Testimonials

Ba Dum Dum - Good News

For many of us, the traditional Christmas Pageant is an annual icon, a simple pause in the hustle of December when make-shift costumes, roughly hammered staging, and a collection of willing volunteers come together to tell the story of Jesus’ birth. We depend on children of the church to show up as angels, sheep and shepherds, and on some of the more gifted adult choir members to carry the story with a few familiar songs. We also depend on the pageant to touch our hearts because the children are “so cute” and the adults sing right on cue with the narrative of a miracle we don’t completely understand, but love to hear.

Twenty years ago, the annual event of the Christmas Pageant took a new turn at our church. Our minister and director of music put themselves on week-end retreat with the goal of writing a new pageant; a story for our time. And that’s exactly what they did.

While the Nativity story remained in tact, they deepened it with human elements, beginning with the innkeeper, a stodgy, fearful soul who had no intention of opening his heart (let alone a room at the inn). The new pageant included conflict between the pious angels and the rowdy shepherds, the exasperation of the Magi, the prophetic voice of Isaiah and the compelling wisdom of the innkeeper’s child. There was original new music and the script became so inclusive in its narrative, most of us started seeing ourselves in the story of Jesus’ birth, not as observers but as participants. For our church, the Christmas story became accessible in a brand new way.

For twenty years, our new pageant, called The Innkeeper has been performed the Sunday before Christmas eve as a treasured part of our tradition. Not only have we parishioners seen ourselves as magi, shepherds, angels, sheep, the innkeeper, Isaiah, the angry neighbors or the innkeeper’s child - we have actually been them.

Children and adults have taken on many roles. And as our baby sheep, young angels and shepherds grew up and grew into new parts over time, we understood how each of us belongs inside every part of this iconic story of our faith.

Speaking personally, our own grandchildren now hold the birth of Jesus as a story that actually belongs to them. Not just at Christmas, but all the time. It was not unusual one day in July to find them popping up from behind the picnic table singing, Rejoice, Rejoice and Get Thee to the Mountain, or musing in September about who they’d like to be in the coming year’s pageant.

One year, our family was out of town on pageant week-end and the four of them took it upon themselves to wrap up in make-shift cloaks, head coverings and tin foil wings to enact the entire pageant for the grown ups, on their own.

Christmas was simply not coming, without The Innkeeper.

As people of the church, we’ve come to recognize how startling and personal this story can be as we’ve welcomed it into the culture of our community and our lives. Thanks to The Innkeeper, we have become nimble and willing enough to let what used to be a historical piece, a sweet Christmas comfort become a meaningful and even more joyful story for our time.

~ Mary Zeman

We produced The Innkeeper and it was wonderful!!! Thank you so much! The script was great, some laughter and some storytelling and some real deal things! I am grateful to you for sharing your talent so that others can hear the stories!

~Judi Wallace, Director of Children and Youth Ministries, First Congregational Church of Guilford, CT

The Innkeeper provides a congregation a thoughtful way into the story of Christmas with music that catches the ear and is singable long after. As a pastor, I found the script and the score provide depth for adults and mutiple entrance points for children. There are both light-hearted moments and tender spiritual moments. Furthermore, a few simple props and costumes do the trick, so it can easily be produced by any church for a memorable alternative to the traditional Christmas Pageant.

~ The Rev Susan Townsley, Former Associate Minister of Innovation, Leadership and Change, Southern New England Conference

I music-directed and accompanied a production of The Innkeeper and I can attest that this is a great pageant for any church to consider. Your children will get a lot out of it as there are roles for many different ages and levels. There is also room for adults as actors and as part of the ensemble/choir. The music is easy to perform yet quite meaningful. There is humor, there is some drama, there are poignant moments. I found myself deeply affected and drawn in by the combination of music and message.

There are moments where the choir gets to be out front singing and also there are solos for many individuals to shine. The score is user friendly and accessible. The piano part is not difficult and easily translates. The vocal parts are not hard to sing and should provide an easy opportunity to bring a lot of people together quickly and easily. The Innkeeper is easy to produce. I like the fact that the music is not at all simplistic, as many kids pageants tend to be. There is real substance here not only musically but dramatically. You will be blessed by this amazing production: it’s clever, it’s easy and it has depth.

~ Chris Coogan

Chris Coogan has played pop with Phoebe Snow, Donna Summers, Bette Middler and Darlene Love, broadway with Paul Newman, Jim Naughton and Kelli O’Hara and jazz with Randy Brecker, Sal Salvador, and with his own Chris Coogan Quartet. He music directs at churches, synagogues and with local theaters as well as leading the Good News Gospel Choir. He teaches the art of jazz improvisation to many students locally and at the University of Bridgeport.