S3E3 - It's the Holiday Season: A Christmas Carol and Treefest!

Resident Artists and Ensemble Members, Aaron White and Amy Rene Byrne unwrap what the Ensemble is preparing for the holiday season, chat about devising BTE's three-clown A Christmas Carol, discuss the joys and pressures of adapting the company's 20th adaptation of Dickens classic tale, and revel in the Christmas traditions of Pennsylvania's only town.

Supporter Spotlight: Cindy Schultz and TreeFest

Recorded and Edited by: Aaron White
Original Music by: Aaron White

Transcripts of all Season 2-4 episodes are available on our Buzzsprout website.

Check out our current season: http://www.bte.org
Ensemble Driven. Professional Theatre. Arts Education. Rural Pennsylvania. For Everyone. With Everyone.

Transcript

Copy

S3E3- It’s the Holiday Season!!! 

Aaron: [00:00:00] Welcome to Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Down Center, a podcast where we take the holiday traditions of our company, our people, our art, and our town so seriously that we've scrooged ourselves silly front and down center. Hi there. I'm Aaron White resident artist an ensemble member at BTE, and I'm here with fellow resident actor Amy Rene Byrne.

November is here, and the holidays are right around the corner. This episode, we are going to unwrap what the ensemble is preparing for this festive time of year. 

Amy: I love the Christmas puns. 

Aaron: Thank you, thank you. I hope it's not too much. 

Amy: No, no. I think it's exactly the right tone for what we're going to talk about today.

A (Clown) Christmas Carol

Aaron: So we are talking about Christmas carol, this is going to be our 20th Christmas Carol in 47 seasons. There've been so many BTE adapted versions of A Christmas Carol. 

Amy: Yeah. 

Aaron: Right. The ones that stick out to me are Richie Canaday's ghost story, which was [00:01:00] super spooky. I did my Christmas Carol with sparklers, which didn't actually have sparklers, but it was, a musical Christmas Carol where I actually wrote some music for it and, uh, And it 

Amy: was lovely and I am so appreciative of you doing that because originally I was supposed to adapt that version of a Christmas carol, but I decided to have a baby.

Aaron: You had a baby and That's a good trade off. You had a Brahm. 

Amy: I did. He was totally worth it. 

Aaron: But there's a long tradition of those adaptations. I think Gerry Stropnicky probably did 15 of them in the early days because they would alternate. It would be every other year. Every year.

Amy: Mm hmm. 

Aaron: So, lots of adaptations and this year it's your turn. 

Amy: It's my turn. 

Aaron: To adapt and direct A Christmas Carol. 

Amy: Yeah, no pressure.

Aaron: What, tell, what, what kind of pressure are you feeling? 

Amy: I am feeling pressure, a good, a good kind of pressure, but a pressure nonetheless. To one , make sure that you're completely honoring the story because everyone knows it. 

Aaron: Right. 

Amy: So [00:02:00] you don't want to, you don't want to deviate from the story and you want to make sure that everybody gets that Christmas Carol itch scratched, but then also how do I make this different, and entertaining, and something that people have never seen before Because I have a very different approach for this year's Christmas Carol than what our audiences have seen in the past.

Aaron: So, when you say very different, what do you mean? 

Amy: Well, we are going to mount a three clown Christmas Carol this year. 

Aaron: Three clown? 

Amy: Three clowns. So three actors on stage. Following the rules of clowning, I don't exactly know how to explain that and anything, neat and tidy way. Take it away, Aaron!

Neat and Tidy Explanation of the Rules of Clowning

Aaron: And now, a neat and tidy explanation of the rules of clowning. When we're talking about clowns, we're tapping into a long western theatrical tradition of clowning performance. 

Amy: We're not talking rainbow wigs and red noses. 

Aaron: Not just rainbow wigs and [00:03:00] red noses. There's a bunch of disciplines and physical forms of clowning that we can trace back to the Greeks through the Italian Commedia dell'Arte, and that got strained through the sieve of medieval jesters and buffoons, which got codified into modern French bouffon, and Clown with a capital "C."

