Knoxville’s Living Christmas Tree (Sevier Heights)

A few years ago, I wrote a series of article for a daily newspaper about our church’s annual Christmas production at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.  My family and I have been part of this production for many years (although I haven’t been in it the past two years because of crazy schedules).

Living Christmas Tree an all-year production (Part One)

By Rick Laney
November 10, 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: In coming weeks, Rick Laney will provide an ongoing “behind-the-scenes” look at The Living Christmas Tree.

In August, with temperatures hovering in the mid-90s, hundreds of people from Knox and Blount counties were busy singing Christmas songs and preparing for the holidays in shorts and T-shirts. Preparation begins for The Living Christmas Tree in January — and regular practices get into full swing during the summer.

Anyone who has ever attended the Knoxville Living Christmas Tree (which used to be known as the Sevier Heights Living Christmas tree) knows it is a major production. For those directly involved in the show, it is a major commitment that becomes a focal point of half their year — and the reason many of them are humming “Deck the Halls” while sitting at the pool in July.

Arguably the largest holiday production in East Tennessee, last year’s Knoxville Living Christmas Tree drew nearly 60,000 people to the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena from 23 states. One family travels from California every year to see the performance after discovering it while vacationing in the Great Smoky Mountains almost 15 years ago.  Read the complete story here.

Living Christmas Tree a ‘big production’ (Part Two)

By Rick Laney
November 17. 2007

Editor’s Note: This is part two of an ongoing “behind-the-scenes” look at The Living Christmas Tree.

November is a frantic month for those involved with the Knoxville Living Christmas Tree. Even though practices have been under way since the summer, a new sense of urgency takes hold as Thanksgiving approaches.

For hundreds of people involved in the choir, orchestra and drama at Sevier Heights Baptist Church, the number of weekly practices grows rapidly as opening night approaches. Rehearsals that were once two hours long grow to three hours or more, and there’s a more intense focus on the work at hand.

Eddie Smith, the Living Christmas Tree event coordinator for Sevier Heights Baptist Church, is accustomed to the pressure and intensity, having managed The Living Christmas Tree for the past eight years. Under Smith’s guidance, the production has grown from 100 people total (including the choir) his first year to well over 1,000 cast, choir and crew members this year.  Read the complete story here.

Blount families in Living Christmas Tree (Part Three)

By Rick Laney
November 24. 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part three of an ongoing “behind-the-scenes” look at The Living Christmas Tree.

While thousands of people attend performances of The Living Christmas Tree at Thompson-Boling Arena as part of their annual holiday tradition, many Blount County families’ Christmas routine involves actually being in The Living Christmas Tree.

The Living Christmas has grown from a cast of approximately 80 when it was first presented by Sevier Heights Baptist Church in 1989 to well over 1,000 people who are part of this year’s show called “One Solitary Life.”

Blount County residents are involved in almost every aspect of this year’s Living Christmas Tree as part of the 300-member cast, the 250-member choir, the 60-member orchestra or more than 300 behind-the-scenes workers.

Alcoa native Larry Ervin will once again sing, dance and act in this year’s production. Ervin, who has served as director of multicultural affairs at Maryville College the past 17 years, has been in The Living Christmas Tree since 2002.  Read the complete story here.

Writer for Living Christmas Tree has year-round work (Part Four)

By Rick Laney
December 01. 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part four of a four-part “behind-the-scenes” series about The Living Christmas Tree.

Unlike Hollywood’s writers who are out on strike, Glenn Greene is swimming in work preparing for this year’s production of The Living Christmas Tree called “One Solitary Life” which follows a script he wrote.

A few years after joining Sevier Heights Baptist Church in 1989, Greene showed one of his scripts to a Sunday School teacher who later forwarded it to the church’s music director. That script, called “The Christmas Shoes,” became the drama for the 2002 Living Christmas Tree at Thompson-Boling Arena — an event attended by tens of thousands of people. Greene has written the script for the holiday production every year since that time.

With a show that changes every year, Greene finds himself writing, rewriting and fine-tuning his scripts 12 months out of the year. A Knoxville resident who works for the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB), Greene is not a professional writer, but has been writing scripts for years.  Read the complete story here.