2013-11-20: 2013 Christmas Pageant

Post date: Jan 25, 2015 2:08:54 AM

It is time to get ready for the 2013 St. Nicholas parish Christmas Pageant! Our pageant will be very special this year as it is so close to the actual celebration of the Nativity!

Here are the main things that every Church School family should know:

• • The Church School Christmas Pageant will take place on Sunday December 22, 2013, in Church, right after the Divine Liturgy.

  • The 2013 coordinators for “A Night in Bethlehem” are Julie P. Skrettas (jewelsinjapan@hotmail.com) and Deno Prokos (konway@charter.net).

  • All Church School students will participate. Please see below for more details.

  • Parents can help with the children's costumes. Details appear below.

  • The coffee hour right after the pageant is sponsored by the Church School families. The coordinator for the coffee hour is Mrs. Stasi Webber (lilstasi2@aol.com) with the help of Ms. Nia Roumanis (nroumanis@hotmail.com)

  • Parents can also help with the coffee hour by bringing specific food items and volunteering for needed tasks (setup, decorations, cleanup, etc.)

  • To sign up and help with the coffee hour please click the link below

  • http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0A4FA4AB2FA31-chrismas/6568021

Roles and Costumes

• • Preschool children will dress as sheep, donkeys, cows, or camels.

  • Students in Grades K-3 will dress as shepherds or angels.

  • Special roles will be performed by children in Grades 4-5. The special roles are:

  • Archangel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, 3 Wise Men, 3 Inn-Keepers, and the Star of Bethlehem. Mary, Gabriel and the 3 Inn Keepers need to memorize a few lines.

  • (Please see below on how to volunteer for the special roles.)

  • Narrators will be student volunteers from Grades 8-12.

  • The remaining students in Grades 4-12 will be singers. You will receive an e-mail with links for the songs that will be performed by the students.

  • Special costumes will be worn by all Preschool students, all students in Grades K-3, and the students with special roles in Grades 4-5.

  • All other students in Grades 4-12 should wear white shirts or blouses and navy blue pants or skirts.

Special Roles

Special roles will be performed by students in Grades 4-5 and they include the Archangel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, 3 Wise Men, 3 Inn-Keepers, and the Star of Bethlehem.

• • Only children in Grades 4-5 who are present at the start of Church School on Sunday, November 24^th will be eligible to volunteer for special roles

  • The selection process will be described to the students, each role will be announced, and students will be asked to volunteer for that role. (Parents who would like their children to volunteer should encourage them to do so.)

  • If more than one child volunteers, then a selection will be made through random drawing.

  • This process will continue until all roles are assigned.

  • To allow more children to participate, every effort will be made to assign roles to children who have not performed the same role in past years.

Costumes — Costume Manager — Parent Helpers

• • Mrs. Ioanna Ioannou will serve as Costume Manager.

  • All parents of students in Grades P-5 should please volunteer to help (see below).

  • All costumes for the Christmas Pageant stay at church, labeled with child’s name.

  • There will be no rehearsals in costume.

Instrumental Music

• • If your children are instrumentalists and would like to play solo a Christmas carol of their choosing, please e-mail Julie Skrettas (jewelsinjapan@hotmail.com) or Deno Prokos (konway@charter.net). Musicians who are in 6^th grade or older and have played their instrument for at least one year are eligible.

Important Dates

Sunday Nov 24: Special Role Selection at start of Church School class time

• • Special roles will be assigned to students in Grades 4-5 as described above.

Sunday Dec 8: Special Roles Only — Short Rehearsal in Church.

• • Right after the church is cleared, only students with special roles will meet to block out their parts and read their scripts off the paper. Although not required, it would be nice if students could memorize their scripts by this point. This rehearsal will take place during coffee hour and may run slightly over by about half an hour. No costumes.

  • Church School teachers will use some class time to practice Christmas carols.

  • Costume Manager (Mrs. Ioannou) and parent helpers from K-5 start assigning costumes to the rest of the roles on this day. Costumes stay at church labeled with child’s name.

Sunday Dec 15: All Pageant Participants — General Rehearsal in Church

• • When church is cleared at the end of services all children participating in the pageant will take part in a general rehearsal. No costumes will be worn.

    • Church School teachers will provide a non-sugary snack to their class so children will not be hungry during practice. Please let your child's teacher know of any food allergies.

    • Expect children to be busy rehearsing after church until 1:15.

  • Prior to that, the Costume Manager and parent helpers from K-5 continue assigning costumes to the rest of the children. Costumes stay at church labeled with children's names.

    • Any student not assigned a costume by the end of coffee hour on December 15, should wear the blue and white attire described above and participate as a singer.

Sunday Dec 22: “A Night in Bethlehem” Pageant

• • In Church right after the Liturgy.

  • Have your camcorder and camera batteries charged and get ready to shoot!

How You Can Help

• 1. Be a K-5 Parent Helper and assist the Costume Manager (Mrs. Ioanna Ioannou, jioannou@gmail.com) assign costumes on Dec 8 and Dec 15.

  2. It would help if someone took charge of remembering about 6 sharpie markers and some index cards and some scotch tape on the day of costume assignments.

  3. On the day of the pageant, Dec 22, help get K-5 children into costumes in class. We need help getting children ready before the pageant and with costume return after the pageant. A few parents from each class are needed to make everything run smoothly and get the costumes back on the hangers. Help is needed to carry costumes upstairs to the storage cabinet and put the clothing rack away. To volunteer please email Mrs. Ioannou (jioannou@gmail.com).

We are looking forward to a wonderful experience for all!