All is Calm

When you think of Christmas time what comes to mind? The Nativity scene? Ornaments on a tree? Spending time with friends and loved ones? Or what about war? Not many people think of war when the holidays come around. But yet it is a reality that so many go through who have family members serving in our military.

 As this Christmas season rolled around, 50 Ozone Summit students and leaders were able to put the soldiers who serve in our military on the front lines of their minds.  Through Walton Arts Center’s Take a Seat program, they attended All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, a story that immerses the audience in the remarkable World War I truce between Allied Forces and German soldiers in No Man’s Land on Christmas in 1914. Through words and songs, the students took a visual journey from soldiers’ recruitment, through the trenches, and then to the last days of WWI. Nine vocalists known as Cantus performed songs in different accents and languages of the time. Three narrators told the story through becoming different characters as the story transitioned into distinctive parts of the war. The performers sang carols that everyone knew and loved, but when set in the context of trench warfare, gave the students a real sense of being there in the trench with them.

One Ozone leader said, “This performance was great for us all to see as a group. It’s good to realize what soldiers go through, but to also remember that soldiers are people and have cares, worries, concerns and even beautiful singing voices. This was a story not many know but hopefully will come to appreciate.” 

Many students had not been able to attend performances like this one before and many had never been to the Walton Arts Center. They commented that this was a huge learning experience and opportunity to experience new and fun things. Ozone students have been able to attend events like All Is Calm because of the Take A Seat Program that the Walton Arts Center provides to CWE365.