Alex Robinson from Capital Area Christian Church in Mechanicsburg and Etters, PA brings us this Bethlehem casino look.
Their Christmas series, “What Happened in Bethlehem…” was a play on “What happens in Vegas…” They wanted the stage design to suggest Bethlehem and Vegas, so they focused on palms, stars, and strip lights.
They created a Coroplast wall village backdrop to add another layer to the scene and take advantage of the depth of their stage. It was reinforced with strips of wood trim on the taller towers. But the whole thing was hanging with black wire from the fly space above the stage. The uplit it with LED bars.
The star curtain backdrop was borrowed from another church. The palm trees were borrowed from a family in the church. The rope lights were purchased from Lowes. They had a vegas-style sign hanging in the lobby with the series logo on it and created palm trees with trunks out of burlap and fabric palms on wire coming out of the wall.
They also adapted the design for their smaller campus. The smaller campus used some pre-lit palm/Christmas trees they found at Lowe’s for about $50 each. Instead of a star curtain at the smaller campus, they used hanging light bulbs. The budget for the designs at both campuses was around $500 total because they were able to re-purpose some materials (hanging bulbs, Coroplast wall, etc.) and because they borrowed the star curtain from another church.
Great idea! Love the mashup of Las Vegas theme and Christmas!