Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus tells story behind famous editorial

Presented by Renaissance Players Dec. 2-18

Release Date: 11/3/2005. Expired: 12/18/2005

The story behind the most cherished and reprinted newspaper editorial ever written comes alive when the Renaissance Players present Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus Dec. 2-18 at The Renaissance Center in Dickson.

Performances are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7 for children 12 and under.

The Renaissance Players production will be directed by Hal Partlow, manager of the center’s Repertory Company and director of the Mind Enriching Theatre series.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus tells the true story of eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, who wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun in 1897 asking if Santa Claus exists. The letter ends up in the hands of Frank P. Church, a veteran editorial writer who knows he must answer the girl’s missive, and answer truthfully.

Church’s editorial, published Sept. 21, 1897, has been reprinted thousands of times in newspapers all over the world each year. Despite its popularity, the editorial was published in the newspaper uncredited and only after Church’s death in 1906 did the Sun acknowledge that he was the author.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus is written by Pat Cook, who was inspired to begin writing plays in college when he saw the movie version of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. Cook had started writing for his high school newspaper in Frankston, Texas, and during the summers wrote a column for his hometown newspaper.

His first play, The Boys in the Halls, a play about dorm life, was produced at Lon Morris Junior College in 1968. After moving to Houston, Cook wrote for the AstroWorld theme park, educational radio and local television. Writing continued to be a sideline as he worked other jobs such as playing piano in pizza parlors, acting in local commercials, industrial films and on stage, building scenery and selling pianos and organs.

As Cook began to get more and more plays published and his wife, Rose Ann, taught him the joys of using a computer, Cook decided to quit everything and become a full-time writer. He now has 119 plays published by nine publishers, including several that have been translated into Dutch and German.

“Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus is a touching story that embodies the true holiday spirit,” says Partlow. “It gives us the wonder of Christmas from the views of child and adult, and will make you realize that, as Frank Church wrote, Santa Claus ‘exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist...’”

Alex Syler of Clarksville, a former member of the Renaissance Repertory Theatre Company, plays Church, author of the editorial. Syler previously appeared in the Renaissance Players production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and in Gaslight Dinner Theatre productions of The Dining Room, I Hate Hamlet, Sylvia, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and Rep Co. productions of Death of a Salesman, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank and others.

Hope Arent, a student at Meigs Magnet School in Nashville, plays Virginia O’Hanlon. She previously appeared in Renaissance Players productions of A Christmas Story and The Miracle Worker.

Art Conn, a veteran of the Clarksville theatre community, narrates the story as the editor of the newspaper. Conn appeared in the Renaissance Players productions of The Sound of Music and A Christmas Story and directed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The host of the television show Clarksville’s Best Buys, Conn is a 30-year theatre veteran and award-winning director.

Husband and wife Eddie and Tracy Nichols make their Renaissance Players stage debuts as Papa and Mama O’Hanlon. Tracy Nichols directed the Renaissance Players production of Little Shop of Horrors and co-directed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Eddie Nichols is a member of The Renaissance Center’s Toy Shop, building sets for plays and television shows and has appeared on stage in several productions while attending Austin Peay State University.

The cast also includes Trudy Whiting of Charlotte as Mrs. Birch, Jordan Grace Hartwell of Burns as Missy, Annette Y. White of Waverly as Mrs. Madison, Tina Romine of Dickson as Mrs. Marbury, Greg Frey of Dickson as Father Michael, Tommy J. Parris of Dickson as Lige and Ashton Frey of Dickson as Charly.

Tina Romine is stage manager and Trudy Whiting is assistant stage manager.

For more information on the Renaissance Players production of Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, contact Amy Scott, managing director, at (615)740-5551 or , Partlow at (615)740-5534 or , or The Renaissance Center at (615)740-5600.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

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