And there are many similar eastern lineages, so it's a big umbrella of theatrical performance style. And there are specific red nose or white face clowning, and that's the image that most folks are familiar with. 

Amy: But what makes a clown a clown is the way the performer sees the world. Human or societal stuff, the rules, the taboos, the vulnerabilities that we avoid on a daily basis and dives into them headfirst and then we all laugh.

Aaron:  So some of the things we're playing with outside of that single principle, would be like strong physical characterization, playfulness, stock character traits.

 In Commedia, there's a mask. And that mask that you put on has a certain number of [00:04:00] personality traits, and foibles, so, if you're playing, Arlecchino, or the Harlequin, that's something else that people might know, he tends to be mischievous. tends to be somewhat acrobatic, often is, very hungry, and is always either looking for food, obeying his body, scatological, if you think about Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny would be an Arlecchino character.

Amy: Right. I feel like a lot of people are familiar with Pantalone for some reason. 

Aaron: He's sort of greedy or, always looking to keep his wealth or his possessions. That character of Scrooge very well could be considered a Pantalone character as an archetype.

And those foibles open themselves up to comic situations. , another guiding principle I like to use is that a clown always keeps attempting and fails. Never stop endeavoring and then fail in a surprising way. And that inspires the communal laugh. 

Amy: And there's a lot, in that number of three, that ties into both dynamics and comedy and comedy math. And [00:05:00] so that's when people ask like, well, why three clowns? 

Aaron: Right. Like there's a 

Amy: There's a really specific and fun amount of play that comes from that particular number. 

Aaron: Set up expectation Reinforce expectation and then break expectation reverse it in a surprising way and then we all guffaw.

We all laugh. So, maybe not neat and tidy, but them's the rules of clowning.

Choosing Clown Christmas

Amy: Okay, but three people undertaking the 50 plus roles in A Christmas Carol. Yeah. Which is such a ridiculous exciting challenge that I just couldn't not do it 

The way you've been pitching it to everybody else is it began as a joke it did 

Yeah, well, we were like, okay.

Everyone loves a Christmas Carol. It's everyone's favorite holiday show that BTE does. We really wanted something in this season that we knew would get our audience members in a joyful Christmas spirit in our [00:06:00] theater, enjoying live theater, in the holiday season. So that show is always a Christmas Carol and it was like, ah, but we just did a Christmas Carol and it's such a big show our Christmas runs are very long and I was like man if we're gonna do a Christmas Carol... rather than doing a traditional Christmas Carol I’d rather do something crazy with it like do it with three clowns. And everyone was like yes 

Aaron: Let's do that.

Amy: And I was like, Oh no, now I have to do it. 

Why 3 Clowns?

Aaron: So, tell me a little bit about your history with A Christmas Carol. 

Amy: You know... 

Aaron: Particularly Christmas Carol at BTE. Twenty Christmas Carols. 

Amy: Twenty Christmas Carols, and I have been in, in my What year am I in? 

Aaron: This will be your 10th, 10th year with the company, right? Yeah, yeah, 

Amy: Next September it will be 10 years. So I'm, I'm in my 9th year. And in 9 years of BTE work and the 20 Christmas Carols that BTE has produced, I have been in... zero of them.

And I have said this on a prior podcast, I have now made it a goal to try [00:07:00] to somehow retire from BTE without being on stage in a Christmas Carol, which is not remotely achievable. There was one moment, in Twenty... sixteen? Twenty fifteen? That Richie Cannaday did the ghost Christmas Carol?

Aaron: Yes. 

Amy: Yeah, so I was tangentially involved in that one. I stepped in for Mac Dowd-Whipple for a few rehearsals at the very beginning. That would have been 

Aaron: fifteen. 

Amy: Yeah she couldn't make it to just the very beginning of rehearsals. And then there was a moment when we were in performance that Elizabeth Dowd was worried she had broken her ankle. She was gazing up at the moon one night and tripped and hurt herself mightily. And so Richie called me and was like, do you think you could maybe step in if needed? And I pulled out a script and started feverishly studying. And luckily her x -rays came back and it was not broken. So she was able to continue the run in a boot. 

