Lights, camera, action, nutcrackers!

‘Wooden Heart Follies,’ original production, to open Nov. 27 at Steubenville Masonic Temple

STEUBENVILLE -- "Once upon a time, there was a magical land called Steubenville," begins the narrator of "Wooden Heart Follies," Steubenville's original new musical that will be unfolding for audiences later this month.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Hey, I've been to Steubenville, and I've never seen any magic. You're making that up,'" the narrator continues.

Is that so?

Audiences will find out when they see the new family musical that brings nine of the Steubenville Nutcracker Village's nutcrackers to life in a production penned and directed by John and Von M. Holmes of Steubenville.

The play debuts at 2 p.m. Nov. 27 at the Steubenville Masonic Temple at 227 N. Fourth St. and will run three additional Sundays on Dec. 4, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, all of them beginning at 2 p.m.

Tickets will be available at the door on the day of performances; in advance at the Fort Steuben Visitor Center; or online at http://woodenheartfollies.brownpapertickets.com.

Admission is $7 for adults, $4 for students and free for children younger than 6.

The play is an added attraction to what will be the second-annual Steubenville Nutcracker Village and Advent Market presented by Trinity Health System and to unfold at Fort Steuben Park and Visitor Center, 120 S. Third St., that is open to the public Nov. 22 through Jan. 8.

The possibility of a play was broached last year before the first Nutcracker Village and Advent Market event got under way, according to the Holmes, who were approached by Judy Bratten, executive director of Historic Fort Steuben, to do something theatrical for the event.

The couple were involved at the time, however, in directing "Hello, Dolly!" for Catholic Central High School, but revisited the suggestion earlier this year, discussing it with Bratten and then beginning to sketch out a draft in May.

"We each had a different concept at first," John explained. "Mine was to do something comic with the Nutcracker Ballet story and Tchaikovsky's music. Von's was to bring some of the nutcrackers from the village to life.

"In the end, we combined the two," he said, adding, "We brought nine nutcrackers to life using dialogue as well as music from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite' with zany lyrics."

The pair produced a completed draft by the end of August.

"We're still tweaking it in rehearsal even now," Von said of what she describes as both a blessing and a curse.

"On the one hand, if you decide a line isn't working, then you can change it. But on the other hand, at some point you say to yourself, 'No more changes! Enough!' We've reached that point," she said with a laugh.

The Holmeses said they decided to go with a story of some of the village's nutcrackers coming to life in order to pay tribute to what was done with the event last year, and to add to the flow of the theme. "What Judy Bratten, Jerry Barilla, the (Mark) Nelson family and a host of others did last year was incredible," said Von. "We wanted our show to really be connected to that at its core.

"We started writing, and the story began to revolve around 'Miss Nelson,'" Von said. "Therese Nelson is the amazing designer and artist of the 100-plus nutcrackers, so a development of the story led us to make her the impetus of the plot. It just made sense. That's why we have her making a cameo as herself," she continued.

The Holmeses conferred with Therese about which of the 37 nutcrackers from last year were the most popular. "She gave us a list of 15," John said, "which we pared down to 10 and then to nine. We then asked her if she had made up any stories on each while creating them, and she did have a couple, but mostly she just gave us a blank check to do what we wanted as far as character development."

Being true to Therese's vision has been extremely important to both of the playwright/directors, even in the construction of the costumes. Cindy Lucas of Kayleebug Alterations in Steubenville is the costumer and has been hard at work, they said, recreating the look of each nutcracker, even down to the wigs and mustaches. "She's doing a fantastic job," the Holmeses echo.

"The music has been challenging, since Tchaikovsky never intended these melodies to be sung," Von admits. "We have all joked that he might be rolling over in his grave, but we hope he's been laughing along with us."

"I need to give a shout out to my husband, John, and our vocal director, Susanne Manocchia. He wrote the brilliant lyrics, and she arranged the music for vocals," Von said, applauding accompanist Emily Gray as well who has assisted Manocchia on the arrangements.

"Since I had nothing to do with the Tchiakovsky end of the music, I can say that you will really be entertained by it," Von predicted.

Involvement in theater has appealed to the couple for decades.

