NC thespians fostered the holiday spirit Thursday evening with their performance of Kim Kao Hines’ holiday show: “What Could Go Wrong The Night Before Christmas”. The close-knit cast of 10 joined forces and combined their talents to put on an impressive show. The 25-minute show portrayed the stressful performance of the classic poem: “The Night Before Christmas”. The intended irony of the show’s title revealed itself on stage as the plot progressed and disaster after the disaster occurred.

To kick off the festive evening, senior Julian Herrara performed a holiday monologue written by Matt Thompson where he played the role of a “Sergeant Elf”. His complex character recruited a new staff of holiday elves as he frantically prepared for the upcoming Christmas season. Throughout the delivery of the monologue, Herrara revealed his acting abilities by incorporating advanced inflection, body movement, and facial expressions into his performance. Herrera’s comedic execution excited audience members as they prepared to view the main event of the evening: the holiday show.

“It felt special performing with just me on stage and it was a very different experience than anything I’ve done previously. It is definitely a memory in the book of my senior year and it’s not even my second semester yet,” Herrera said.

Shortly after Herrera exited the stage, the cast found their places on stage and jumped into their roles. Sophomore Savannah Tighe played the lead of the show and ushered the remainder of the cast on stage as she jumped into her role as a stressed holiday show host trying to put on the perfect performance. Tighe joined theater her freshman year and has performed in three shows since, all of which she played major roles. The young actress’ ability to maintain an angry tone while simultaneously inciting laughter enchanted the audience.

“I was thrilled to play the lead role. The pressure of being a sophomore and having seniors in the same play was hard, but I felt like I was able to prove myself during the play,” Tighe said.

Preceding Thursday’s performance, the cast of “What Could Go Wrong The Night Before Christmas” debuted their show on Friday, December 3 at NC’s annual Holiday Spectacular. Each year the event proudly boasts the talents of NC’s fine arts program and students. In addition to the NC Standing Ovation performance, NC’s Wind Symphony, Chamber Orchestra, and Visual Arts Program joined forces to create a full agenda of holiday fun.

As the show came to an end, the entirety of the cast gathered on stage and shared a classic Christmas carol with their audience before everyone went their separate ways. With less than a month to fine-tune and perfect their show and Christmas carol, the cast of NC’s holiday show poured their all into their craft in an effort to ensure the success of the show. When the cast finished singing “Winter Wonderland” and took their final bow, applause quickly filled NC’s auditorium. The cast’s countless hours of rehearsing lines and perfecting costumes paid off after an impressive performance and positive feedback Thursday night.

“No matter how many problems occur backstage or all the stress that we all felt, stepping on stage to perform made it all worth it. From facing disagreements between the cast to problems in the tech booth, hard work was required. But it all paid off the moment we stepped on stage,” Tighe said.