University Daily Kansan / Friday, December 9, 1988
Arts & Entertainment
7
Deck the Halls
Story by Grace Hobson/Illustration by Dave Eames
Every December, children don costumes and tune up their singing voices to magically become Wise Men, angels and other personages associated with this holiday season.
Pageants are annual highlights for school children and their parents throughout the country.
In Lawrence, adults are joining the festivities with similar holiday cheer. Musical programs abound on campus and in the community.
"We have more activities this year than we have ever had before," said Judy Billings, director of the convention and visitors bureau of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
Billings said that many of the activities were fast becoming traditions. The Chamber of Commerce hopes to continue to build the season into a frenzy of shopping and holiday activities, much like the Plaza
"Of course, the Plaza is more sophisticated for a large city, but Lawrence has its own appeal." Bill Dillon
Here's a listing of the highlights for the coming weeks:
Festival of Lights
The Jewish Community Center, 975 Highland, will hold a Festival of Lights at 7:45 tonight to commemorate the seventh night of Hannukah. Each peron's service is the service to be a memorial and candles to light.
Concerts
Vespers. The University Symphony Orchestra and all University choirs will combine to create holiday music at 3:30 p.m and 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Hoch Auditorium. Admission is free, but donations to the Vespers Scholarship Fund are appreciated.
The performance will open for the 64th time with the intro and processional. "Fantafar for Christmas Day" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" and will close with "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Ven, Veni, Emmanuel." University carillonneure Albert will begin each show with music on the piano.
The University Brass Band will play outside the auditorium, with carolers and the KU Saxophone Quartet performing inside before the concert
The Lawrence Chamber Player, and the Motel Singers perform a "Baroque Christmas" at 8 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont St. The show will include Christmas concerts by Corelli and Torelli and excerpts from Handel's "Messiah."
KANU radio will sponsor the Goodtime Radio Revue, a live radio broadcast featuring two hours of holiday music and dramatic sketches, which will be held at 8 m. Dec. 17 in Liberty Hall
Theatre
"Amahl and the Night Visitors," a play by Gian Carlo Menotti and directed by Jack B. Wright will be performed at 8 p.m. Dec. 16 and 17 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 18 in Cratton-Prevue Theater.
The play was first performed last year, and is now a campus holiday tradition. Wright, professor of theater and film, also directed the play last year. The story is about a young crippled boy encountering the Three Wise Men and miracles on the eve of Christ's birth.
Tickets are on sale at Murphy Hall box office, and
are $8 for the public, $4 for children and $7 for senior
citizens
■ "A Christmas Carol," directed by Rie Averill, a Seem-to-Be Players community production, performed at 7:30 tonight and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St.
The play is Averil's adaptation of Dickens' novel by the same name. The production was done last fall.
Tickets, which cost $6 for adults and $4 for children, are available in advance at Liberty Hall or at the
Artwork
The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art will sponsor the "Prespiro," an 18th-century manger scene crafted by Neopolitas. The Prespiro, which is an Italian word for manger, shows the body family of a chimpanzee in wooden dolls. A Christmas tree will also be on view. The Prespiro has been an annual exhibit since about 1926.
The exhibit runs from tomorrow until Jan. 8 and is free to the public. The museum will be closed on Dec. 20.
Downtown Lawrence
■ The Downtown Lawrence Association is sponsoring the downtown's lights and decorations, as well as
other community events.
Santa Claus will be available to visit with children from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 18 at the Sews House, Ninth and Massachusetts streets. He will also visit with downtown shoppers from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday evenings and from 10 a.m. to noon Saturrals, also
Sleigh rides will be given downtown at 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. through Dec. 22 beginning at Ninth and Massachusetts streets. Tickets are $10 a ride and can be obtained when boarding the carriage. About four adults can ride at one time.
The Hillecrest Elementary Choir will perform carols at 2 p.m. Sunday at Ninth and Massachusetts streets for the public. The West and South Junior Choir will perform at 2 p.m. December 18 at Ninth and Massachusetts streets.
The Old West Lawrence Association and the Lawrence Preservation Alliance will jointly sponsor "A Holiday Tour of Historic Homes," from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Homes between the 700 and 800 blocks of Louisiana and Indiana streets and one home at Seventh and Tennessee streets will be adorned with holiday decorations by area businesses for the tours.
One of the homes was once owned by KU basketball legend Phog Allen and will be decorated with KU paraphernalia. Each home will be heralded by an outside banner.
Refreshments will be served at the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts St. during the tours.
Tickets cost $8 in advance through area businesses and $10 at the door of any home on the tour. The Union Pacific Depot project and the Old West Lawrence restoration project will share the profits.
- The American Association of University Women will sponsor "Gifts to the Chocolate Magi," a chocolate party to raise money for women's scholarships, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence
Members of the club will supply the chocolate
goodies for the guests to sample. Tickets are $5 at the