Aaron: That's crazy. 

Amy: Yeah, 

Aaron: That's crazy. I guess that brings up another reason why we're doing a three person. Because it will be three [00:08:00] people in the show, but we'll actually be rehearsing it with a cast of six. 

Amy: We will. There will be two alternating casts of three, so we will have six amazing brains on this production.

Aaron: So if someone accidentally does follow that wonderful theater tiding and breaking a leg, or, I actually had a similar situation the last Christmas Carol. It was during a snowstorm and I got a phone call from our stage manager, Michael Yerges saying, so someone got COVID... and we were wondering... if there's a way that you can step into that role, so that we can continue, cause we have, we got 300 people slated for tonight. 

Amy: Yeah. 

Aaron: An audience of 300. And so I'm like, uh, sure. And then another person got COVID. 

Amy: Yeah. And then the whole run ended up having to end early.

Aaron: We wound up losing four shows and For 300 people to show that's a significant number of people not being able to see. Yeah, 

Amy: We rely on that income. Ironically, [00:09:00] last Christmas. That's right. During A Christmas Story, Michael Yerges is the person who knew the show well enough and was able to step in and perform off book. 

Aaron: Yep. With no 

Amy: rehearsal. 

Aaron: Because he's been involved in that show probably five times. 

Amy: Oh, yeah. At least. 

Absolutely. So, something our audience may not know is that we don't have understudies. Right. At BTE. So when we perform for five weeks at Christmas, we do matinees Tuesday through Thursday for schools. Then we perform Thursday through Sunday for our general audiences and that is a long run.

Aaron: It is. And normally doing it without a net. 

Amy: Yeah. 

Aaron: But this year… 

Amy: We get a net! 

Aaron: We get, we get a net. It also makes it super fun for audiences who might want to see it more than once.

Amy: Yes. 

Aaron: Because the show will be different every time. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what you've been planning for not only just it being a clown show, but what's fun about it?

Amy: I would like to say a disclaimer: the text that people are going [00:10:00] to hear is going to be the Dickensian text of A Christmas Carol. 

So I'm not writing a clown script where we're commenting on A Christmas Carol or like, you know, the cast didn't show up and now these three people have to, it's not complete works of Shakespeare, that type of, of show.

Aaron: Ultimately, there's Scrooge. Who has all the foibles of Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas come and visit him and ultimately Scrooge learns his lesson. It just happens to be through this lens of, of three clowns who are endeavoring the best they can, but the world keeps turning itself on its head to humorous effect.

Devising the Show

Amy: We have these three characters that sort of end up having the story of A Christmas Carol thrust upon them.

And we've done , a lot of really cool devising work. We got together in a room and we were spitballing ideas and we were talking about beginning thoughts that I had. And then I got to fold in, stuff from, Aaron and Kimmi and we brought in [00:11:00] Abby, our education director, came and played with us. Ethan Jovanovich, which is Nora Gair's partner, she directed Holmes/Watson, she's gonna be directing Misery, he came and played with us for a day, which was interesting, he got to bring a, a complete outside perspective to A Christmas Carol because he's Jewish, so it's not part of his tradition, and that was really fun.

Aaron: I remember coming into those devising sessions, there was a big question about why are these three people telling this story?

Amy: Yeah, if we don't have a traditional, full cast Christmas carol, who is learning a lesson here, right? Because Scrooge has a lesson to learn. So at various points throughout the play, all three of these actors are going to be playing Scrooge, and we divided up, Scrooge's qualities, what lessons he needs to learn, what lessons each ghost teaches to Scrooge, 

Aaron: what's neat about that? 

Amy: There was this really beautiful moment. We did a read through of a draft that I had written. And one of the big questions was, does it work to have three different people play Scrooge? [00:12:00] And the answer was a resounding yes. in such a surprising way.

