The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has been told and retold for more than fifty years, often as a lighthearted holiday tradition. At its heart, though, this story asks something deeper of us.
Barbara Robinson’s Herdman children are loud, messy, and disruptive—but they are also hungry, neglected, and unseen. When they crash the Christmas pageant, they force the adults (and us) to confront an uncomfortable question: who is welcome in sacred spaces, and who decides?
This play takes place largely within a church and centers on a Christian Christmas pageant. We approach that setting with care and respect, honoring the faith and traditions that shape the story. At the same time, the message of Christmas—humility, compassion, and love for the least among us—extends far beyond doctrine. It asks us to look again at a story we think we know and see it with fresh eyes.
Mary and Joseph arrived with nothing. There was no room for them. The Herdmans, in their own way, arrive the same way—unprepared, unwelcome, and rough around the edges. And yet, by stepping into this story, they remind us of the humanity at the center of the nativity: a baby born into hardship, met not with perfection, but with hope.
My hope is that this production allows you to laugh, reflect, and perhaps reconsider the familiar. Whether this story is one you grew up with or one you encounter from the outside, may it invite empathy, curiosity, and a renewed sense of what it means to make room for others.
Thank you for being here and for supporting community theatre.
-Holly Greystone
