Tecumseh Players to Present The Christmas Schooner

The Tecumseh Players will present “The Christmas Schooner,” at the Tecumseh Center for the Arts, 400 N. Maumee Street. Come see Manchester’s own Summer Chandler and Betty Cummings, who both have roles. Performances will be Friday, December 9, and Saturday, December 10, at 8 pm and Sunday, December 11, at 2 pm. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased by phone (517-423-6617), online (thetca.org), or at the box office. Box office hours are Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 pm and one hour prior to show time.

The Christmas Schooner, by John Reeger, with Music and Lyrics by Julie Shannon, is based on true stories of historic Great Lakes voyages of Christmas tree ships during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is the story of lumbermen who lived in Manistique on the north shore of Lake Michigan and hauled lumber across Lake Michigan to fast-growing Chicago in the 1880s on a schooner they called the Molly Doone.

In 1881, Capt. Peter Stossel receives a letter from his cousin Martha in which she reminisces about Christmases in Germany, the beautiful Tannenbaum, and how lucky Peter and his family are to have so many Christmas trees, whereas in Chicago, where there is a large population of German-Americans, they have very few and they are picked over. The next year, Capt. Stossel decides to take a load of Christmas trees to Chicago–across Lake Michigan in November, braving the deadly winter weather. The whole family will enjoy this heart-warming story about the courage of the men who risked their lives so others could know the joy of Christmas.

The Tecumseh Players is a 501(c)3 organization and has been entertaining audiences in the  area for over 55 years.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.