Even Dorothy would head back to Kansas to be in an indie movie as good as the festive mockumentary Community Theater Christmas, directed by Melissa Vitello from a script by Vitello and Bryan Ricke. Deep in the heartland, a small community theater is struggling to stay open. Lacey (Elizabeth Mae Alan) is the manager of the Little Stage theater in Fort Scott, Kansas. She is stressed because she is taking over directing the big Christmas show this year, after her overbearing mother, Susan (Koni McCurdy), who owns the theater, reluctantly handed over the reins. The theatre’s only chance is a state arts grant that could provide enough funding to keep the doors open. The arts council board member judging for grant approval is Catherine (Isa Beall Quella), who will be in the audience for the show, judging the production against the criteria for funding. It doesn’t help that the show’s agonized playwright, Lloyd (Carl Garcia), keeps doing re-rewrites that he is giving the actors to learn the morning of the show.
He got his girlfriend, Angelica (Annie Truex), into the show; she acts kind of strange sometimes. Diva Karen (Ashley Gianni), playing a background angel, butts heads with fellow angel Olivia (Veronica Wylie) onstage. Chloe (Adrienne Rose White) keeps having to wear a beard because there aren’t enough male actors in Fort Scott for the roles, or at least that is what she keeps being told. The local bombshell Sage (Sid Noelle) has brought in her boyfriend, rising rapper JoJay (Venmc), to play a hip hop Christmas tree. Former big-time star, Hunter (Adam Weber), keeps trying not to outshine the amateurs too much.
“…if this Christmas musical isn’t dynamite then it is curtains for the Little Stage.”
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings is the eager understudy, Amy (Marissa Pistone), ready to jump in if someone can’t go on. Plus, Lacey’s boyfriend, Keith (Dan Pena), is planning to pop the question to her that day. Too bad that Lacey is so non-stop busy with all the holiday calamity that Keith can’t ever seem to get his ring out. They all need to get it together because if this Christmas musical isn’t dynamite, then it is curtains for the Little Stage.
Yes, Virginia, Community Theater Christmas is a tinsel-covered variation on the Waiting For Guffman concept, right down to the Middle America local theatrical brass tacks. What a great idea on Vitello and Ricke’s part, as the addition of holiday rom-com mechanics complements the stage satire perfectly. The ever-dependable Christmas movie formula adds candy cane-striped momentum to the storyline with the romantic tension, as well as the high stakes of the risk of the theater closing. This allows the interviews and backstage footage to dig deep into their satirical targets, which anyone with any theater experience will instantly recognize. During the twelve years that I was doing live theater regularly, I would constantly run into each and every one of the personality types you will see here.
"…as riveting as Die Hard and twice as Christmasy."
