Story by: Gianna Snell, photo credit Keith Rush
One of the most loved Christmas movies is the classic, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, which portrayed an old bitter man who learns real compassion, when three spirits visit him on Christmas Eve. On Saturday, December 15, the congregation at First Seventh-day Adventist Church enjoyed the colorful and moving gospel adaptation of the movie, in the form of a play, called, “A Christmas Hymn.”
In the play, “Theatre director, Prentice, played by Vineke Richardson, in her effort to produce a “streamlined” Christmas play at her church, is involuntarily taken on a journey to discover the true reason for the season,” explained Danita Jones, artistic director of Productions by Danita Jones, who wrote and directed the stage show.
Making the gospel version of “A Christmas Carol,” is something Jones says hasn’t been done before. “I liked the idea of taking someone from today and having them interact with Bible characters so that we can see how human they were,” she explained. “Often times when we read the Bible, we have a tendency to make them super beings that are void of human emotions. I wanted someone like Prentice to meet the people that Jesus healed or redeemed to see that they were just as human as she was.”
An angel, played by Reggie Lewis, guided Prentice through Biblical history, and she was able to meet the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the woman with the issue of blood, and Paul, among others. She soon realized that her attempt at producing a modern, streamlined Christmas play without mentioning Jesus was misguided. Her encounters with the people who were saved by Jesus, left her with a realization that Jesus was the true reason to celebrate Christmas.
Nearly 70 people participated in the production, including 4 choirs, 5 dancers and about 19 actors. The choirs’ exuberance, the dancers’ colorful costumes and the actors convicting portrayal of the roles left the audience captivated and the cast received a standing ovation.
“This play was specifically written for “churched folk,” said Jones, who got the idea to write it in 2014. “Those born and raised in church have the idea of being saved…delivered, yet, some of us lack the ability to convey when that change occurred in our life. I hope people walk away knowing when their change occurred, and if they don’t know, my hope is that they will have a saving encounter with Jesus.”