The former Von McGeehan knew by age 9 that she loved acting, so, in grade school and progressing through her senior year at Jefferson Union High School, she was involved in playwriting, directing and acting. After graduation she was involved with Steubenville Players, Tad Mosel Players and Madonna Players. Even when she was in the Army, Von performed in military shows, winning an Army-wide honor -- the FORSCOM Festival Award -- for her role as Annie in "Annie Get Your Gun."

After the Army, Von studied drama at Columbus College in Columbus, Ga., but returned to Steubenville to complete a degree in communication arts at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and to raise a family. "All my electives at FUS were drama courses, and I acted in four of the six productions presented during my three years there," Von recalled.

Fulfilling a dream she has had for 44 years, Von has returned to the classroom at FUS, this time to complete courses for a drama major. "It's at the top of my bucket list," she said.

John's interest began at an early age as well when he realized during high school that he wanted to be a writer and an actor. He pursued both interests in high school and joined a summer theater right after graduation before heading to college at St. Bonaventure.

"The small theater at Bonaventure was incredibly good training," John recalled. "I did four plays in my first year, then went back to that same summer theater only to be told that no one was available to direct. So, at the age of 19, I directed my first play, 'Charley's Aunt,' and discovered I was better at directing than acting."

John continued acting in college and community theaters through graduate school and in 1985 was hired at Franciscan University to teach English and to alternate with two other professors in directing the university's theatrical productions. In 1991 he took on the role for which he is best known in Steubenville -- as Baron von Steuben, promoting the reconstruction of Fort Steuben.

As the Baron, he combined his theatrical and writing experience, authoring a series of historical one-act plays for the fort, as well as the Jefferson County Historical Association and the Woman's Club of Steubenville. When the world Franciscan community celebrated the 800th birthday of St. Clare, John wrote and directed a play about the saint's life.

"After the 1990s," he observed, "most of my writing was scholarly rather than creative. I started publishing a lot of articles about the verse of J.R.R. Tolkien, which may seem a long way from nutcrackers, but studying how Tolkien matched the sounds of words to complex metrical patterns prepared me in ways I hadn't expected to fit modern American voices to Tchaikovsky's dance music."

Holmes demonstrated by pointing to the show's version of Tchaikovsky's "Chinese Dance," which in the play becomes "We All Want to Feel Special." Each character in turn tells how he or she wants to be special.

"When the Nutcracker Prince takes his turn," Holmes explained, "he hits almost every accented note with the same rhyme: and ever SINCE / I've been a PRINCE / I'm conVINCED / I'm inVINCibly special."

The Prince, played by Peter Tarantino, who works at the shipping department at Nelson Fine Art and Gifts in Steubenville, the makers of the nutcrackers, is one of the nine actors who will bring the nutcrackers to life. The Mad Scientist, who provides the conflict in the play with his maniacal plan to turn Steubenville into wood, is played by Tim Wood, which amuses Von and John. "He was cast," Von said, "before he knew he had to sing the line 'all we know that's wood is good'!"

Vincenzo the Italian gondolier is played by Mary Mascolino Engle, a lifelong Steubenville resident and graduate of Catholic Central. Clara, the somewhat flighty ingenue, who, John adds, "is nothing like the Clara of the ballet," is portrayed by Erin Grace, and her teacher, Miss Adelaide, by Nicole Janosco. "The characters balance each other really well, and we are enjoying the way Nicole and Erin play off one another," Von said.

Martin Watjen plays Soldier Mark, the one nutcracker character who comes closest to the image of the wooden toy, with his 18th-century military uniform and stiff marching. "Martin has the lowest notes in the play, I think," John said. "We're glad to have his voice as well as his sense of humor, so crucial to this play."

Ron Smith, a longtime Steubenville resident and graduate of Steubenville High School, will act the part of St. Nicholas. "St. Nick saves the day in the end," said Von, who appears as the show's narrator, though she declines to reveal how the day is saved. "You'll have to come see."

John also will take a role in the play, as Patrolman Holiday, and John and Von's youngest son Luke will be Artopoios the Baker. His pie is part of a desperate plan to sweeten up the Mad Scientist.

Rounding out the cast are Therese Nelson, playing herself, and Jim Craig, playing a worker in the nutcracker warehouse.