Stage is Set in Iroquois Falls - Students Prepare For Christmas Musical

Rehearsals for the musical, "When Christmas Crossed the Peace" are in full swing. Students at Iroquois Falls Secondary School have been working hard for the past month in preparation for this year’s production. Auditions for the main parts and the chorus took place in early October. The choir will be composed of students at Iroquois Falls Public School and Joseph H. Kennedy Public School, along with the musical additions of the Iroquois Falls Cadets. The play was written by teacher Barb Cornthwaite and is based on the novel of the same name, by Nellie McClung. "When I read the book the characters jumped out of the pages. I knew right away that it would make a great musical," says Cornthwaite. The novel tells the intertwining stories of Nurse Bess Downey and RCMP officer Woods, and their troubles with bootleggers in Peace River, Alberta during the Prohibition period of the early 1920s. Christmas has never happened for the women and children of the area, and Nurse Downey and Sergeant Woods are determined that this will be the year Christmas crosses Peace River.

This is not Mrs. Cornthwaite's first production. She wrote and directed the musical “The Last Frontier” for the 100th anniversary of Matheson and Iroquois Falls two years ago. Costumes are being designed and created by Summer Turner, with alterations and specialty sewing by Louise Forget. Mr. Gauthier's woodworking class is creating the many different props required.

The show will be staged in Iroquois Falls on December 3rd to 5th, with a possible second showing in Matheson December 12th.

[caption id="attachment_22444" align="aligncenter" width="448"] From left to right: Morgan Pepin, Kaitlin Park, Haley Gelinas, Daniel Cornthwaite (alumnus), Summer Turner, Abbbie Mauno[/caption]