Saturday Christmas play practice...

For the past 4 weeks we have been working on the childrens Christmas program in Sunday school; learning songs, rehearsing lines for the play, memorizing a verse. The children have been busy. However, there is only so much you can do in an hour of Sunday school, outside on a bench under a tree. We needed some time to practice inside, so we decided to meet at 10am today.

Just after 10am we drove up to the community center in Regent where we met up with 1 of the Sunday school workers and about 10 children. Not one of my 4 narrators were present. No Mary, no Joseph, none of the actors really. Hmmm...10am African time. And here I thought we were running a little late.

No worries. Soon enough 3 wisemen, a shepherd, an angel & an inn keeper walked in. So we (mainly Jitske) started with costume design. A couple of sheets, strips of fabric, some tinsel, and out come some costumes. Slowly more kids showed up as well as the other Sunday school teacher.

Time to practice. The choir was positioned in the middle of the stage, the angels on the platform, the inn keeper to the left, narrators to the right etc. Mary had arrived, but still no Joseph. So, as we went through the play- I stood in for Joseph and the 3 missing narrators & gave stage directions. Of course half way through practice we were told another group needed to use the building, so we continued practice outside, under the tree, in between 2 parked vehicles. No problem.

After going through the play a few times (12x4 lines narrated while children act out the story, with 4 songs after every 3rd verse) we decided it was time to stop. Of course, just as we were wrapping up, the boy playing the role of Joseph walked up. Well, better late than never I'd say. It meant having to go through the play one more time- but I felt better knowing he would know what to do Sunday morning!

So, tomorrow is the real thing! And I'll be sure to report back. I'm sure the children will do great. They amaze me over and over again!