Rosebud students perform classic Christmas comedy

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) presents the play The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Nov. 30 to Dec. 22.
Second-year RSA students have joined with the Rosebud Younger Company to perform the classic Christmas comedy based on the book by Barbara Robinson.
The story begins with Grace Bradley, a Sunday School mom, who agrees to direct the church Christmas pageant because the usual director has broken her leg.
At the same time, Grace’s son Charlie is being bullied at school by a boy named Leroy Herdman.
“The Herdmans are six kids, and they’re bad,” said second-year RSA Student Holly Langmead, who plays the oldest Herdman sister, Imogene. “They smoke cigars. They set fires. They steal stuff. They’re just bad news.”
RSA students Rebecca Hellekson, Chris Friesen and Kalena Lewandowski play the roles of Mrs. Bradley, Leroy Herdman and Charlie Bradley. Their classmates Matthew Schaaf, Rachel Franson, Renee Cyr and Amy Pohl are also in the cast.
When Leroy Herdman steals Charlie’s lunch, Charlie lets it slip that snacks are always served in Sunday School. So, on the very day Mrs. Bradley is holding auditions for the pageant, Leroy Herdman shows up in Sunday School with all five of his siblings, who’ve never been to church before, or heard of the birth of Jesus.
“(The Herdmans) all get into the pageant because none of the other kids want to audition, because they’re afraid of the Herdman kids,” Langmead said.
That leads to disaster and the rest of the community is sure this will be the worst Christmas pageant ever.
But that’s not the end.
“It’s this really amazing ending, especially for the Herdman kids,” Langmead said. “It ends up being the best Christmas pageant their church has ever had. My character, she has a big breakthrough. She starts to really care for the baby Jesus … just kind of lets go of her bossiness and has this change because God is there and He’s impacting this 12-year-old girl in ways she didn’t think were possible. It’s giving the audience that chance to see that this group of kids that are bad news can be changed by God.”
As the Herdman kids get to learn the story of the birth of Jesus, the audience gets to see what it’s like for someone to experience that story for the first time.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever opens Friday, Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. in the BMO Studio Stage in Rosebud and plays Thursday to Saturday until Dec. 22.
“If you come to the show, you’re in for an awesome ride, but it’s a good ride,” Langmead said. “You’ll feel pretty good afterwards.”