"Holidays of Hope"
On the day before holiday vacation, the Caedmon Players, under the direction of Mr. Jeremy Davidson, added yet another original script, entitled “Holidays of Hope”, to their international holiday repertoire. The show set new boundaries by celebrating no less than six holiday traditions within a single story. Along with Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, and Buddhist New Years, the children were proud to share what they had learned about the Indian holiday of Diwali.
The story centered on Caedmon’s Upper Level class of 1969, portrayed by the Upper Level children of 2002, as they participated in their annual school assembly. Exhausted from having stayed up late the night before to attend a Motown concert at the Apollo Theater, the students keep falling asleep during the assembly. They dream of the various holidays as Motown hits such as: “The Kwanzaa-motion”, I Heard It From My Rabbi”, and “My Twirl”. The cast included a chorale of faculty members that joined the Nativity scene to sing “Under The Starlight” a la The Drifters. Early Program teacher Norma Nathanson graciously leant her acting talents to portray Mrs. Yvonne Kelly, the Caedmon Head of School in 1969.
Set in 1969 when the theme of peace so dominated American popular culture, the show seemed hauntingly apropos to the world of today. As Mrs. Kelly points out in the script:
“…whatever the holidays are celebrating, whether it’s the birth of a child, the birth of a new year, victory over our oppressors, or simply family and togetherness, they all have at least one thing in common: Hope! Hope that the future will be peaceful, prosperous, and full of happiness - no matter what country we live in, or what faith we hold in our hearts.
