Fifteen years ago young Melanie Waldoch graced the stage of Forest Lake High School in several Drama Club and Masquers productions. This month the 1992 graduate will be taking to the professional stage at Festival Theatre in St. Croix Falls, WI.

Waldoch, with the married name Melanie Nelson, will be rounding out the theatre season with Festival Theatre, acting in their three remaining productions: Foxfire by Hume Cronyn & Susan Cooper (October 18 – November 4), Uh-Oh Here Comes Christmas by Ernest Zulia & David Caldwell (November 16 – December 23), and A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas by Laurie Brooks (one week only, December 13 – 16).

In Foxfire, Nelson plays Holly, a teacher in a small Appalachian town who checks in on 79- year-old Annie Nations.

Annie lives on her mountain farm with the ghost of her husband Hector.

In the play, tranquility is threatened with concern over her son Dillard, a country singer at an uncertain crossroad, and by a real estate developer who wants to turn her property into a vacation resort.

Annie’s tussle to decide her future takes the audience through some funny, touching and magical moments in her life with Hector.

Uh-Oh Here Comes Christmas is a comical, heartfelt look at finding holiday spirit amid commercialism. It’s a holiday cabaret of songs and vignettes, drawn from stories by best-selling author Robert Fulghum.

A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas is a story from the “missing” two years in the life of the Ingalls family, which celebrates the importance of enduring family bonds.

This production is specifically designed for area students. Matinees for school groups will run the entire month of December, while performances are open to the public just one week in December.

Visit www.festivaltheatre.org for more information or call the theatre box office at 888-887-6002 to reserve tickets.

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