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Zion Lutheran Church hosts annual live Nativity ‘A time of joy’
YOUNGSTOWN
Zion Lutheran Church’s annual live Nativity show, now in its 39th year, is a Cornersburg holiday tradition, parishioners said.
More than 100 people took in the first of four showings Sunday evening at the church, though many don’t regularly attend the church, said Stephanie Chizmar, the church’s choir director.
“What I love about the event is that it’s something that brings our whole community together,” she said over a bowl of hot soup and a sandwich, which parishioners served after each show. “It’s pretty much a staple in the Cornersburg community – something that everybody looks forward to at Christmastime. It always puts us in the spirit of Christmas.”
Chizmar’s 7-year-old daughter Abigail played one of many angels in Sunday’s show, as has Chizmar in previous years. Abigail said she enjoyed participating because it’s something she can do with her mom.
The show itself, conceived as a community outreach event, has evolved from a solemn pantomime set to music and performed only by adult players to include children as shepherds and angels and even several critters often seen in nativity imagery, such as camels, goats and an ox, said Tom Gent.
On Sunday, the donkey’s braying joined the pre-recorded church choir and the ox stole away from its handlers for a bit more limelight and another graze at hay bale props – all part of the fun, parishioners said.
“A long time ago, we had a camel run down Canfield Road – that was a bad thing,” Gent chuckled. “It’s a good time – a good way to spread some Christmas cheer and remember the true reason of the season.”
Gent is the show’s 12-year director and one of the its first players 39 years ago. On the dark Sunday evening, he worked a spotlight that opened the show on a Star of Bethlehem beaming brightly next to the cross on the church’s side.
Brice Harris, who played Joseph the father of Jesus, and 16-year-old Rachael Lanham, who played Mary of Nazareth, huddled with a doll representing baby Jesus in the church’s wooden stable set, which was rebuilt a few years ago after the original stage rotted out, Gent said.
Two casts alternated for each 18-minute performance every half-hour. They all worked “really hard” to coordinate the show and run dress rehearsals Saturday night, said Lanham, who joined the show this year and is already looking forward to next year’s production.
“I think this story is important. … It shows that there is hope in a world that – especially right now – seems really dark, with all that’s happened,” she said. “It’s just that one time of year that everyone can look at the light that shines in the world. It’s just a time of joy and just pure happiness for everyone.”