Eighth annual Christmas at PC performance asks ‘How Far to Bethlehem’

Nov. 9, 2006

Presbyterian College's annual Christmas at PC festival of music, dance, and drama will focus on the majesty, power, love, and simple elegance of the birth of Christ, as this year the college presents "How Far to Bethlehem."

"How Far to Bethlehem" will usher in the Christmas season with performances at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, in the college's Belk Auditorium.

Nearly 120 students work throughout the fall each year to prepare and produce the annual Christmas at PC event. Since 1999, the Department of Music and the Department of Theatre and Dance have worked closely to develop programs that include singing, orchestral music, handbells, dance, drama, and beautiful sets.

According to professor of music Dr. Porter Stokes - who first developed the Christmas at PC program with professor of theater arts Lesley Preston and the late Dr. Orval Oleson - the theme of this year's program was borrowed from a Christmas program written by Frances Chesterton, wife of British writer G.K. Chesterton:

How far is it to Bethlehem? Not very far?
Shall we find a stable room, lit by a star?
Can we see the little Child, is he within?
If we lift the wooden latch, may we go in?
May we stroke the creatures there, ox, ass, and sheep!
May we peep like them and see Jesus asleep?

Although the very basic premise - a grand Christmas celebration - remains at the center of this year's Christmas at PC, Stokes said he and his colleagues in the fine arts continue to find new ways of expressing traditional themes.

 "Our challenge now in the eighth year of the program is to keep the program new," said Stokes. "When you've done something like this as much as we have, it's easy to settle into a routine and just do the same thing over and over. We all realize there is no reason for anyone to return if you’re simply going to revise and rework the same things you did a few years ago."

Thus, each year's new production - and this year’s in particular - involves a complete re-thinking, from where people stand and what music is sung to the look of the set itself.

"Every year, we're trying to come up with new ways of being vibrant and creative," Stokes said. "... You might think that after eight years, you're pretty much done, but Western sacred music is so rich and Christmas music carries so many memories that you want to revisit some of those songs while also bringing in new tunes."

One of the added nuances to this year's performance, for example, is a section in the middle of the program featuring sacred folk songs - hymns and spirituals - with traditional folk instruments.

Stokes said audiences will especially enjoy the work of a talented group of students, many of whom have performed live while the Christmas at PC program was being recorded - for a musical CD in 2004 and last year's performance broadcast on South Carolina Educational Television. Planners and participants, said Stokes, have learned a great deal from both experiences and those lessons have mirrored the evolution of Christmas at PC and the college’s music program, as well.

Christmas at PC not only represents the latest steps in that evolution but also - and more importantly - the mission of Presbyterian College, he said.

"As a faith-based institution that has direct ties to the church, I believe that there ought to be products by the department of music that reflect that faith-based church relationship," Stokes said.

Audiences throughout Laurens County and the state are invited to discover just that through a unique musical and dramatic performance.

Reserve seat tickets to "How Far to Bethlehem," are $10 each and are available at PC's fine arts box office in the Harper Center or by calling 864-833-8317 from 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Read more about PC's Music department