NGU Skyliner

Kyra Alexander
Staff Writer

Photo by Elizabeth Wood

Every family has its own traditions, but for the Sanders family, we get to experience it.

A Sanders Family Christmas was held Nov. 20-21 and Dec. 1 at North Greenville University.

Sitting in the audience, people become a member of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. The entire play is about the Sanders family’s last Christmas singing as a family before World War II starts.

The play is set in the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in 1941. The Sanders’ family consists of Burl Sanders, played by Andy Stevens, mass communications professor; Vera Sanders, played by Lindsey Furrow, sophomore theatre; June Sanders, played by Bethany Serezan, senior theatre; Dennis Sanders, played by Thomas Sieberhagen, freshman theatre; Denise Sanders, played by Angie Toole, senior theatre; and Stanley Sanders, played by Dr. Dale Savidge, professor, theatre chair and also director of A Sanders Family Christmas. The play also includes the pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, the Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe, played by Kyle Stelling, junior; and the Young Appalachian Musicians, made up of kids from the area.

Photo by Elizabeth Wood

This show is a performance made up of Christmas music sung and played by the cast. Each character arrives with his or her own story to tell.

Unlike most plays, A Sanders Family Christmas has no distinct plot line. Its focus is mainly on the personalities of the individual characters.

The music in this production is bluegrass combined with southern gospel. Mandolins, guitars, basses, violins, harmonicas, banjos, spoons, wash boards, hand bells, sleigh bells and even a mouth harp are among the peculiar assortment of instruments to bring this musical to life.

“The music made the story feel real and I really enjoyed the interaction with the audience,” Andrew Turner, junior theatre, said.

A special quartet makes an appearance at the church and is brought on stage to perform some songs. The quartet included Dr. Steve Crouse and Dr. Jimmy Epting.

Next semester the theatre department will be putting on Pilgrim’s Progress and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 11

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.