The Era’s Less Fortunate (ELF) Fund senior event was holly-jolly success on Sunday in the Mukaiyama University Room in the Frame Westerberg Commons Building at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
The seniors arrived in buses, transported courtesy of the Area Transportation Authority and the Bradford Area School District, to the campus, as Santa Claus greeted each one with a smile and bags of treats.
The University Room opened its doors half an hour before the musical performance to host a party for the seniors with dessert catering provided by the ELF fund. The seniors were provided cookies, coffee, hot cocoa and lemonade.
The musical was an original play written by Kristin Asinger, and it mixed in a lot of familiar and famous faces from various family favorite Christmas stories.
Cast members included Regan Dolan as Holly; Chelsea Place as Jolly; Sean Fox as Rudolph; Sandy MacFarlane as Grandma; David Merwine as Grandpa; Rhonda Gray as the mother; Tim Asinger as the father; and Owen and Evan Troisi as the little drummer boys.
Jim MacFarlane played the antagonizing villain in the play, trying his best to ruin Christmas for Holly, who is described as the biggest lover of Christmas in the world.
The play was interactive at times with MacFarlane stalking around the audience as musical director John Kearns narrated the play.
According to Harrijane Hannon Moore, board member for the ELF Fund, there were 125 seniors in attendance.
“There were so many people there, and it took even more people to help make sure it was a success,” Moore said. “Everyone put in the extra effort, even into the smallest details. I’m very proud of how it turned out.”
For the play, Asinger reached out to actors of all ages. According to Asinger, the ages ranged from 7 years old to more than 60 years old.
“The seniors really enjoyed seeing the younger actors perform so well,” she said.
Asinger added she jumped at the chance to create the original musical for the seniors just to see the smiles on their faces.
“Many of them don’t get to go out and enjoy themselves,” she said. “I felt like this was my very own Christmas gift to all of them.”
Many Pitt-Bradford students were in attendance as well, as the musical was open to the public.
