Colorado Christmas

Kent Homchick from West Bowles Community Church in Littleton, CO brings us this Christmas production design.

From Kent: This Colorado premiere production of a two-act family entertainment is presented each December in the church’s 800 seat sanctuary. This production has a congregation based, all volunteer, singing and dancing cast of 60+, which is supported by a professionally contracted 30+ piece orchestra. Many talented craftsmen and craftswomen who are members of the congregation contribute hundreds of hours to construct, paint, makes props, hang and focus stage lighting and to gather up the many costumes required to stage this extravaganza of family entertainment.

The 2018 Christmas show first Act original script centered around the telling of the “scrapbook” history of one family though 4 four time periods: 1930s, 1940s, 1960s and 2018. There were prop changes between the scenes and time periods, but the “bulk” of the stage scenery was created using a full stage rear projection screen.

Church staff members create an original script each year for the two-act production. The first act of vivid and vibrant song and dance is based on some illustrative or moral based story that revolves around a family at the Christmas time of the year. The second act is always some variation on the original Christmas story of the birth and growth of the Christ child. The Producer, through the church’s Pastor and group of Elder’s immense support and blessing, contract additional outside artistic talent to lead the production in the areas of scenic, projection and lighting design, as well as for a choreography and staging Director. The church contributes part of the budgetary support, while the majority of expenses are covered by door admission ticket sales.

The sanctuary stage area has an opening of 65 feet wide, and a height of 20 feet in height. The sanctuary features a full-sized sunken orchestra pit, and a large compliment of scenic pipes for raising and lowering scenery on a counterweight system. There are multiple pipes dedicated to stage lighting equipment over the stage, with easily accessible and workable catwalks for lighting the front of the stage which are positioned out over the audience. The church has a sophisticated sound system, and all primary singers and performers are given portable, body worn wireless mics to wear. The latest pieces of performance equipment added to their technical inventory is a full-stage rear projection screen, lit by a theater type professional level projector, that is operated by a remote computer in the control booth area located in the balcony of the sanctuary.

Presented by West Bowles Community Church, Littleton, Colorado
Christmas Production Producer & Music Director: Steven Burns
Stage Direction & Choreography: Jo Speidel
Technical Director & Media: Specialist: Jon Burns, jburns@westbowles.com
Scenic & Projection Design: Kent Homchick, kent.homchick@ucdenver.edu; http://kang.machighway.com/~homchick/Portfolio/index.html
WBCC Pastor: Nathan Harrison