Pulling Santa’s sleigh is hard work. Even reindeer have to hang up the reins eventually. So, when team leader Dasher decides to retire, coaches Kris and Carol Kringle host the Reindeer Games to find the next member of Santa’s reindeer crew — known as the Nifty Nine.
Eager reindeer recruits showcase their talents in a series of easy-to-stage games. But these aren’t your typical winter events, nor are these your typical competitors. Alongside fast, strong and nimble jocks is a brainy tech geek, a lost chef looking for a cooking competition, a chipper cheerleader, and a lingo-slinging international snowboarder. The all-star quarterback has a tender secret talent, and one competitor looks curiously like a moose!
But before Coach Kris can announce the newest crewmember, the original Nifty Nine make a cameo appearance — with a surprise announcement! Turns out there are no “losers” when you’re on Santa’s nice list. And by lifting one another up, the New Nifty Nine all get a chance to fly with the Big Guy!
In this hilarious Christmas classic, a mother (Faith Nix) struggles to put on a church Christmas pageant with her husband’s (Joseph Claus) help, but is faced with casting the Herdman kids—probably the most inventively awful kids in history (Cookie Simpson, Jude Bilbee, Donovan Walters, Rilee Young, Lily Brockelman, Addie Jones), as well as wrangling her own unenthusiastic children Beth (Lilly Mangrum) and Charlie (Zachary Jimerson) into assisting.
This delightful comedy is 
We suggest this because it both prolongs the entertainment and makes the experience more enriching. By 
It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.
naming him Wilbur (Preston Garrison), even though her mother, Martha (Kayla Smith), thinks she already spends too much time with the animals, and her brother, Avery (Wyatt Mahoney) is too busy with his frogs to take much notice. When he’s older, Wilbur is sold to Fern’s aunt and uncle, Edith and Homer Zuckeman (Abigail Kops, Landon Helsel), and cared for by their farmhand, Lurvy (Matthew Brown), in whose barnyard he is left yearning for companionship but is snubbed by the other animals (Emily Akins, Laine Hilliard, Shelby Stracner, Elizabeth Smith), until he is befriended by a spider named Charlotte (Callie Johnson), living on a web overlooking Wilbur’s enclosure. Upon Wilbur’s discovery that he is once again intended for slaughter, she promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare his life, with a little help from the local barn rat, Templeton (Daniel Seay). As fans already know, and as those new to this beloved tale shall soon find out: “No one had ever had such a friend. So affectionate, so loyal, and so skillful,” as Charlotte.
The show is a challenging one for sure! Asking actors to portray animals and humans all at the same time…well, that gets tricky; but we have an extraordinary cast who is both dedicated and fearless in this adventure and I couldn’t be prouder of them. I am thrilled we were able to get some area schools to attend and I look forward to future 
projects where we can also involve our local school children. That is what it is all about, right? We are bringing the Arts to our community and we are having so much fun doing it. As always, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Michael Mahoney and North Arkansas College, as well as the Ozark Arts Council. Charlotte’s Web is fun entertainment for the whole family that also provides some amazing life lessons and heartfelt human emotions to which we can all relate. I hope to see everyone in our community come out and support the children and adults who have worked so hard to bring this show to life!
Area schools were invited to four special matinee performances and will be filling the theater with their laughter. We weren’t able to fit all of the students from all of the schools into the theater, though, (and those who get to see it with their classmates will want to come back and share it with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and their siblings!), so make sure not to miss your chance to once again delight in this story of friendship: 