Because what I got out of that reading that I have never gotten from watching A Christmas Carol before is that we're all Scrooge. We all have some of those qualities or or hold on to, you know, that hard-heartedness or that greed or... 

Aaron: that isolation of feeling left out. 

Amy: Yeah, in some capacity, right? And so it was the first time, I walked away from it thinking like, oh... I now actually feel like I have more Christmas spirit whereas before I would always watch Scrooge and be like, yeah, of course people need to be generous, you know? It was more exterior to me and this felt like I walked away a little bit changed and that was kind of novel for me because I don't think I would have ever said I identify with Scrooge yeah, like i'm not a greedy person, I can't even afford to pay for my gas, so like, I'm not 

Aaron: Money is not at the forefront of your thinking.

Amy: [00:13:00] Exactly. 

 What's Funny About Dickens

Amy: And I will say I had never really previously thought of A Christmas Carol as a funny story You know, it's a ghost story. It's creepy. It's so serious It has such an important lesson, working on this script. I mean I've I went through Dickens story very closely. It's quite witty and humorous. The way that he writes it's a little sardonic.

Aaron: So much of it tends to be people finding humor. or joy at Scrooge's expense. is the opposite of what everyone else is experiencing. And so, Dickens does that too. Some of his witticisms are picking at the foibles of this capitalist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Greedy person. 

Amy: My favorite part of Dickens original is something that made me laugh out loud as I was reading it when Scrooge is waiting for the Ghost of Christmas Present to show up he's having this moment where he's waiting and he's waiting and The line is something along the lines of he was prepared for anything at [00:14:00] this point he was prepared for anything from, a baby to a rhinoceros! 

Aaron:  From a baby to a rhinoceros. 

Amy: But, being prepared for that, he was by no means prepared for nothing. And then, there's this stream of light coming in from the next room and Scrooge has a moment where he wonders if he's about to spontaneously combust. And I think that's so funny. He's like, Oh my God, am I about to spontaneously combust?

And that's just not an element that I had ever really gotten from the story. 

Aaron: So much of that is, is baked into Dickens writing, we've read a bunch of scripts in these play selection processes where they're taking known stories and fiddling with them trying to do something new and inevitably it can undercut what the story is. That's not the case with this at all.

Amy: I'm so excited about some of the things that we have come up with that I think are just smart. We have one moment where one actor is playing literally all [00:15:00] the Cratchits. And the chaos of that moment really mirroring what it is like to have a large family and to cook dinner and put dinner on the table and "where are your shoes' and 'why are you doing that and where's your sister?"

Aaron: Trying to make Christmas perfect. 

Amy: Yeah. Right? 

Aaron: As a parent, I feel that so keenly sometimes, families wanting to make their Christmas perfect for their kids,

Amy: yeah. 

Aaron: Trying to remember what their childhood was like and either trying to make it that or not that yeah, and that moment very clearly does that where it's like I got this is so hard Yeah 

Amy: There's so many moments of that throughout this show like we found a really cool way to incorporate, Past, Present, and Future, altogether at the end and it ties in so wonderfully with Scrooge promising to live in the past and the present and the future.

 That was another question that I had with this approach was like, well, then what's the end, you know, what is the, what is the [00:16:00] big climactic final moment?

And, and because it rings . So clear that we're all Scrooge and we all, have this need to live in the past, present, and future and to be as present as possible in our lives. it just, it kind of all congealed in this surprising, beautiful way. And I'm not going to give away any more information than that because I want you to come and see it and be surprised by it.

Yes. 

Supporter Spotlight: Cindy Schultz & TreeFest 

Aaron: Our Supporter Spotlight for this episode is pointed at the fabulous Cindy Schultz. Cindy is actually a past BTE employee and continues to be a wonderful supporter for our company. She is, as we discovered in our conversation, an essential cog to so many BTE events and lots of different civic events all around Bloomsburg.

I had a lovely conversation with her about how she and Bonnie Crawford and Frances Smith and a whole bunch of others, are in the midst of [00:17:00] planning and organizing a long time BTE fundraiser and Bloomsburg tradition, TreeFest.

