Dance of the Carol by Jonathan Elmore

Dance Of The Carol

This is a play that I wrote. The artistic director for Playmakers Theater in Grove, Oklahoma is Suzanne Boles. She asked me if I had written a Christmas themed play. I told her that I hadn't and she said that it would be great if I could. Her exact words were, "...something that we can integrate some traditional Carol Dances." Toward the end of December, she had some free time in between the theater's major plays and a short Christmas play would be perfect to present. So I told her that I would get to work on it. It was the middle of June when we had this conversation. Do you know how difficult it is to think about Christmas in the middle of 100 degree weather? I dropped the A/C down as low as I could and I started writing. A few months later and a couple of ridiculous electric bills later, I had finished the first draft of the play. I spent the next month rereading and editing until I thought it was stage worthy. I sent the script to Suzanne and she developed the choreography for the dances. I wanted some talented actors to help me put this play on, so I started calling and messaging. I was lucky to have Sandy McCabe, Ron Riley, Amber Riley, Cyrus Crane, and Linda DuBois. The synopsis is the Royal Court composer, Darius, toils away on his music. His wife, Enid, supports him and checks his notations to make sure that his work is as good as he thinks it is. One day, Prince Gerard arrives at Darius and Enid's house. He is planning a huge Christmas gala and asked Darius to compose the finest piece of music he has ever written because he plans to propose marriage to his new love. (I actually wrote the play as a wedding celebration because that was the flow of the story that was unfolding in my head. After it was finished, I altered it to fit the Christmas theme. That's what took so long in the editing.) Darius, nervous from the task presented to him, has a few drinks and falls asleep. In his dreams, the music and the dances come together and he awakens with the inspiration to finish the piece. An addition to the script was a feast to follow the play. We brought out tables with cakes and snacks for the whole audience to enjoy. And a fun time was had by all. These are photos from rehearsals, the show, and the after party feast.