Christmas in South Carolina, Part 2:
I know the first installment purported to catch you all up on my first few days here in SC, but the truth is that there was one more event -- on Friday evening -- that iced the cake. I recalled, after the shock of learning we had a theatrical event to attend that evening, that mom had asked me if I'd like to see a performance by the Edgefield Community Theater of a play called "Christmas Belles".
What harm could there be in that, right? And the ultimate answer is that there was no harm at all. It was a story about a group of sisters -- the Futrelle sisters of somewhere in Texas -- and how one of them had stolen the role of director of the Christmas pageant from the woman who had done the previous 27 pageants. The new director had one of the town's worst reputations and thought that doing the pageant for the Baptist Church would be her ticket to an elevated respectability, of sorts. Well, I won't bore you with more details about the plot. Suffice it to say the play is peppered with characters named Rhonda Lynn and Ginny Jo and Gina May, and other southernistic combinations of names. A frustrated pastor wants to propose to one of the Futrelles. The husband of one of the Futrelles is the town Santa and runs around in a foul-smelling Santa suit and often falls to the ground in pain because he's passing a kidney stone. There is a lot of silliness and exaggerated mannerisms because, after all, it's all set in Texas.
If any of you remember a TV show called "Evening Shade" that starred Burt Reynolds, you'll remember there was a character in that show who rode around town in his little wagon. The character was named Nub. Well, there was a Nub-like character in this one named Renard. He just "loves Christmas". And corn dogs.
So...it was two hours of some good acting, some bad acting and high-pitched line deliveries and women tossing hissy fits around like they were flinging tinsel on the town Christmas tree. It was not what I expected, exactly, but in some ways more than I expected. It was not well-directed, but there was some wonderful character development among the cast...they "knew" the people they were playing and "occasionally" brought some nuance and subtlety toward their creations of same.
Yesterday was low-key. The highlight of my day was an afternoon playing Skip-Bo with my mom and my Aunt Doris. My aunt won three hands, my mom won two and I took the last hand.
This morning is church. The First Baptist Church of Johnston is having its annual Christmas Cantata this morning. Tonight is their annual Christmas gathering for the children. I'm supposing I'll go tonight, but I'm definitely taking in the Cantata.