Cindy: Opens on Friday, November 29th. It runs the 29th, the 30th, and the 1st of December. And then it reopens the following Friday, the 6th, and the 7th, and the 8th. 

Aaron: And the hours are going to be on treefest.org. It's got its own website, right?

Cindy: Yes, it does. 

Aaron: Fantastic. 

Cindy: And we're particularly excited. This is the 36th year. So if you do the math, we have helped 3600 families over the years as we average about a hundred, we have averaged about a hundred trees per year. We have local businesses that support us and support the trees by making donations. We have community decorators and some individuals, both sponsor and decorator. 

And do the families then get the decorations as well? 

They do. 

Aaron: Very cool. 

Cindy: And many sponsors and decorators include gift cards, so that we can apportion those to [00:18:00] the families as well, so they get a little something extra.

When they come to pick up their tree on the Sunday that TreeFest closes, Santa is there, Sunday, December the 8th. Anyone who's bringing their child along gets a little visit with Santa. We hope to have cookies with Santa. That'll be the second Saturday the 7th. Kids that come in will be able to decorate cookies, have a story, meet with Santa. We're also hoping to have something new called Christmas ghost stories. I think it's a Nordic tradition where families gather and actually read or recite ghost stories having to do with Christmas. We've got a couple of feelers out for some former ensemble members to see if they storytelling. Yes. And that'll be an adult event. And that'll be the first Saturday, the 30th of November. So that's all coming together. We always have a sensory friendly night, which I believe is the [00:19:00] Wednesday, it'll be on the website. And that's free admission for anyone who would like to enjoy the trees without a lot of hustle and bustle and noise. So that's children and adults. 

Aaron: Hustle and Bustle is always such a big part of the season. Right. And, I mean, it's certainly something I don't enjoy. No. No. So finding opportunities to enjoy, because there's something wonderful about that room.

You walk in and all the trees are twinkling and it's just, there's something wonderfully magical and calm. That was always one of my favorite things, is like sitting in the living room with the tree on and just the shadows going against the wall and there's something so peaceful peaceful about that.

Cindy: Having been involved with tree fest for a number of years.

I've, I've been there many times where I'm turning all the lights on. And so what I often do is I turn the overhead lights on last. So I get everything illuminated and it is so magical. 

Aaron: That's beautiful. 

Cindy: Yeah. 

Aaron: So there is a sensory friendly night where. That is kind of the, the focus is that sort of calm.

Cindy: Exactly. Exactly. Yep. [00:20:00] Just make your way through at your own pace and enjoy. 

Aaron: Wonderful. You said that you've been involved for a long time, but when was it, when was your first one? Your first FreeFest?

Cindy: I think it was probably in some capacity around 2011. 

Aaron: Okay. 

Cindy: And, through my association with BTE, I've been involved in differing levels.

Currently, I mostly, Organize the decorators, and I'll be doing a little help with the sponsors this year as well. Gotcha. 

Aaron: I know that, at least in my time here, full time, your name is whispered. Like, Cindy knows what's going on. 

Cindy: I know, I know, just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to be fully effective.

So I'll have to leave it at that. 

Aaron: An essential cog. 

Cindy: Yes, right. 

Aaron: Yeah. That's my favorite thing to be. Like, I don't, I hate being in charge and I would much rather be an essential cog. 

Cindy: I like that. I'll remember that. I'll put that on my gravestone. Cindy Schultz. Essential cog. I like it. I like it. 

Aaron: Is there anything [00:21:00] that you would, that you need right now from folks who might be listening to the podcast that they could reach out to you? 

Cindy: Well, we have 80 trees that we need sponsored. Sponsorship is a $225 fee. This is a fundraiser for BTE. So we go through all the work, to one, make money as a fundraiser and two, to be able to present these trees to families who otherwise might not be able to have a tree. So, currently we need about 40 additional sponsors and we're just sort of getting started now so I know that we will close that gap but if anybody is interested, that would be great. You will get a listing in the program and also each tree has a sign with the decorator and the sponsor and then the tree grower because we do get these trees donated and we want to definitely give a shout out to those folks who have supported us for many years.

