opened auditions to
youth in the community in June
and after a prolonged casting
process, bringing on costuming
extraordinaires Marjorie Steen
and Rhonda Turnquist to cre-
ate exquisite Victorian costumes
for the newest inhabitants of
1860s Concord. Hardworking
cast members and construction-
head Phil Dempsey have since
worked to fashion and paint the
March home and other scenes
within the cozy confi nes of the
Opal Center.
Despite the challenges of
mounting such an elaborate
production in a small space, the
undaunted youth of Storybook
Theatre have bounded up and
down ladders, crawled along
balconies and even run around
buildings and through alleyways
to make the latest adaptation of
“Little Women” a charming suc-
cess. In fact, in keeping with the
spirit of the story, the performers
have been challenged to “make-
do”, just as the March sisters
were often charged by Marmee
to make the best of their lot and
consider others greater than
themselves.
The show runs Dec. 1-4 &
8-11, with a 7 p.m. curtain for
Thursday, Friday, and Satur-
day performances and a 3 p.m.
curtain for Sunday matinees.
Tickets are available in advance
at Crafty Mercantile (517 Main
St., 541-514-0704): ages 0-17
($10) and 18+ ($12). Doors open
30 minutes before showtime at
Opal Center (517 E. Main St.)
Smith founded Storybook
Theatre several years ago in
an effort to “provide a safe
and nurturing environment for
youths to gain the confi dence to
explore and discover the won-
derful magic of theater while
developing an appreciation for
literature and for each child to
discover that there is a special
niche for each of them, whether
it be in the spotlight or behind
the scenes, inside the theater, or
out in the big wide world.”
When asked why she contin-
ues to love investing in youth,
Smith replied, “Because it
makes children laugh and look
forward to the future and feel
good and proud of themselves,
and we need more of that in this
world.”
Judging from the plethora of
laughs from cast members strug-
gling to get used to petticoats,
and the ever-present in-and-
out-of-character smiles during
the spritely polka rehearsals, it
would seem that Smith has ac-
complished her goal.