New West Theatre’s December production has not only become part of  Lethbridge’s Christmas tradition, but it is also a    homecoming and a chance to catch up with lost cast members and old friends for the members of the Lethbridge theatre troupe.
New West Theatre will be lighting up The Yates Theatre with “Light It Up, Dec. 15-31.
“Light It Up Is a really delightful Christmas celebration with friends and family,” described director Nicholas Hanson.

The cast includes a lot of familiar faces like New West mainstays Scott Carpenter, Erica Hunt, Jessica Ens and vocal director Kathy Zaborsky plus relative newcomers like Jocelyn Haub, Devon Brayne and Jay Whitehead, who directed the two summer productions and Kyle Gruninger, who moved out to Vancouver to pursue a music career with his band Incura.

“ We’ve got some of the usual suspects. But we’re really excited about some of the ones who haven’t been around for a few years,” Hanson continued.
“ Kyle Gruninger performed with us in the early part of the decade, but he moved out west to pursue a very successful music career. So it’s great to have him home for the holidays to share his incredible rock star abilities,”  said  director Nicholas Hanson.

Gruninger is excited to share a stage again with old friends like Scott Carpenter and Erica Hunt.
“I’m singing ‘Don’t Stop Believing,’ by Journey with Erica (Hunt) and a John Denver medley and ‘Don’t Stop Me Now,’ by Queen. I’ll be doing a lot of other things and wearing ridiculous costumes,”  Gruninger noted, adding the last show he did with New West Theatre was back in 2006.

“ I got an opportunity to see some of my best friends in the world,” he said adding he jumped at the opportunity to get involved when Hanson called him up and asked him if he wanted to perform with them again.
 Coming back to New West is like returning home to the bosom of a long lost family.
“It was Erica’s birthday and there were balloons and cakes. Coming to rehearsal was like walking into a party. Of course you have to work at this party,” he continued. It has been a challenge.
“We’ve had to learn 20 songs, 20 dances and all of the comedy in about two weeks, so it has been a challenge. But there is a big support system,” he continued.

“ There are no barriers, you can bring anything to  the table, any joke, any song and it will be looked at. The first thing they asked me was ‘what do you want to sing,’” he enthused.

 The Sunrise Rotary club looks forward to bringing a little bit of Christmas cheer to  Lethbridge’s food banks, with their annual reading of  “ A Christmas Carol.”

 The fourth annual event at Southminster United Church, Dec. 9 has not only attracted more people every year (464 in 2010) but has also raised more money for each of the food banks ($5,699 in 2010.)
“It’s an unabashed extraction of money from people‘s pockets to give it to the food bank,” drolly deadpanned Richard Tamkin, a complete contrast to Ebenezer Scrooge, who he usually dresses up as during the event. He will be the MC this year.
Several local personalities and actors dress up as the characters from the Charles Dickens penned Christmas classic, and read the story.

This year the readers include Sheila Matson, George Mann, Jordanna Kohn, Kade Hogg  and Jeff Carlson.
 There will also be a variety of live music from Bridge Brass, Con Moto Choir directed by Patti Caven, Olivia Earl, David Elniski accompanied by Eleanor Lawson, Bill Laycock, Adam Mason and David Mikuliak with Sheldon Arvay


Tamkin was inspired to bring the idea to Lethbridge after being part of the CBC sponsored reading of a Christmas Carol, which brought a lot of famous voices together to read the story.
“I thought it would be a wonderful fundraiser for the food bank, so I introduced it to Lethbridge,” Tamkin said.

 Like the original CBC version, the live event was a huge hit in Lethbridge as well, earning $3,000 in the first, year in 2008, $4,275 the next year  and $5,699  last year, with more people coming out for it each year.

University of Lethbridge students are going to have fun with food, Nov. 22-26, when Movable Feast takes the stage in the David Spinks Theatre.
“I’ve been over to Africa a couple times. Half the world is obese while the other half is starving.

It’s very hard to make sense of that after seeing starving children in Somalia,” said director and editor Lisa Doolittle.

  She noted the students , inspired by  a variety of  food related projects happening at the University of Lethbridge campus, came up with the idea of doing a show around the concept of food and came up with a  20 minute production.

A year and several rewrites later edited by Doolittle, the production comes to the stage.

The 11 member cast including students and former students, combine acting, dance, singing and a variety of other activities on stage, which while designed to get people to think about  their food, is mostly designed to be fun for the whole family.

“We discovered one of the guys can do a  double back flip. So we’ve incorporated that into the show. And another can juggle. He’ll be juggling meat, ” she said.
The production is designed to entertain ages 10 and up, though there are some scary moments in the hour-long production.