The Foxcroft Christmas Pageant Remains A Sacred Tradition
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By Emma Boyce
hey’ve been performing Foxcroft’s annual Christmas Pageant for 106 years, kicking off the holiday season for the Foxcroft community and beyond. And not much has changed since 1917 when the school’s intrepid founder, Charlotte Haxall Noland—“Miss Charlotte”—first started the tradition. This year’s version, presented by Foxcroft’s New Girls, was performed in the school’s Engelhard Gymnasium on Dec. 3. “We’ve had to replace costumes and we’ve done some slight alterations, but it’s the same format and the same set number of songs since 1917,” said Karin Thorndike, Foxcroft’s Director of Performing Arts and Studio Art teacher. Thorndike has been involved in the Christmas Pageant since arriving at Foxcroft in 1997. She learned the ins and outs of the pageant helping its then pageant director, beloved Foxcroft teacher Chalmers Hemmenway. In 2000, Hemmenway retired and passed the baton to Thorndike. “It was a huge honor,” Thorndike said. “Chalmers was so dedicated to this pageant and knew so much about it.” She recalled that Hemmenway would often tell her that, “The music must swell grandly here.” These days, Thorndike says the same to her students. “The kids don’t understand why I’m asking them to swell grandly but I know,” she laughed. The responsibility of pageant director doesn’t pass through many hands. Thorndike is only the fourth
director since Miss Charlotte. This year, she worked alongside music teacher and pageant coordinator Sonny Capaccio and accompanist Jeremiah Hines. Miss Charlotte had an affection for creating tableaus of famous renaissance paintings and the Christmas pageant was no exception. In this year’s version, the New Girls recreated Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi, which of course includes everyone from the three kings to the donkeys. As one might expect at Foxcroft, the donkeys were real. “Directing the pageant never gets old,” Thorndike said.“You never know what’s going to happen. [One year,] a donkey backed up into center stage as someone was singing a solo and the student got pushed into the choir.” Another year, they released live pigeons at the end
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MIDDLEBURG SUSTAINABLE COMMITTEE| Holiday 2023
Photo courtesy of Foxcroft School
The inspiration for the 2023 Foxcroft Christmas Pageant was Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi. of “O Holy Night” and one landed on a very surprised audience member. The pigeons were not invited back. The pageant always finishes with “Merry Christmas,” a song written by Miss Charlotte. When the curtain comes down and the doors to the gym open to the exit, Santa Claus is there, waiting for the children, who have watched the pageant from their mats in the front. “Every single year, I cry,” said Thorndike, a sentiment shared by Stotler as well. “I love the holiday season and its traditions. It’s a very emotional moment for me. I have heard that there are great grandmothers who are bringing their great grandchildren to this pageant and that they saw it when they were children as well. That’s the wonderful thing about our pageant. It’s a true tradition for many people and for Foxcroft. That’s why it doesn’t change.”
