For many cast members of Christian Center’s Christmas musical, “The Christmas Post,” the line between fiction and real life has been razor thin.

This year’s production centers around Alice Garfield, played by Krista Van Helden, a young widow who takes a second job in the toy department of Herzog’s department store to bring in enough extra money to buy Christmas presents for her two small children.

The time is 1947, and she’s struggling to feed her family. Ordinary folks around her are struggling in their own ways, too. Department store manager Maxwell Seldon, played by Russ Gerard, has led a troubled life and takes it out on others with a selfish, overbearing attitude.

Working to make ends meet, people needing to find faith and troubled relationships are all universal themes that are just as relevant today as they were in the ’40s, cast members agreed.

Marty Bartel, who plays the store’s glamorous bookkeeper, Dixie Plunkett, recalled one particular evening after rehearsal when the musical’s themes crossed over into real life.

“There’s one scene that Sean Morgan (the director) rewrote, an intense scene between me and the lead character,” Bartel said. “Afterwards, I was talking to one of my friends on the phone and almost word for word it was the same dialogue [from the musical], and I was able to say to him some of the same words from one of my songs.

“After that, I realized this is not just a play,” she added. “I know people will relate to this.”

Van Helden said she, too, has heard the exact same sentiments as those acted out in the production — people trying to keep up with daily life as the recession drags on, just barely keeping their heads above water. They’re worn out, out of hope and out of faith.

“The Christmas Post,” she said, brings a message of “being able to have a faith to hold onto.”

Morgan, a veteran performer and director, said he worked hard to adapt the script to get the message across that with faith, anything can happen.

“When I first saw the script I thought, ‘this is cute and do-able,’ but to me it didn’t mean very much. There wasn’t any depth to the characters so the audience can care about them,” Morgan explained. “I wanted to show what this mother goes through, and how Maxwell (the store manager) has alienated himself against the world.”

There will be people in the audience that will have gone through the same kinds of difficult situations as the cast, he said.

“We need to show that God’s grace is bigger than any of these problems,” Morgan said.

Christian Center has been declaring the message of God’s grace through its annual Christmas productions for 29 years. The productions started as a solo performance play on a Sunday evening in 1982. In 1989, under the direction of Executive Pastor Dick Bishop, who’s taken a leadership role for many years in producing the Christmas shows, the church presented a large-scale production that included live animals.

“We found that the community was anticipating the Christmas musical each year, and little by little we enlisted the aid of talented members to help meet the production demands.”

The shows have progressively become more elaborate and now span two weekends, always presented free of charge as a Christmas present to the Flathead Valley.

“This church is committed to giving this as a gift to the community,” Morgan said. “This year has been a year for belt-tightening. I’ve cut corners, yet show how through the grace of God” it comes together.

 Bartel said the message from “The Christmas Post” is that with just a little faith and hope people can take big steps that catapult them into a bigger faith in Christ.

“If the shepherds would’ve have sat around talking about their miseries, they never would’ve made it to Bethlehem,” she said.

Ten-year-old Halle Conroy, who portrays one of the “newsies” selling newspapers outside the Herzog’s store, said she loves acting and singing. She was in last year’s Christian Center production and has acted in other plays.

It’s fun, Conroy said, but the message of the musical isn’t lost on the young actress.

“I think a lot of people will learn to accept God into their hearts,” she said. “And I think that’s why we’re doing this, so they can come to know Christ.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.