Commitment #6!

I'm delighted to announce that we've received our first commitment from a church group east of the Atlantic -- more specifically the East Grinstead area of England. It was a pleasure for my family to spend some time in that lovely area on our trip last fall.

That makes commitment #6 to stage "The First Christmas" this year. Here's the updated list thus far:

1. A church group in Brisbane, Australia
2. A church group in Tasmania, Australia
3. A church group in Devon, Alberta, Canada
4. A high school in Utah, USA
5. A church group in Anaheim, California, USA
6. A church group in East Grinstead, England

We are still looking for six more brave groups to stage the production during its inaugural year.

Commitment #5!

We are pleased to announce that a church group in Anaheim, California (until this announcement, most noted for having some theme park) is the fifth official group to commit to staging "The First Christmas" this Christmas season, as indicated by payment of the license fee.

We'll let them introduce themselves in greater detail, as they feel so inclined. But, in general terms, the commitments are from:

1. A church group in Brisbane, Australia
2. A church group in Tasmania, Australia
3. A church group in Devon, Alberta, Canada
4. A high school in Utah, USA
5. A church group in Anaheim, California, USA

That means there are 7 remaining licenses.

Introductions?

I have sent an invitation to be contributor to this blog to everyone who has expressed an interest in staging "The First Christmas." If you feel so inclined, feel free to introduce yourself to the rest of the blog participants by replying to this posting. Only share as much info as you feel comfortable sharing.

An invitation to all...

This blog is intended to be an open resource to all who are considering or have committed to staging "The First Christmas."

As the co-author of this production and the liaison from Lightstone Studios, I will use this blog to keep you current on developments with the production. I also will look at this blog for your input and suggestions.

I invite you to share with others your journey on taking this production from the page to the stage. Any and all experiences you would care to share I'm sure will be a help to others. Let us seek to use this blog to share, as well as give support to each other (surely a support group is needed for all who are undertaking such an endeavor).

Maybe a good place to start is to share with us a little about you and your group. You can include as little or as much info as you feel comfortable sharing. Either comment on this posting, or feel free to start a new post.

In the meantime, I wish you all that age-old stage salutation, "break a leg!"

The first commitments come in...

On May 11, 2007, we post an announcement in "Lightstone Update" that we have received commitments from our first three groups. The first came from a church group in Brisbane, Australia. The second was a church group in Tasmania, Australia. And the third was another church group in Devon, Alberta, Canada.

The same day we make the announcement, we receive a check from a high school in Utah, making it our fourth commitment.

We are intentionally being somewhat cryptic here in identifying the groups. If they would like to elaborate on their identification on this blog, they are welcome to.

An announcement is made...

We decided that for the inaugural run of the stage version of "The First Christmas," we would limit the number of available licenses to 12. Eventually, we hope that the production will work into the rotation of other Christmas season productions and become a staple.

In March 2007, we announced in our newsletter, "Lightstone Update," that we were looking for 12 brave church groups to stage the inaugural run. Based on the responses we received from church and other groups, we subsequently broadened our appeal to simply "12 brave groups."

Over the next few weeks, I heard from about 30 brave groups. They come from all over: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and England. Even within the states, the groups are far flung among Iowa, Indiana, Utah, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, California, and Nevada. And while most of them are church groups, we’ve also heard from a college, a high school, a home school association, a performing arts academy, two community theaters, and even a city.

Each group I heard from, I sent an evaluation copy of the script. We determined to require a $95 license fee that would hopefully be high enough to make sure that there was a measure of commitment from the groups, but not so high that it would be cost prohibitive (we know there are already substantial hurdles to overcome in staging such a production).

Adapting "The First Christmas" for the stage

Liken's "The First Christmas" was written in early 2005, shot in mid 2005, and released on DVD in November 2005.

In mid 2006, I began working on an adaptation of the production for the stage with the hopes that it would be able to be performed on a trial basis that Christmas season. Competing demands for my time (we were busy prepping and shooting "Daniel and the Lions" and "Samuel the Lamanite" at the same time) delayed the completion of the adaptation enough that we knew it wouldn't be ready in time for any group to plan and prepare accordingly. We decided to wait until Christmas 2007.

It was a challenge to adapt for the stage, in that the movie version jumps around freely among its three primary stories: Mary and Joseph, Elisabeth and Zacharias, and the shepherds. I worked to consolidate the stories somewhat, and created additional cover dialogue handled by our modern-day imaginer child and her parents. Even so, a number of set changes are called for, so I suggest in the preface of the script minimalist, almost black box staging, in order to keep the production moving.

The stage version of "The First Christmas" has been adapted to work with a cast size of about 15 speaking parts and 20-50 villagers and heavenly host choir members. We estimate the running time to be an hour. Even so, it would be an ambitious undertaking for any group. We have no idea how it will be received.