<p>Koonce</p>

Koonce

LUMBERTON — Purple Door Production will be returning to the stage with a production of the Christmas musical “The Littlest Angel.”

“We are very excited to welcome our performers back in a safe environment and hope that they are ready to showcase their talents as well,” said Jeanne Koonce, Purple Door’s artistic director.

The “Littlest Angel” tells the story of a young boy who arrives in heaven before his time. Homesick and lonely, he will travel back to earth, with his friendly pup, Halo, to retrieve a most selfless and precious gift for The Baby Jesus.

“With all the stress of not being able to attend school and trying to negotiate learning online, younger students are needing extra curricular activities to help them be active and relax and find a place to be social, while being in a safe environment,” Koonce said. “What better than a fun performance workshop, with a Christmas musical to excite them and give everyone something to look forward to.”

A workshop for artists ages 8-12 will lead up to the production. Classes will meet twice weekly from Nov. 2 to Dec. 6 for acting, stage movement and show rehearsals. There will also be an online virtual session each week for vocal work and rehearsals.

“PDP takes the safety of all our performers and staff very seriously and will follow all CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and state guidelines,” Koonce said. “PDP will provide a safe, controlled environment with the entire space sanitized each day before class.”

Students and staff will wear masks, do temperature checks before and at the end of each session, be assigned individual spaces for each class and follow all CDC and state guidelines. Parents will drop off and pick up students curbside each class day to minimize contacts.

“We are very excited to offer this production workshop to give our younger performers a creative, social and especially physical outlet,” Koonce said.

To register and for more information, call Purple Door at 910-224-4000 or email: [email protected].