The Christmas Tree comedy a Rosebud Final Project
By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor
The Christmas Tree, comedic play by Norm Foster and Canada’s most frequently-produced playwright, will be performed in Rosebud, Dec. 8-10.
The one-act show is the Final Project of Lacey Cornelson, a graduating student at Rosebud School of the Arts.
The Christmas Tree is about two lonely strangers who have lost the Christmas spirit.
The roles are performed by Lacey Cornelson and Joel Braun, a Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) graduate who’s also performing in Rosebud Theatre’s All is Calm this season. RSA instructor Deanne Bertsch is directing. Anja Darien, an RSA graduate, is managing costumes. Josie Kaip, who’s Rosebud Theatre’s marketing assistant, is managing the sets and lighting. Karyssa Komar, a third-year student at RSA, is stage-managing.
“At the last minute on Christmas Eve,” Cornelson said, the lonely strangers “decide they’re going to get a Christmas tree, because maybe that will help them find some Christmas joy again.”
“And when they get to the tree lot, it’s just the two of them, but there’s only one tree left.”
The rest of the play is “about the two going back and forth, deciding whose life is more pitiful, that they deserve this Christmas tree,” she said. “They make up a bunch of stories, just trying to win this battle.”
Cornelson laughed aloud the first time she read this play, and she knew she wanted to perform it for her Final Project.
“It talks about deep things and it has a lot of heart in it,” she said, “but it’s also just so funny.”
“Theatre doesn’t always have to be depressing,” she said. It can also be hopeful and joyful. “One of my favorite things to do is just go to the theatre and laugh. And I always leave feeling so much better afterwards. I wanted to create that experience for people.”
“I want them to experience that coming together to find Christmas spirit. Not being alone.”
As Cornelson produces, rehearses and will perform The Christmas Tree, she feels especially rewarded to work with her team members who have also taken a script on paper and developed their own vision for the show.
She’s also grateful to have an all-female crew, so she can offer more theatrical opportunities to women.
Producing also offers significant opportunities for challenges and growth, she said, especially around budgeting. The production is fully student-funded, which requires fundraising on her part. Budgeting also puts into perspective how many elements are involved because everything – lights, sets, costumes –needs to be budgeted and paid for. But that experience will also be a great asset in the future, whenever she’s involved in producing a theatrical or non-theatrical production.
The Christmas Tree will be performed in Rosebud’s Akokiniskway Gallery on Dec. 8 and 9 at 10 pm. It will also be performed at 1 p.m. and at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to showtime.
The 10 p.m. shows will be following All is Calm, Rosebud Theatre’s Christmas show, which ends just before 9:30 p.m. Cornelson invites guests to come to Rosebud to see All is Calm at the Opera House, and then walk down the street to see the 45-minute long The Christmas Tree.
You can reserve tickets by emailing laceyacts@gmail.com. You may pay to that address via etransfer, or pay in cash at the door. Walk-in tickets are also available. Admission for all tickets is $12.
Complimentary hot chocolate will be served at a fellowship time after each performance, and guests are invited to stay and visit about their own Christmas experiences.
“I’d just love to get to know more people through this event,” Cornelson said.