Dysfunctional Christmas brings laughs

If a person wanted to see a dysfunctional Christmas filled with argument, jealousy, accusations, troublesome relationships, but spunky women that will definitely be entertaining, "The Charitable Sisterhood Christmas Spectacular" was a must.

Four cast members of the Paradise Players put on three performances of the play, which was set at Christmas of 1977. A group of ladies called the Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Church situated in the South are preparing for their annual Christmas pageant, but there are differences of opinions between Lorraine Jensen, played by Deborah Davis, Tina Yates, portrayed by Bonnie Firestone, and Bea Littleton, played by Kathleen Hubka, who is also the play director. It's obvious that Bea and Lucille Orton, played by Donna Scheiter, have some personality conflicts that have impacted their Christmas Spectacular in the past.

This time, however, there is a much bigger problem - someone has abducted the baby Jesus from the church manger. Bea is positive that the culprit is Lucille and wants to have a private detective to prove it. It is determined that fellow sisterhood honorary member Janet Murchison, known as Rashell Jones in real life, will be the private detective. Bea is not thrilled with the way Janet dresses, but neither is Lucille.

The play, by Bo Wilson, is a sequel to the "Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church, which was performed by the Paradise Players in April 2022. The two-hour play was broken into two acts and four scenes that take place at different intervals before the Christmas Spectacular. They also had a short intermission with coffee and cookies. Tickets were $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Two dozen people attended Friday's performance. Thirty-seven people went to Saturday night's show and 40 were there for the Sunday matinee.

The Charitable Sisterhood Christmas Spectacular was supported by Wendy Artz, the dramaturgist, and the stage crew of David DeMars, 13, and Benjamin Winkler, who also provided the WRSN radio voice. Winkler is no stranger to the stage. The 38-year-old has been performing since age 5 when his mother, the late Ruth Winkler, ran the show. Hubka has been the director with the Paradise Players since 2018 and involved with the theater for over 40 years. Davis has done several performances with the Paradise troupe and this is the second for Firestone. Jones' first time with the Paradise Players was the Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church.

This was the first showing for Scheiter, who said she was very nervous for the first performance on Friday, but got less so for Saturday and Sunday. Scheiter might have received the biggest laugh at Friday's show in a slip of the tongue and came out with a bad word. "I was mortified, but I won't do that again," said Scheiter, who just the same had fun with the play and plans to stick with it. In a portion of the play, she plays the piano poorly. "I'm really not that bad, but they wanted me to do it badly," said Scheiter, who is a pianist with the Plains Bible Chapel.

Scheiter, as Lucille, was the prime target of Bea. She was so sure that Lucille took her blue faced baby Jesus in order to sabotage the manger competition that she snatched the life-sized Joseph figurine from Lucille's church, a shock to Tina and Lorraine. It was later returned to Lucille in hopes that she would be so grateful that she'd return Jesus. She didn't have it, but she agreed to be part of their Christmas pageant.

Bea and the rest of ladies put on their Christmas show, which involved several songs and skits, including the "Miracle of Simeon," a story of a Biblical character that was told he would not die until he saw the Son of God. Bea took on the role of Simeon, who went blind. When they (Davis and Scheiter) showed up with the baby Jesus and Simeon regained sight, Bea stepped out of character because it was none other than the blue baby Jesus that was swiped from her manger. It was soon revealed that the crook was actually Lorraine, who was tired of the competition at Christmas. In the end, Bea sees the light, withdraws from the manger contest and gives it to Lucille.