Each year, churches large and small stage Christmas dramas, plays and musicals like this one to unite their people in common purpose, have a little fun or get non-churchgoers in the door, ideally for good.<\/p>\n
This year, fallout from the nation’s battered economy has brought added drama.<\/p>\n
Some amateur Marys, Josephs and Bob Cratchits are enduring their own hard times. For them, the stage provides escape into someone else’s skin, a support network that might have disappeared along with a job, and a chance to deepen their spirituality at a trying time of year. For many families in the audience, the performances are free entertainment when tickets to “The Nutcracker” are a luxury.<\/p>\n
All those things are true at Arvada Covenant Church, which staged the musical comedy “Bethlehem’s Big Night” last weekend after months of planning and practice.<\/p>\n
One innkeeper’s wife has a 9-month-old baby and can’t find work, but she chipped in making costumes and props. The understudy to Mary’s mother was laid off and her husband moved out of state to find work, but she was still backstage memorizing lines at the last rehearsal.<\/p>\n