Riverwalk presents ‘intentionally tacky’ Christmas comedy

A board member of the Riverwalk Theatre since 2020, Kate Clark is making her Riverwalk directorial debut with “Christmas Belles,” a “farce about squabbling sisters, family secrets, surly Santa, a vengeful sheep and a reluctant Elvis impersonator.” The show focuses around a Southern church program that spins hilariously out of control.

“It’s a feel-good show, a great way to unwind with your family during the holidays,” Clark said.

A theater person from a theater family, Clark shared that she was in a production of this same show 10 years ago, directed by her mother. Although the show isn’t new to her, she said the new faces keep her on her toes when it comes to directing.

“People always say, ‘I’m so excited to audition for your show.’ Well, I only saw two people who I was expecting to show up. But a total of 30 people auditioned for 10 parts,” she said. “The surprising thing about Riverwalk is that people just come out of the woodwork. And it’s different working with people who are new to theater, versus a bunch of seasoned professionals. Working in community theater is a good reminder for me.  I get to test myself and see if I’m being a good director.”

The show, which runs Thursday (Dec. 7) through Sunday (Dec. 10) and Dec. 14 through 17, features both new and returning actors. One new face on the stage is Jerome Kluck, who is getting a crash course in community theater.

“The difference between watching the show and being in the show is surprising,” he said. “There are 400,000 decisions over the course of a few months. Right now, I’m working on where I place my feet, which is such a weird thing to think about. And then it’s like, ‘Darn, I’m supposed to be talking right now!’”

Kluck plays John Curtis Buntner, the quintessential “zany, wacky sheriff,” according to Clark.

“I told him to be even zanier!” she said.

The group laughed, and Clark interjected, “I’m giving Jerome a crisis. He’ll never be the same.”

He quipped back, “It’s such a bizarre thing to think about. When you’re in the audience, you take everything for granted and consume the show as a whole. Now, holding my feet still, it seems like such a simple task. There are a lot of special skills that go into this.”

A Lansing transplant, Kluck said that since he relocated to the area for his wife’s job at Michigan State University, he’s been taking their daughter to Impression 5 Science Center.

“I kept looking at the marquee at Riverwalk and thinking that it might be nice to go to a show there. Eventually, I found some time to audition,” he said.

Returning to the Riverwalk stage after 20 years is Holly Kay-Cannon, who recently moved back to Lansing from Los Angeles. She plays Twink Futrelle.

“She was done wrong by her ex-man. He took advantage of her, but going to jail for her crime has started her on a new path,” Kay-Cannon said. “She loves her family, but they can grate on her. There’s a lot for people to relate to here.”

Kay-Cannon’s character has a lot of physical comedy on stage. But after so many years off stage, she says she’s fallen right back into the work.

“There are some hilarious gags we’ve thrown in. It’s taxing, for sure — someone is now sitting in my lap, someone is grabbing me and throwing me around. You just go with it. In live theater, you just have to be willing to go with whatever happens in the moment. Even if it’s a mistake, you roll with it and make it work. It was an easy transition,” she said.

Kay-Cannon said she didn’t grow up in a theater family, but it was something she had always wanted to do. Before moving away in the late 1990s, she acted in productions for Riverwalk, the Lansing Civic Players and the now-defunct Spotlight Theatre. A few years after returning to the Lansing area, she thought, “I want to go audition for something.” She said that she came to the “Christmas Belles” audition with hope, partly because the age ranges in the show included older women.

“That was promising, so I auditioned and went all out,” she said.

She reported that even after two decades, it’s still a great group of people.

“I’ve loved coming back to the theater community at Riverwalk,” she said.

The show is not a musical, but there are musical elements.

“I don’t want to give too much away,” Clark said, “but the scenography has come together really well. Elisha Smith has done a great job making it what I call ‘intentionally tacky.’ She’s made things look churchy, Southern, small-town. You know, we’re scraping together what we can. And from the moment people enter the theater, I think they will begin to get the vibe. We’ve got a stained-glass type of design that is really striking.”

For her directorial debut at the Riverwalk, Clark chose experienced technical professionals for her team.

“We’re getting ready to hand over the show to Rita Sobish for tech week. It’s all very exciting,” she said.