Christmas cheer arrives early this year courtesy of Texas Shakespeare and the second annual ‘Festival of Trees.’
“We’re really trying to expand,” Texas Shakespeare Festival’s Karen Mobbs told Kilgore Rotary Club members last week.
She was excited to share some early holiday tidings with the civic club, extending an invitation to the upcoming tree-trimming fundraiser set the first week of November.
Mobbs credits Claudia Morgan Gray with the inspiration for last year’s first go: “It sounded more entertaining than a letter writing campaign,” she quipped.
The mixed auction/raffle fundraiser of decorated-and-donated trees, wreaths and table décor was a quick hit, helping the nonprofit Texas Shakespeare Festival Foundation raise additional funds for the company, which marked its 40th season this summer.
The 2024 Festival of Trees was a shoo-in for a follow-up: “For two days we invited the public to come through,” selling raffle tickets and taking bids in the Texan Theater. “It was a great deal of fun. We had some gorgeous items.”
There was only one slight drawback to Year One, Mobbs said.
“We were a bit late in the season. A lot of people were already done at home putting up their Christmas decorations.”
Hence, expanding this year’s event to three days, shifting it to November 6-8 and relocating to the Devall Student Center Ballroom at KC, more space for more activities.
“We have invited some very high-level artisans to come set up booths.”
While the bulk of the Festival of Trees is admission-free, there will be some special ticketed events for the second year, including a Preview Party Wednesday night, Nov. 5, before the event opens to the public Thursday through Saturday.
There will also be a ticketed ‘Teddy Bear Tea Party’ for families with youngsters. The organizers will draw from the TSF Company and supporters for special roles: “There is no end of talented people to come read Christmas holiday stories,” Mobbs told the Rotarians.
There’ll be special music during the run of the event, and the morning of Thursday, Nov. 6, is being set aside for a ‘Holiday Senior Stroll,’ a relaxed tour for older community members including residents of local assisted living facilities.
Learn more, register as an artisan or reserve tickets to ‘Festival of Trees’ special events at texasshakespeare.com/festival-of-trees.
Proceeds go to a great use, Mobbs told the Rotary Club, benefiting TSF in general and the Texas Shakespeare Festival Roadshow in particular.
“It is taking live theater into our public schools,” she explained, bringing back half-a-dozen summer season actors for an additional Shakespeare sampler for students: “They come back in at the end of September and start rehearsing a play called ‘Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits,’ which is really interactive and a lot of fun,” along with an abridged version of one of the Bard’s cornerstones like ‘Julius Caesar.’
The traveling company members take a van to select schools, quickly assemble a set, then open the curtain for their young audience.
“The students can ask questions and talk back,” Mobbs said. For many, it’s their first exposure to live theater and to Shakespeare. “That’s what we’re working for – getting it out to the students.”
In past years, the effort was subsidized by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, monies supporting theater in rural communities.
TSF applied for funding as usual this year, but the grants got axed in sweeping cuts nationwide – $75,000 gone.
Thanks to remaining funds, supporters and fundraisers like ‘Festival for the Trees,’ the Roadshow will still run for three weeks and visit five schools in 2025.
“We really want to do what we can with this Festival of Trees and other things,” Mobbs said. “If we’re in a similar situation next year, we want to make sure we can get the shows back in front of students who don’t get to see those things.”
The holiday event’s organizers are grateful for any donations of trees, whether full-size or four-foot tabletoppers as well as wreaths and other decorations. Financial donations are always appreciated – $500 helps and larger contributions go even further: “With the $10,000 you can send the Roadshow to a school of your choice,” Mobbs noted.
Either way, “Just come and enjoy, come and be part of it. Shop the vendors so we can get them back next year,” Mobbs told the Rotarians. “We just have to get more people through the door. Merry Christmas!”
