I laughed, I cried, I lost my reindeer

K.C. Bradbury gave it two thumbs up.

"I thought it was funny," said the sixth-grader.

Another reviewer, Kelsey Endter, said she loved the performances by her fellow Minden Elementary School students in Dawn Caldwell-Rothfusz's annual Christmas play.

"It was very interesting," said Kelsey, 11. "I had two friends who were in it and they played their personalities. My reading buddy liked it, too."

They laughed, they cried - OK, they didn't cry, but they lip-synced - to "The Christmas Bear" that was performed for Minden Elementary students Wednesday.

The stage backdrop was sheets of black plastic and scene changes were achieved by having the audience, who were seated on the floor, rotate on their fannies 180 degrees. The cast was dressed in Santa caps, reindeer antlers and tube socks.

The play told the story of how parent reindeer and elves learned how to accept the new ideas suggested by the children reindeer and elves.

"I write the original script every year and the students come up with other things, like the dancing," said Caldwell-Rothfusz, also known as Mrs. C.R.

The 15 actors who played elves and reindeer danced and lip-synced along with music from "High School Musical."

The audience of third- and fifth-graders were encouraged to participate with the play. By the third chorus of the song, "The Start of Something New," the audience stopped chewing their fingers and clothing and started to bob their heads with the music and lip-sync with the lip-syncing.

Academy Award nomination for Cassaundra Rose as "Comic Relief" for saying, "I saw some yellow snow, I thought it was, like, lemon snow so I scooped some up. It didn't really taste like lemon."

Also nominated is "Parent Elf" who said, "They named the toys 'Teddy Bears' after 'Teddy Grahams,' their favorite snack."

Supporting actor award nomination goes to Andy Martinez who played "Kid Elf" and said, "I always wanted to be an actor. After I go to college, I'm going to Hollywood."

Co-nominations go to choreographers Bodie Kendall who called the culmination of dance styles: the can-can, jitterbug and the sprinkler dance, "a group effort" and Morgan Held who said, "It's harder than it looks."

A sure sign of the play's success is by the comment overheard as the audience exited the library, "I want a Teddy bear for Christmas."