{"id":31264,"date":"2017-12-04T14:06:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T19:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=31264"},"modified":"2017-12-04T14:34:01","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T19:34:01","slug":"the-littlest-wiseman-the-100-year-old-holiday-tradition-returns-for-57th-consecutive-annual-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/the-littlest-wiseman-the-100-year-old-holiday-tradition-returns-for-57th-consecutive-annual-run\/","title":{"rendered":"The Littlest Wiseman – The 100-year-old Holiday Tradition Returns for 57th Consecutive Annual Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 4, 2017 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Fort Worth production of The Littlest Wiseman<\/a> started as a modest junior high school play about the humble birth of Jesus. Now in its 57th consecutive annual run, the play has evolved into an elaborate production that is one of Fort Worth\u2019s longest-running Christmas season entertainment events.<\/p>\n

\"The
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very simple heartfelt story set against amazing visuals and stunning scenery,\u201d said Assistant Director Suzi McLaughlin, a 44-year veteran of the production who was director for 17 years.<\/p>\n

But the production wasn\u2019t always so elaborate as it is now, a cast member of the early years said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe play was a lot simpler \u2013 \u2018pretty much bare bones\u2019 – during the first years when The Littlest Wiseman<\/a> was staged at McLean Junior High School,\u201d said Lloyd Walsh. \u201cIt was short and simple and didn\u2019t have singing and dancing. It was just a simple junior high play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walsh\u2019s parents, the late F. Howard and Mary D. Walsh, first saw the play in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Littlest Wiseman<\/a> was written by the Walsh\u2019s longtime friend, the late Dr. Lloyd Shaw, superintendent of Cheyenne Mountain School District in Colorado where the play was staged for many years beginning in 1917. Shaw included poetry written by his wife, the late Dorothy Stott Shaw, throughout the script.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents were very close with the Shaws,\u201d Walsh said, and they thought the play \u2018was so special\u2019 that \u201cthey wanted a Christmas pageant here [in Fort Worth] to give as many people as possible exposure to the story of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The late Joe Cleveland, music teacher at McLean, produced and directed the initial Fort Worth production. It was his idea to add a bell choir to the school\u2019s music curriculum and to include the bells in a carol service before play performances. The Walshes agreed and purchased a set of bells for the school. Lloyd Walsh was among the original members of the bell choir, which was formed in 1964 and first participated in \u201cThe Littlest Wiseman<\/a>\u201d that year. In honor of their friend, the Walshes named the group The Dorothy Shaw Bell Choir<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1966, the production moved from McLean to the newly opened Scott Theatre. The move offered opportunities for the production to expand and add more elaborate staging,\u201d said Walsh.<\/p>\n

A grant from the Walsh Foundation funds all aspects of the production, which is truly a gift to the community because every seat at every performance is free.<\/p>\n

Reserved tickets are still available for each of the remaining nine 2017 performances.<\/strong>
\nDecember 2 – 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
\nDecember 3 – 3 p.m.
\nDecember 5 thru 8 – 7:30 p.m.
\nDecember 9 and 10 – 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Performances are in the Fort Worth Cultural District at the William Edrington Scott Theatre located within the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, 1300 Gendy St., Fort Worth, TX 76107.<\/p>\n

Tickets may be reserved at\u00a0http:\/\/www.thelittlestwiseman.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn more about The Dorothy Shaw Bell Choir at: http:\/\/www.dorothyshawbellchoir.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

MEDIA CONTACT:<\/strong>
\nScott Meneely
\ninfo@thelittlestwiseman.org
\n817-924-3640.<\/p>\n

MULTIMEDIA:<\/strong>
\nAudio file (mp3): http:\/\/www.thelittlestwiseman.org\/Content\/Downloads\/track01.mp3<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 4, 2017 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Fort Worth production of The Littlest Wiseman started as a modest junior high school play about the humble birth of Jesus. Now in its 57th consecutive annual run, the play has evolved into an elaborate production that is one of Fort Worth’s longest-running Christmas season entertainment events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7152,"featured_media":31260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[406,544,37,134,660,237,55],"tags":[8284,657],"class_list":["post-31264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts-news","category-dallas-news","category-entertainment-news","category-general-editorial-news","category-holidays-news","category-live-theatre-news","category-texas-news","tag-dorothy-shaw-bell-choir","tag-the-walsh-foundation","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":9585,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}