The History of "An Evening In December"
    written by John R. Plastow - Director/Producer

In the spring of 1992 First Covenant Church began preparations for the first "An Evening In December" which was designed as a family Christmas event giving church members an opportunity to invite friends, family and co-workers to hear the true meaning of Christmas in an entertaining and non-threatening manner at Christmastime. In the five years preceding it, the church had begun to do theatrical presentations with original scripts, but, with the adoption of a totally new approach, First Covenant Church began what is now called "a new Sacramento Christmas tradition" by the local media.

The original presentation was performed by a cast of 37 adults, 17 youth, 20 children, and a handful of actors. The show began in a completely secular manner in a revue format, and then turned a gospel corner and told a low-key nativity story. Over 1,600 attended the free event (a record for First Covenant Church for an event of any kind), and that year's presentation had no specific spiritual theme-other than the Christmas story, of course!

As I first began to explain to the adult choir what we were about to do, several things happened that forever changed the dynamics of the First Covenant Church choir. Up to that point, the choir had been very traditional. Robes were worn, books were held, and music was seldom memorized. Choreography had existed only to the extent of an occasional hand lift at the end of an individual, memorized song. With the birth of "An Evening In December," we began to dance!

Adults, children, and youth choirs all began to have as much rehearsal for the visual elements of the show, i.e. choreography, as they did the music. Some members of the choir decided that it was too much, but others loved it. As we began to do more and more, the momentum built and we attracted new members who wanted to do more than "the church choir" thing. Today, many members of the adult choir complain if their choreography is too easy!

"An Evening In December" 1993 was similar to 1992's version in both style and format, but had a somewhat larger cast. A pre-show dessert was added, as well as a ticket price of $2, primarily for crowd control purposes. Over 2700 attended the program (another record attendance), and the church began to hear this testimony in its new member classes: "I came to First Covenant Church because of 'An Evening In December.'"

Significant changes were made to the style and presentational format in 1994. The program became a start-to-finish musical theatre presentation in which the show was entirely thematic, including style, time period, etc. The cast continued to grow in size and expertise. 3,600 people attended in 1994.

In 1995, the "An Evening In December" production became a citywide event and a new regional tradition as we saw the program attract its first real media attention with a feature article in the Sacramento Bee. Now the community was beginning to call ahead to get tickets and making it a yearly family tradition. A living nativity processional was included for the first time. Over 4,200 saw the show.

With five years of experience, the 1996 show now began to really develop the art and presentational standards of excellence. Dance teams took a major role in the show for the first time and over 5000 attended the production over two weekends. Record breaking attendance had now become a normal occurrence, one that continues to this day.

In 1997, the cast did eleven performances of "An Evening In December" for a total of 6200 in the audience. Over 150 people were in the cast, and all shows sold out quickly. It was now firmly an event that everyone at First Covenant Church was involved with in some way or other.

The spring of 1998 brought a pivotal moment in the history of "An Evening In December" as the decision was made to move the show off campus in order to reach more people in the community. More space was needed for the program, but more importantly, a safe, neutral location was desired so that non-church-goers would come see the program more readily. The largest theatre in town was Memorial Auditorium, which seated 3,800.

1998 was our first year at Memorial, where now, it's an annual regional event. A lot of credibility had to be built with the city, the union, etc. from the very beginning. 7,600 people attended our three performances on Wednesday through Friday night-not even a weekend!

To our delight, in 1999, the convention center put us on the front page of their subscriber newsletter which talks about upcoming events, so 100,000 homes received the city's endorsement of the program for families at Christmastime. It was the first time which we broke 10,000 in attendance! The show that year was dealing with the issue of trust, which became very personal for me as we were blessed with a surprise baby who was born eight days before opening night.

"An Evening In December" rolled on with the 2000 production. Over 12,000 attended this new city tradition, which now has a cast of 200.

In 2001, we just barely missed breaking 15,000 in attendance. The ministry continued to be a hit with our congregation and community and in 2002 we broke through another barrier as over 16,000 people came to see the program. This particular year, we hired a scenic consultant for the first time and utilized the theatre's scenic fly system in a much more effective manner.

2003's comic spy spoof was a real hit with the audience, and nearly 17,000 attended. Also this year, we saw an increase of response from local community leaders as well as many new faces in the cast and crews.

The 2004 production had a very significant fact attached to it in that it was the seventh year at Memorial Auditorium. That meant that the presentation had been held off-site longer than in the church facility and two-thirds of our audience never knew this as a "church event."

The 2005 presentation was just as popular with the community as we presented a light hearted program titled "The Birthday party" and in 2006 we made a major change to An Evening in December as we brought the program home to our campus on Highway 50. This move allowed us to bring a great level of intimacy to the program as we were in a smaller house which allowed the audience to experience the program up close and personal. The program sold out ten performances over two weekends and was a big hit. Young and old alike enjoyed the program "Nobody's Perfect" which featured living toys in a delightful and touching story.

The future of the "An Evening In December" phenomenon is bright and full of potential. Only God knows how many will attend and ultimately be touched by the true meaning of Christmas, but the many levels of ministry that take place to cast, crew, staff, city officials, audience, and even stagehands make the effort, sacrifice, emotion and resources invested well worth it. It will be a glorious day when each of us who is involved in "An Evening In December" stand before our Lord and hear the words "Well done," and perhaps, just maybe, "Well done and Merry Christmas!"