Salmon Prairie Elementary School supervising teacher Holl Hubbard conducts the students as they sing holiday carols with the audience outside the school. From left are Marcus Kelly, Lucas Kelly, Mavis Harris, Stetson Hulett, Joe Harris and Cameron Lytle.
Salmon Prairie Elementary School students act out a scene from "Scrooge" where the main character Mr. Scissors goes with Christmas Past to one of his early Christmas memories. From left are Joe Harris, Stetson Hulett, Mavis Harris (front) and Cameron Lytle.
Salmon Prairie Elementary School students Lucas Kelly, Marcus Kelly and Cameron Lytle act out the opening scene of "Scrooge," a modern interpretation of "A Christmas Carol" written by the students.
SALMON PRAIRIE - Salmon Prairie Elementary School students braved the winter night as they acted out their modern reinterpretation of "A Christmas Carol" called "Scrooge" on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
Supervising teacher Holl Hubbard said he had the students perform the program outside to be in compliance with Lake County COVID regulations.
"We realized that with the students and myself, we would be at [capacity]," he said. "As far as the COVID ... this was completely out of the box. One of our board members just kind of mentioned something different than being inside and then it morphed into this."
To accommodate audience members, the school provided 15 fire pits and complimentary hot chocolate. Hubbard estimated there were around 50 audience members in attendance.
"To me, this was a very special Christmas program just because it was outside," Hubbard said. "I thought that was a huge show from the community. ... The community has not been able to have an event [like this recently] and these small events are what keeps Salmon Prairie a community."
Due to weather conditions the background was unable to be set up until just before the performance. The kids were not even able to practice in front of it beforehand. Hubbard added an extension onto the building's front porch to accommodate the stage layout.
Despite the sentimental experience of performing outside Hubbard said he is unsure if he would like to get into the habit of having performances outside because of the unpredictability of the weather.
This year's program was an entirely new experience for everyone involved because not only were they performing outside for the first time, but many of the students were new to the school this year.
"This is a whole new group of students," Hubbard said. "In the past, we always have those students that have been doing it year after year after year. That kind of trickles down to the younger students. So this group, this was all new to them. They didn't have a clue what they were walking out to."
Hubbard said the students worked on the play for the whole month of December. They picked a theme, turned it into a story and then painted the backdrop.
"I think this kind of a play gives them a lot of ownership where they really step up and do a lot more than they think they can do," he said. "They worked on it a lot."
In the week leading up to the event, the students spend half to three quarters of their class time dedicated to the production. In addition to the play, the students also got to choose what carols they would sing in-between scenes. This year's selection included "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
For Hubbard, the most challenging portion of the preparation process was scheduling the dedicated time appropriately while adapting to an outdoor environment. Another adaptation they made for the outdoor experience was adding personal microphones to the students. This made it so that those who wanted to remain in their cars with the windows down could do so.
"I'm just really proud of the kids," he said. "Some of the kids have never done anything like this. So this was a big stretch and jump outside of their bubble and they really stepped up and did a great job."
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