Aaron: Which I know is a bigger deal in the last couple of years because of the tree shortages that have been around. I know that that's been something we talked about a lot. 

Cindy: That's correct. 

Aaron: Yeah.

Cindy: And we'd also like to [00:22:00] thank our two sponsors this year, Richard and Francis Smith and Brewskis.

Aaron: Thank you, Brewskis.

Thank you, Richard and Francis. 

Cindy: Yes. 

I also want to mention that we have a partnership with Downtown Bloomsburg Inc. and the Rotary this year. So the second Friday, the 6th is free. The Rotary is underwriting the cost for everyone to come and visit TreeFest. And this also falls on First Friday. So we will be working with Downtown Bloomsburg Inc. we will have entertainment outside, inside we'll have crafters outside. So folks can kind of make their way in and out. Santa will be there. I believe he'll arrive on a fire truck. If you've been a little hesitant about coming. This will be wonderful opportunity to make it your first trip to TreeFest. 

Aaron: Sounds to me if you like Hustle and Bustle, that would be the night. 

Cindy: That will be the night. That will, hopefully, that will, uh, yeah. Because we have, the church across the street. Is it St. [00:23:00] Matthew's? Matt. So we working with them, they make their area available to us. So we have dance works by Amber who will be performing. We'll have Tuba of Christmas and then a couple other, uh, entertainers as well. So you'll be going back and forth. between St. Matt's, What's Outside, and TreeFest. And that's all a very short distance for people who aren't familiar, so it's just virtually across the street.

Yeah, 

Aaron: One stop shopping. 

Cindy: Exactly. And we do have a few beloved vendors who will be there. We have Garmin's Woodworks. We have Mittens by Molly. We have Nanny Cakes. And we have one other that's pending. So that'll also be on the website. 

Aaron: Wonderful. I think the, the one of the people that helps run Tuba Christmas is a friend of mine, T. J. Kurczewski. used to, I think he used to come and do it. That's something that he brought to my attention in early 2000s. I was like, they have Tuba Christmas? He was like, yeah, it's the best thing. 

Cindy: It's Fabulous. I went last year and was able to actually just sit and listen.

Yeah. And did not realize that there's [00:24:00] more than one type of tuba . Correct. And so, and they produced different sounds, and the gentleman who led the Tuba of Christmas explained it, and it was just, and the sound in St. Matthews was amazing. All 

Aaron: those big church, those cavernous churches with that acoustic.

The acoustic, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Cindy: So, uh. That I in plenty of seating there. 

Aaron: So lovely, lovely. Well, that's super exciting. Thank you. 

Can I ask you... what's your favorite way to support BTE? Like what's the most fun? 

Cindy: Well, having at one time worked at BTE, I come in it from a different sort of angle in that I am like boots on the ground.

So my favorite thing is to be involved in events. 

Aaron: Got it. 

Cindy: I really, uh, enjoy the, the, doing the run up to it, the planning, and the execution, and showing up the night of, and supporting, I try to get as many friends as I have there as well. Yeah. That's what I enjoy. 

Aaron: Well, and, are we, are you still looking [00:25:00] volunteers for TreeFest?

Cindy: We're always looking for volunteers because there is some work that is done in the planning and the execution. There's a lot of work that goes into actually transforming the Caldwell Consistory into a Winter Wonderland or a Christmas Wonderland.

Then when the trees arrive, we got to get the trees set up. That's a little bit more physical work. And then during the actual event, we use folks, at the entryway table who take tickets.

Aaron: Wonderful. Who should people contact if they're interested? 

Cindy: Bonnie Crawford. 

Aaron: Very cool. Thanks. 

Cindy: You're welcome.

Thanks again to Cindy Schultz for sitting down and talking with me about TreeFest. If you want more information about this magical event held at the Caldwell Consistory, you can go to TreeFest. org, and if you're looking to volunteer, please reach out to Bonnie Crawford at 570- 441 -5012. You can also connect with us at treefest@bte.org.

