Sister's Christmas Catechism

My future sister in-law Vanessa and I had our first visit to the Civic Center's Temple Theater tonight for Sister's Christmas Catechism. We were both excited for the show and even more so when we ended up getting a prime parking space right in front of the theater on this cold winter night. The theater itself is neat, situated on the top floor of a pretty building downtown it's a quaint little space that works well for an audience involved, intimate show such as this.

Originally, I thought this production would be like your "normal" piece of theater... a cast of actors performing their craft to an audience. But the second Sister walked into the theater I knew we were in for something quite different. Instead, the show was very interactive with the audience members acting as students in Sister's classroom. I personally grew up Catholic but never attended a Catholic school. Though I've heard several stories from my father and uncles about what exactly it was like to have nuns as school teachers. From what I've heard and saw in the show, Sister in this production pretty much fits the stereotypical mold of what I had expected. We all learned quickly that Sister ran a strict classroom where gum, candy and lutherans were frowned upon and if you did/were any of these things you would end up as the butt of one of her jokes.

After discussing various current events in a comedic manner that somehow ended up relating to Catholicism and God in one way or another... the production goes on to cast audience members to various roles in the nativity story. Once the cast was chosen, complete with ridiculous yet thrifty costumes, Sister directs the story of the birth of baby Jesus. However, unlike the traditional story we've all heard before this one does not end the same way... Sister is determined to uncover the mystery of what happened to the magi's gold. And thanks to the skills she acquired by watching several episodes of Forensic files she was able to find the culprit.

Overall the show was a great way to spend a Thursday evening. Though Vanessa and I were much younger than the average age of tonight's audience we were able to laugh along just as much as the older, and sometimes wiser, audience members around us. It's a fun production that again, appeals to all types of people and because it depends so much on the audience members no two performances would be the same. For this reason, I agree that it could easily become one of my "holiday traditions" and something I definitely would not mind seeing again.

Sister's Christmas Catechism - The Mystery of the Magi's Gold runs through December 13th at the Civic Center's Temple Theater. For more information on the show and to purchase tickets visit: http://www.civiccenter.org/events/sisters_christmas_catechism_217.php