The Royale at Christ the King Seminary

Soaring Sylphs at a Catholic Seminary

Melanie & Susan- front of the Seminary theater

St. John Vianney would be proud…Christian flags of celebration, whipping across the green,  adorable dancers, gliding in angelic forms, praise music flowing  through flowered walkways, and curious nuns peeking through half-shaded windows!  It was the culmination of one glorious year at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora.

It all began when one of the priests, Father Joe, invited me to give a lecture on ballet to a group of seminarians.  He may have been so impressed with my passionate description of this ethereal art form -or perhaps it was a theater that remained empty for so long, but a few weeks later, I was given a stunning surprise.  He handed me the keys to a charming 400 seat facility for one year to do with as I pleased. 

Deanna performing Pavlova's "Dying Swan - against mirrors

Ah, my own theater, to do anything I wanted, even for a short while, was a dream come true.   An extremely talented young man, David Sayles, volunteered to take the challenge and turn this little brown box into a theatrical masterpiece.  Within a few months, plastic eight foot mirrors lined the back of the stage reflecting the dancers movements, tons of dyed sheets draped the upper pipes and formed swags and side legs,  colored cellophane was taped to homemade light cans and a huge golden scoop was hung above center stage.  We made “trees” which held canned lights wired with lamp cord and beamed lights from the side (the greatest dramatic effect) and used slide projections for special effects.  The home-made floor strips, laid down at the back of the stage brought silhouettes to life and changed from pink to blue at the touch of a switch.

Todd Bemis in front of Shea's 

Melanie as Gerda in our first Snow Queen

 The effects were amazing.  We could never repeat these innovative effects either at Shea’s Buffalo or Artpark later on.  It was always, “It can’t be done”, yet we had already “done it”  at the Seminary and it was glorious!

Melanie and Cary Van Pyrz

We created the first “Snow Queen” based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic and used lining for silk-like fabric and glued “smashed” mirrors in skirts for the ice maidens.  My seven year old daughter played the lead as Gerda and we also included four- year old Joseph as a peasant.  Teen- age Deanna performed both as an ice maiden and also did Pavlova’s “Dying Swan”  Our first “Americana”, led the way for pastor David Bemis and choir from the Full Gospel Tabernacle to sing “The Red, White & Blue” later at Artpark. 

                This was a prototype, our first fling,  which developed into a stunning spectacular  culminating  into a full-length Snow Queen held at Shea’s Buffalo, where Monica and Todd Bemis played the lead, then in Warren Pa with sos Joseph and Miss Frankhouser, and later with auditioned six year olds at the Grand Palace in Branson, Missouri.

                Our “finale” was the celebration of our life in Christ held in May on the grounds of the seminary.  Father Joe helped to make a director’s dream come true and opened the door for a joyous theater experience for many years for both students and audiences.