Feaste ushers in holiday season at Northwest

The 39th annual Yuletide Feaste at Northwest Missouri State University returns Dec. 6-7 to the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom, which will be transformed for both evenings into an royal banquet hall filled with the sights and sounds of Renaissance England.

Hosted by the university's music and drama departments, the Feaste will include performances by the Northwest Madraliers, the Recorder Consort, the Royale Brass Quintet and the Royal Players.

Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. on both Friday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 8. Tickets cost $27.95 and are on sale in room 101 of the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building.

University students can charge one ticket to their Aladine account and may also charge tickets to their student account. Faculty and staff can charge tickets to their university accounts. Place credit card orders at www.nwmissouri.edu/finearts/music/yuletide.htm.

Attendance is limited to 320 guests each evening, and early reservations are suggested.

"It's a complete package, especially for friends, families, community folks and students to come and experience," said Yuletide Feaste musical director Brian Lanier. "Some guests say, 'This is how my holiday begins – after coming to the Yuletide Feaste. I’m in the holiday spirit now.'"

The costumes, music and singing during the evening are designed to create a stylized image of 16th century Tudor England, the era of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I as well as such figures as William Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake.

Northwest students, faculty members and emeriti faculty come together to form a cast of more than 60 costumed performers who stay in character throughout the evening.

Lanier said the Feaste is meant to provide a full sensory experience from the moment guests walk through the arched entryway.

"Students begin caroling in the outer parts of the Student Union, all three levels, at 6 p.m.," Lanier said. "Then guests go into the ballroom for the Yuletide Feaste, and the performance never stops. So basically the students are in performance mode for two and a half hours until we sing Silent Night."