Christmas takes center stage at theater

Sandy Actors Theatre presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

By Garth Guibord

The Sandy Post, Nov 17, 2009, Updated Nov 17, 2009

Garth Guibord / Sandy Post

A group of churchwomen, from left, including Deann Fenster, Sophie Waltz, KariKai Beck, Nataly Garrett, Patricia Novotny and Kathy Strickland, chatter away on phones during a scene from “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

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Nataly Garrett, who grew up in Sandy and now lives in Gresham, is very familiar with the play “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” the latest production at the Sandy Actors Theatre. Ten years ago as a 7-year-old, she was in another production of the play at the theater, playing a baby angel.

Garrett will also be in the theater’s latest production of the play, opening Friday, Nov. 20.

The play, written by Barbara Robinson and based on a book of the same name, tells the story of the Herdmans family, with six children who are poorly behaved. When they go to church to enjoy snacks, the family is recruited into the church’s annual Christmas play.

Garrett, now cast as Mrs. Clausing, a lady in the church, has discovered more about the story than she did in her previous experience with the play, recognizing how the characters change in it. Garrett pointed to Imogene, a girl in the Herdmans family, as a prime example.

“She really grows into the Christmas story and in the end she’s a different person,” Garrett said.

The cast of the show includes 23 children ages 4 to 12 in addition to adults, as well as a new Christmas song written by the theater’s artistic director, Jim Wilhite. Beulah Russell, 10, from Boring, plays an angel in the production and sees it as a feel-good show for the holiday season.

“I like how for one, it’s funny, and two, it goes along and then at the end it’s all sweet and has the real meaning of Christmas,” said Russell, who also performed with the theater in its production of “Dirty Work at the Crossroads.”

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