For me, Christmas this year started in March. I know. I am one of those people who does not decorate until AFTER Thanksgiving. But there I was being tasked with creating a new show for our evening programs at Christmas. And I was excited! I love the holiday season in Colonial Williamsburg; the history that the town holds around this season is fantastic. So after months of hard work, from many departments, allow me to introduce to you a brand new, exciting evening program, ‘Tis the Season: An Un-Colonial Christmas.
Queen Victoria and Family. The Christmas tree became popular worldwide during the early part of the 19th century.
‘Tis the Season will take you and yours on a tour of an Un-Colonial Williamsburg during the Christmas season. It will give you a taste of life in town after the hey-day of the 18th century. One of the things I love so much about our town is that the history here didn’t end with the capital moving to Richmond. The rich tapestry that happens after 1781 is one that has always fascinated me. In creating this program I wanted to bring some new stories to life and give a different angle on some that are already known. Linked together by music you will get to experience snapshots of three key times in the town’s history ranging from the early 19th to 20th century. You will be eavesdropping on a Christmas party! Considering with Williamsburg inhabitants new hardships and hopes. Experiencing a world at war, and the total changes happening during the 1930s and 1940s in our little town.
The Cast rehearsing. We often have some 18th and 21st-century attire overlap due to work schedules.
Many of you may be familiar with a program that has been running in Colonial Williamsburg for years; Christmastide at Home. It was a program near and dear to my heart, having been in it for ten years. ‘Tis the Season will follow the same format, as your group of time travelers will walk from spot to spot and watch the stories of town unfold. Please keep that in mind if you wish to join us, that there will be walking, and doing so you will be exposed to whatever elements our lovely tidewater weather wishes to bestow that day.
I mentioned earlier the hard work from many departments. It takes a lot of people to make a program like this work. The amazing team at our Costume Design Center has been working hard to produce outfits for our actors that will fit perfectly in the time periods, which are a little outside the usual here. The Wig Shop has also been helping. Apprentice Sara Palmer has made beautiful hairpieces for some of our actresses. Folks from collections, buildings and more are all working together to make sure the rooms that are going to house our scenes are well equipped. Everyone involved has poured much skill and care into their work. I am very grateful to be a part of such a great team.
1860’s hairpiece made by Wigmaker apprentice Sara Palmer.
Speaking of a great team, the actors and the leaders who you will be seeing are among the best in CW, they bring to life the amazing stories that our town has to offer.
I call this…1940’s cast in a dance break.
Finally, the Cast of ‘Tis the Season and myself, have dedicated this years run to a very dear friend to us all that we lost this year. John Hamant’s legacy in evening programs will be carried on. Thank you, John.
I hope you decide to come, see the show, make new family traditions and enjoy ‘Tis the Season: An Un-Colonial Christmas as much as I do.
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Thrice Huzzah! I need to reply here to tell you how we loved this program. We were able to get into the tour on Christmas evening. It was a very cold night, but there was still a large and eager turnout for this and other programs in town. We had Michelle Smith as our guide for the tour. She was absolutely spot-on in setting the scenes for our entrances, and even in adding wonderful little extra tidbits that certainty left everyone with more interest in CW than before we started.
The players were all stunning in so many ways, that I can only begin to explain what we loved here. The scenes were well designed so that the group entered into a small world already active every time. The connections to Williamsburg’s history as well as to the portrayed issues of the time were richly done and easy to understand. Perhaps the best part of each scene was the attention to detail, including the continuation of the activity as the group left, which left us with the feeling that it would carry on after we were gone.
Again, this was a wonderful program. It left me hungry for more. I personally cannot wait to see what next season will bring. Thanks!
Thank you for having a blog. I really miss reading the daily news. There’s always something to learn about CW and our past. Merry Christmas.
So glad that the blog seems to have returned a bit. For many weeks, it remained “silent.” I had mentioned to someone new on the transition team, way back in September, that keeping up with the social media was absolutely needed during this time of change. I again mentioned this when we returned for a visit this past week. “No staff” was the answer. I hope staff can soon be allocated to continue the blog. It was/is a eye into Williamsburg that we who use the website have missed.
I will be making my annual trip to the colonial city this Saturday. I am so excited! I would love to see this! I hope I have enough time to see it for myself. Being in Williamsburg for the holidays is always so wonderful!
Looks to be a VERY nice program. My wife and I will not be able to get to Williamsburg for a while, We had hoped to be there in December. We have been visiting two or three times a year for some time. But in August she was injured in a car accident when hit head on by someone drinking and driving. In the weeks after the accident we speculated on when we could next get to Williamsburg. Its our very favorite place to go. We first thought the end of October, then November, then December. But we had no real idea on the length of time to recover. It will be some time next year is the best we can say now.
The desire to get back to CW is one of our biggest motivators as she goes through physical therapy three times a week and deals with all the other things that are not the same as they were before the accident.
For us it is helpful to keep up with the goings on. There is some bitter sweetness that goes with seeing things we won’t get to see any time soon on line, but its overall better to read blogs, visit the CW facebook page, look at the web cams and picture what it would be like right now.
This un-colonial Christmas program I definitely one we would like to join in on. Maybe next Christmas.
Have fun with it!