By Karah Wilson
karah@southerntorch.com
RAINSVILLE, Ala.—Hope Puppets of Rainsville First Baptist Church will be performing a Christian based spin-off of “Frozen” called “Chozen” starting Sun. at 3:30 p.m. and again at 6:00 p.m. then continuing on Nov. 9 at 6:00 p.m., Nov. 11 at 6:00 p.m., Nov. 13 at 6:00 p.m. and the final productions on Nov. 15 at 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Admission is free for all.
Hope Puppets began 15 years ago when the music minister of Rainsville First Baptist asked a group of church members to put on a Christmas performance. The church members had experience with puppets and included Greg Wigley, who is now the coordinator of Hope Puppets. “Over the years we have found that puppets speak a universal language that everyone knows, whether young or old,” Wigley said. “We want you to smile during our performances and forget about all of your problems.” Hope Puppets, which began as one single group, is now divided into three separate ones: an adult group, a junior group, and a drama team named 4Given. There will be 27 adult members, 28 junior members, and 16 drama team members participating with the upcoming production.
The idea for “Chozen” came from “Frozen” because it is, without a doubt, the most popular Disney movie out right now. “We try to pick out stuff that’s relevant and whatever is ‘in’ and make it Christian. We want to share the gospel through puppets.” Olaf, the snowman in “Frozen”, will be the narrator throughout the production. “There will be narrations to transition the songs. What is really 30 seconds of moving and shuffling feels like 10 minutes when there is nothing happening,” Wigley said. “The narrations will be weaving through the Gospel.”
The characters will remain the same and some will have more than one actor or actress. “Anna has three different actresses. It’s for her age,” Wigley said. “We have traditional ‘Frozen’ costumes for the actors and actresses to wear.”
Performers include Amanda Taylor as Anna, Elizabeth Wooten as Elsa, Jeremy Taylor as Kristoff, Caleb Wigley as Sven, and Ben Coots as Olaf. The writer for the production was Stephanie McFall. The last production performed by Hope Puppets brought in around 3,500 people. “We look to see more for this production according to all the feedback we have received. If I had an estimate, it would be about 4,000 people,” Wigley said. “We see people get there half an hour early to get the best seats. People generally think the best seats are front and center, but it’s really back and center because you can see all of the action.”
