Gift of Christmas

The Gift of Christmas is one of the largest Christmas pageants in the US, and is one of the top-rated Christmas-related events in the state of Texas. It takes place in the Worship Center of Prestonwood Baptist Church, in Plano, Texas. GOC is one of the two largest outreach efforts of Prestonwood, with the other being PowerPoint Ministries.

It usually has 500 persons, 70 pieces of orchestra and 100 behind-the-scenes technical crew members. [1] It is a two-act spectacle, that lasts for around two hours. Each year there are thirteen GOC performances, most of which sell out. There are about 70,000 guests who watch production every year. [2]

The two acts

  • The first act of The Gift of Christmasl is based on the pop-culture Christmas.
  • The second act covers the Nativity of Jesus
  • Flying angels, flying drummer boys, camels, donkeys, sheep and other live animals
  • Appearances by: Raggedy Ann dolls, Frosty, music box figurines, gingerbread men, dancing Christmas trees, reindeer, elves, Santa and Mrs Claus, and a real sleigh that flies 70 feet over the audience!
  • Tap-dancing, swing dancing, ballroom dancing, and ballet.
  • Live animals, horse-drawn carriages, as well as people on roller skates, bicycles and tricycles.
  • The audience has been sprinkled with confetti, surrounded by stars, and have even seen it snow!
  • The performance is enhanced with effects such as fog, lightning, thunderous earthquakes, and 6 angels that fly 70 feet (21 m) over the entire room.

On a large scale

There is an 85-foot-wide (26 m) proscenium arch, and about 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) of staging area. Although the location's capacity is normally 7,000 people, the expanded staging area for GOC is so large, it covers the first 1,000 seats. The theatrical lights paint the entire room, not just the stage. The auditorium was designed, from the beginning, to complement every aspect of speaker system. It was designed so that the very last row has the same level and quality of sound as the rest of the room. Sight-lines are unobstructed from every single seat. The entire stage can be seen even from the farthest seat, which is less than one-and-a-half times the width of the stage from the front.


References

  1. ↑ Megachurches put on a megaproductions for the Christmas Story, by the Associated Press Retrieved 23 July 2013
  2. ↑ Gloria, A Thousand Voices Sing Christmas Retrieved 23 July 2013
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