Audience Experience

Aaron: We also just held auditions. To [00:26:00] have a cameo every night. 

Amy: Yes, a special guest appearance. Yes, 

Aaron: yes, yes. , and also, one of my favorite things about our holiday shows is that it does feel so community based. So, participating as an audience member, and this is a big part of the show as well. 

Amy: Yeah, yeah, we made a joke that we should label certain seats as a splash zone. Not that you're gonna get But that's 

Aaron: Just with Holiday Spirit 

Amy: Nope. Nope. 

Aaron: Nope?

Amy: You're just going to be overwhelmed with holiday spirit. No. There's a certain zone of like, Interactivity, if you will, we will not make anyone participate that does not want to, do not let that scare you away from this show. But yeah, there's audience involvement and it, I just think it feels so holistic in a really beautiful way. And I'm so excited for that because those moments when you do get a full theater of people experiencing the same thing together, it just [00:27:00] reinforces why we do what we do. And I think people will leave feeling connected to other humans. 

Black Friday in Bloomsburg

Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about, the community traditions. One of my favorite things about our BTE holiday traditions is the opportunity to give back.

Amy: Mhm. 

Aaron: Our first preview is a really special tradition that like a lot. We always have our first preview on Black Friday. So you can come downtown and go holiday shopping in the morning if you want to, and then you can come to our food preview of A Christmas Carol.

Amy: That means you bring a non-perishable food item and that is your entry into our theater. That's all that it costs to see our first preview. And it all gets donated to the Bloomsburg food cupboard. So we amassed this huge collection of goods and are able to donate it and people get to see the show for essentially free And it's always so heartening when [00:28:00] you're performing in the Christmas show on food preview day because you come an hour hour and a half before the show starts for your call, and there's already a line... up the street and around the block for people waiting to get in for the food preview. 

Aaron: It's first come first serve. And it's general admission if you have that can of cranberry sauce...

Amy: you know you've been looking at that corn in your cupboard for a long time and you don't want it. So bring it to somebody who needs it.

Aaron: ...who needs it. That's right. 

But that's also not the end of the giving. So after the show is over, you can make your way to the Caldwell Consistory and you can celebrate the opening of TreeFest, which is a BTE fundraiser. A lot of people don't know that. We're celebrating, I think, 37 years of TreeFest. 

Amy: It is always surprising to me to find out who doesn't know that it's a BTE tradition. I think it was Laurie McCants's idea.

Aaron: Oh, really? 

Amy: Yeah. 

Aaron: There you go. So that's another opportunity to give back to the community. And then, if you wanted to, you could just spend the entire Black Friday in Bloomsburg. Hang out [00:29:00] for the Parade of Lights, which is another magical Bloomsburg tradition.

Amy: Yeah. Bloomsburg really does the holidays right. 

Aaron: They do. So you can just, You know, you can leave TreeFest, come on down to main street and then there go a whole bunch of, decorated floats that are brightly lit. 

Amy: it is exactly what it sounds like. It is a parade of lights. 

Aaron: That's right. And at the end of that parade comes Santa Claus. So you can say hi to Santa as, as he drives by. 

Amy: Man, when I was a kid, the excitement of, "oh my goodness, It's the parade and I'm gonna get to see Santa...!" My fingers would be frozen to the bone. I had no feeling in my toes, but I did not care. 

Aaron: It's a pretty wonderful tradition that BTE is a big part of so you should come check it out. November 29th. Our food preview starts at two o'clock. Uh, the line starts forming as soon as the line starts forming for that general admission.

And then TreeFest, , opens from four to six. And that's at the Caldwell Consistory, which is right across from the fountain in our downtown. 

Amy: Yes. 

Aaron: At the intersection of Market and Main Street. 

Amy: Mm hmm.

Aaron: We have [00:30:00] our Black Friday, preview. Off with a bang! We open up on Saturday, and then we run for a long time. All 

Amy: the way through December. 

