K: I really loved when the British and German soldiers came together to pose for a photograph. A camera bulb flashed, flooding the group in bright light for just a split second, capturing the occasion in time. It was a simple yet powerful effect.

M: There’s another great lighting effect that comes in to enhance “Silent Night” … but I shouldn’t give it away.

Both the year and the theatrical season are winding down for a long winter’s nap, and the Timber Lake Playhouse’s final production of 2024 could not offer a more pleasant nightcap. Directed and choreographed by Marquez Stewart, and featuring some surprisingly effective audience participation, Winter Wonderettes is a wonderful dose of theatre to fully get you in the spirit of the season.

Everyone knows that Christmas is a time for peace on Earth and goodwill to men. Unless, of course, you’re an ever-opinionated but lovable first-grader who, in director Kiera Lynn's Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, is brought from page to stage, hilariously, by portrayer Natalie Scheers.

A 2017 Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner, as well as a work by the masterful composing team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Broadway's Anastasia enjoys a City Circle Theatre Company presentation at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts staging from December 6 through 15, the musical lauded by Time Out New York as "a sweeping adventure, romance, and historical epic whose fine craftsmanship will satisfy musical-theatre fans beyond the show's ideal audience of teenage girls."