NIC employees to present 'This Child'
Schuler Auditorium manager, former theater director combine to showcase full-length play
Issue date: 12/11/06 Section: Entertainment
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Schuler Auditorium Manager Justin Van Eaton enjoys the holiday season, but has grown tired of seeing the same traditional holiday classics in community theaters this time of year.
He and former NIC theater director and playwright Tim Rarick talked for years about creating a production that would be a unique offering during the Christmas season.
They began to develop this project last year, and years of planning will come to fruition in this month with the premiere of a full-length play titled "This Child."
Rarick wrote the Christmas play based on a story he was told about his mother's past. "This Child" centers around the life of a 7-year-old girl named Moira whose family began to crumble after the stock market crash in 1929. Her father had recently passed away, and her mother was fighting depression.
While trudging through the streets one winter day, ill-fed and not dressed for the weather, a group of nuns decided to bring Moira into its convent and asked her to participate in its Christmas pageant as a way of caring for the girl and helping boost her self-esteem without offending her mother.
"The show emphasizes family, with a serious line of conflict running through the play as the girl's family falls apart," Rarick said, adding that the play is recommended for ages 5 and older. "But the Christmas pageant that provides the theme of the show helps provide a balance of interests for all ages."
Rarick not only wrote the play, but will be directing it and co-producing it
with the help of Van Eaton, the theater
department and staff of Schuler Auditorium. Community members, current NIC students and former students are
see RARICK, page 13
also involved.
Nearly half of the cast of 25 are children who will perform some traditional Christmas carols in the course of producing the pageant. The actress who will play Rarick's mother as a child is 8-year-old Chloe Rhodes of Newman Lake.
He and former NIC theater director and playwright Tim Rarick talked for years about creating a production that would be a unique offering during the Christmas season.
They began to develop this project last year, and years of planning will come to fruition in this month with the premiere of a full-length play titled "This Child."
Rarick wrote the Christmas play based on a story he was told about his mother's past. "This Child" centers around the life of a 7-year-old girl named Moira whose family began to crumble after the stock market crash in 1929. Her father had recently passed away, and her mother was fighting depression.
While trudging through the streets one winter day, ill-fed and not dressed for the weather, a group of nuns decided to bring Moira into its convent and asked her to participate in its Christmas pageant as a way of caring for the girl and helping boost her self-esteem without offending her mother.
"The show emphasizes family, with a serious line of conflict running through the play as the girl's family falls apart," Rarick said, adding that the play is recommended for ages 5 and older. "But the Christmas pageant that provides the theme of the show helps provide a balance of interests for all ages."
Rarick not only wrote the play, but will be directing it and co-producing it
with the help of Van Eaton, the theater
department and staff of Schuler Auditorium. Community members, current NIC students and former students are
see RARICK, page 13
also involved.
Nearly half of the cast of 25 are children who will perform some traditional Christmas carols in the course of producing the pageant. The actress who will play Rarick's mother as a child is 8-year-old Chloe Rhodes of Newman Lake.
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