Students presenting Christmas comedy

n The theater department will be among the first in the U.S. to produce the new play.

Janelle Jessen/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs High School students practiced for their upcoming production of the "Hallmark Channel Christmas Wonderthon!" by Don Zolidis. Pictured, from left, are students Olivia Allen, Drew Smith, Bella Jeppsen, Ian Hilderbrand, Jake Gill, Amoni West and Reece Edwards.
Janelle Jessen/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs High School students practiced for their upcoming production of the "Hallmark Channel Christmas Wonderthon!" by Don Zolidis. Pictured, from left, are students Olivia Allen, Drew Smith, Bella Jeppsen, Ian Hilderbrand, Jake Gill, Amoni West and Reece Edwards.

Siloam Springs High School theater students will be among the first to perform "The Hallmark Channel Christmas Wonderthon!" by playwright Don Zolidis.

Students will be giving performances of the play in the high school theater at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10, Friday, Nov. 16, and Saturday, Nov. 17; as well as at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 18.

The play description calls it a "raucous, yet sweet comedy," that combines six Hallmark Channel Christmas movies and performs them with "sleighs-full of cheer, fake snow and audience participation."

"Basically the play is a lot of the Hallmark Christmas Specials mashed together into one, it's a lot of fun," said student director Lindsey McFall. "It's also an audience participation play so we encourage them to join in on the laughs."

The cast of 27 and tech crew of 30 has been working together on the production since September, she said.

The school performed another of Zolidis' plays, "The Brother's Grimm Spectaculathon," last spring, according to theater teacher Dana McCutcheon. The author reached out to schools that had performed his plays in the past and asked if they would like to perform his yet to be published "The Hallmark Channel Christmas Wonderthon!"

"He emailed it directly to people who have done his shows before for us to read it and we jumped on it," she said. "We will be among the first groups in the U.S. to perform the show."

Zolidis is a playwright, novelist and former middle and high school teacher, according to the biography on his website, donzolidis.com. As of March 2017, he had published 97 plays which have been produced more than 10,500 times in 61 countries, it states.

The Siloam Springs High School's International Thespian Society Troupe 7982, which includes most theater students, is doing a canned food drive as part of the production and will be donating the food they collect to Hunger and Thirst Ministry. Anyone who brings a canned food item to any public performance will get $1 off the price of admission.

Tickets are sold at the door and admission prices are $10 for adults, $7 for students and free for children under 5.

General News on 11/07/2018