The Cloudcroft Light Opera Company presents the holiday melodrama, “Keep the Home Fires Burning.’ This is a chance to boo the villain, who is described as a “crabgrass on the lawn of life,” but more importantly root for the good girls.
Directed by Arlan Ponder and told with the dramatic aplomb that only CLOC actors can muster, curtains open this month for the melodrama at the Cloudcroft Middle School commons area. CLOC presentations are normally free, with donations accepted that are given out in scholarships. For this show, entrance to “Keep the Home Fires Burning” is just a few cans of food. What’s collected will be given to local organizations to provide to the less fortunate in our community.
The plot involves dastardly Whipley Skidmore, who is spending his Christmas Eve evicting innocent families behind in their mortgages. Until, that is, Santa Claus, his young assistant Carol, and the Ugly Old Hag show up in the, pardon the pun, Nick of time.
The cast list includes: Kathleen Crinklaw as Mother Kindlady, Kenzi Ponder as Mary, Jeremy Colbert as Will, and Michael Shinabery as Whipley Skidmore. The Ugly Old Hag is Scotty Courvoisier, Santa Claus is Zack Miller, with Hope Evans as his assistant Carol. Larry Evans is the Yuletide Yahoo, and Harry and Eddie Crinklaw are the stage managers.
During intermission, local talent will perform, including vocalist Raini O’Connor. The audience will be able to participate, as well, in holiday songs. Come join the fun when the curtains open on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m., for “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” from Pioneer Drama Service and written by Charles E. Bright.
CLOC is a non-profit organization that gives five $500 scholarships each year to students in Cloudcroft and Alamogordo. Since 1994, CLOC has given over $125,000 in scholarship funds to deserving students who have attended NMSU, UNM, UTEP and ENMU. CLOC also works with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to provide books free of charge to children 0-5 years in the Cloudcroft area. The club also serves as a corporate sponsor of the Desert Lights Film Festival, which is a statewide film competition for middle and high school students. In 2013, CLOC donated $3,700 from a one-night murder mystery to the Cloudcroft band programs for a new tuba.
CLOC was organized to provide entertainment for the local visitors to Cloudcroft and was so successful as to enable the organization to evolved into providing scholarships for the local high school graduates and monetary help during the year to selected events for the enjoyment and education of our young adults. CLOC operates wholly as nonprofit disbursing all funds locally.