Motoring to Bethlehem: Our Lady of Lourdes drama club stages drive-thru Living Nativity

View the video story here: https://youtu.be/JGXUqpH_X5Q

By Beth Donze
Clarion Herald

Featuring five different actresses portraying Mary, two Josephs and two dolls standing in for Baby Jesus, the Living Nativity that took place within the confines of Our Lady of Lourdes’ School parking lot was unlike any its spectators had experienced before.

Over the course of two nights, 23 costumed third through seventh graders from Our Lady of Lourdes’ drama club presented the Slidell school’s first ever “Drive-Thru Living Nativity.” Nine scenes from the story of Christ’s birth were re-enacted for a “rolling audience” that watched from the safety of their vehicles.

“I am so inspired by our children and their families!” said Father Wayne Paysse, Our Lady of Lourdes’ jubilant pastor, at the wheel of one of the 165 cars that turned out for the event’s two-night run Dec. 11-12.

Thanks to COVID-19, no lines were spoken by the mask-wearing cast members, and piped-in sacred music replaced the live singing of past reenactments.

Presented by the drama club members in “frozen” tableau style, the stations were spaced 10 feet apart, allowing the actors to stay within their static groups throughout the portrayals.

“(As a director), you’re always trying to come up with ways to keep your students involved in theater and keep them safe, which is quite challenging,” said drama club moderator Pam Lisotta, who bypassed her usual audition and rehearsal schedule for the Living Nativity by simply walking her cast members through the scenes and showing them where to stand.

“They’re just excited to be doing something. We don’t get to sing or say any lines (in the Living Nativity), but at least we get to get out there and share something,” Lisotta said. “It’s hard on theater kids when they don’t get to do the things they enjoy doing,” the director added. “We wanted to give them something to fill that void and give us all something to look forward to, because they can’t do a musical right now.”

Every detail was considered to maintain all the beauty of the beloved Advent tradition without sacrificing safety. After paying an entrance fee of $5 per car, passengers received a one-page program listing the scriptural excerpt connected each of the nine scenes so that they could read them silently or out loud inside their cars while stopped at each tableau. The nine stations were:

• “The Prophecy”

• “The Annunciation”

• “The Visitation”

• “The Census Proclamation”

• “The Birth of Jesus”

• “The Angel Appears to the Shepherds”

• “A Multitude of the Heavenly Host”

• “Shepherds Visit the Manger”

• “Magi from the East”

The idea for a drive-thru-style Nativity was pitched to Our Lady of Lourdes principal Roy Delaney in October by parishioner and KC grand knight Tommy Benasco.

“We have an enthusiastic little group of thespians here,” Delaney said. “The way our school is set up and laid out made it very conducive to pulling this off. We were able to design the set-up for it, where the kids are socially distanced and we take all the precautions for COVID, but we still provide the message of the Nativity to the people of our community.

“In a year where ‘normal’ is no longer normal, this activity gives us an opportunity to add some normalcy to a crazy year and to continue to engage our students (in theater) until we can be in a place of normalcy again,” Delaney added.

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