‘Tracking Santa’ opens Saturday

Masquers production runs two weekends

SOAP LAKE — The tale of a television news crew that may have stumbled across Santa Claus opens this weekend at the Masquers Theater. Performances of “Tracking Santa” are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and Dec. 14 and 15.

Masquers usually presents a Christmas-season play, sometimes a musical, sometimes not. Director Andrew Covarrubias said he proposed a Christmas play to Masquers artistic director Cheri Barbre — who turned him down. But whatever the Christmas play was, he was directing it, so Barbre told him to find a suitable option, he said. “So I started looking and this was literally the first one I found.”

The Channel 8 news crew is stuck at the station on Christmas Eve, and to make it even more fun, the brand-new cutting-edge Cyclone 8000 weather system is predicting the exact time of a huge snowstorm.

But then weather guy Eric Embers (Greg Becker in the Masquers production) spots something completely different on the ol’ Cyclone 8000. Is that — is that a sleigh? And are those reindeer, moving at an unbelievable speed? Eric is going to follow the clues.

But producer Kim (Marla Allsopp) has other ideas. She orders reporter Phil Philston (Jonathan Pinkerton), who just wants to go home, to venture out into the storm and find whatever is out there.

Eric is not going to miss a chance at the story of a lifetime. But he’s not the only one that’s interested. Angela Navidad (Emma Russell), who just finished her first gig as news anchor (and bombed), wants a chance at the story too. They both sneak out of the station and hitch a ride on the news truck.

But then the truck crashes — Chuck the camera guy (Connor Garrett) got hypnotized by the snow — and Kim shows up to shoo everybody back to the station, and there’s a case of mistaken identity. So did the Cyclone 8000 really find Santa? “That’s something you’ll have to come to the play to find out,” Covarrubias said.

“Tracking Santa” features Masquers veterans and people who are new to acting. Kids are playing some of the roles that normally would be played by adults, including Chuck the camera guy. “I’ve got a great cast, kids and adults alike.”

The cast and director had a very short time to rehearse, due to the season-opening production of “Guys and Dolls,” which ran into mid-November. “It’s been a scramble to get done in time, but we made it,” Covarrubias said. “It’s been really exciting to see it come together.”

Tickets are $10 to $12, and can be purchased at the Masquers website, www.masquers.com, or at the door.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.