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.
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