Aaron: All the way through December. 

Amy: And then past Christmas. 

Aaron: That's right. We take two days off for Christmas. And then we have three performances after that. So we actually close on the 28th of December. 

Blue Performances

Aaron: And on the 28th, and the 21st, we have something special, because it is a Clown Christmas Carol. Inevitably, there are some fun things that happen. , 

Amy: There is always Inappropriate jokes and humorous situations that tend to arise in clown shows.

It's because it's such a physical show and because actors are, you know, kind of bawdy people, honestly. 

Aaron: Bawdy as in B A W D Y. 

Amy: We can be.

Aaron: When you said body, I was like, body? 

Amy: Body. We're, we're, I mean that too. Sometimes? Maybe? 

So, even just early drafts of this, it became very clear [00:31:00] very quickly that there were going to be all kinds of inappropriate adult jokes that we're not going to make their way into our family friendly performances. I want to be very clear here that all of our regularly scheduled performances are 100 percent G rated, family friendly, bring everyone down. Now, if you want something that is not family friendly, something that's a little bit racy, something that's a little bit, you know, Blue.

Aaron: That you can bring your adult kids who are coming back for the holidays and they're stuck in the house and you've had a little bit too much eggnog... 

Amy: Perfect. That is the right recipe. And you can also imbibe while you're here. That's right. That will enhance your experience, but we are keeping a mental vault of all of the inappropriate jokes, and we are having what's called a Blue Performance where our actors get to go a little wild and do all of that. It's like an improv performance meets a scripted performance meets, [00:32:00] um, eggnog. 

Aaron: Meets eggnog.

Or, or your favorite Christmas cocktail. Yeah, yeah. And that's on December 21st and 28th, both Saturdays, 

Amy: These are R rated. 

Aaron: That's right. Yes.

So if you have family coming in for the weekend on that Saturday, before Christmas, cause Christmas isn't until Wednesday, you can bring them, have a cocktail and enjoy a really funny show...

Amy: And those are late night. 

Aaron: Those are late night, 10 o'clock, 10 p. m. So we finish our family friendly performance for the night and then we just start right back up. 

Amy: Yeah, this is one time that having that double cast is a real... 

Aaron: a real boon. 

Amy: Yes. Also, if you come to the first Blue Performance and you really enjoy it, if you come to the one on the 28th, that will be the other cast.

That's right. So every joke will be different, the flavor will be different, because you'll have different people on stage making those. 

Aaron: I like, I like Blueformance. 

Amy: Blueformance. 

Aaron: Is that what I said? Yes, you said Blueformance. 

Amy: That was a Freudian slip, [00:33:00] but I like it. 

Aaron: This has been Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble Down Center. Ensemble driven, professional theater, arts education, in rural Pennsylvania. for everyone, with everyone. 

We'd like to thank Journey Bank, our A Christmas Carol show sponsor, and the sponsors for TreeFest, Francis and Richard Smith, and Brewski's Coffee and Bar.

Make BTE a part of your family holiday tradition. A Christmas Carol is at the Alvina Krause Theater from November 29th through December 28th. Don't miss BTE's Black Friday one- two punch. November 29th. You can attend our canned food preview of A Christmas Carol at 2pm and then head over to the opening of TreeFest from 4 to 6pm. The food preview is general admission, first come first serve, and just bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the Bloomsburg Food Cupboard. And there will be a seat waiting for you to see the show. 

To sponsor a tree for TreeFest and to see the full entertainment schedule, go to treefest. org. And for more information about everything BTE does, you can always go [00:34:00] to www. bte. org.

Amy: Dickens would have been jealous. 

Aaron: Of that? 

Amy: Yeah, that was a Dickensian outro. 

Aaron: I get paid by the word, here comes Sarah Yorke. Knockin on the door. Gonna come in and say hi for the podcast.

Amy: Oh, you're fine. We edit. It's fine. Yeah, 

Aaron: we're nearly done. Yeah. Yeah You're all good.