Flint Township View

Cornerstone church to present ‘The Bethlehem Inn’ dinner show and living Nativity




Cornerstone Baptist Church is preparing for its traditional Christmas dinner theater, Bethlehem Inn. Courtesy photo

Cornerstone Baptist Church is preparing for its traditional Christmas dinner theater, Bethlehem Inn. Courtesy photo

SWARTZ CREEK — The congregation of Cornerstone Baptist Church will continue a 10-year Christmas tradition when they present “The Bethlehem Inn” dinner theater and living Nativity.

Tickets cost $6 and must be purchased in advance. Tickets are available online at cornerstonemi.church. The ticket price just covers the church’s expenses. The show is intended to share the spirit of the season with the community, not raise funds.

Show times are 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, and Friday, Dec. 9, and 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.

“We have so many people who start calling us in October,” said Lucy Swedorske, drama director. “It really has become a community favorite and we’re so excited at how everyone just fell in love with this experience. We couldn’t be more pleased.

“It’s a unique experience because it’s full sensory. You don’t feel like you’re in a church or a gym. From the minute you walk in, everything is done to look like the streets of Bethlehem.”

Dinner guests will be transported to the streets of Bethlehem, complete with merchants, as they enter the church and make their way to the dining hall. There, their hosts, innkeepers Sarah and Eli, will welcome them.

“We are following the same format,” Swedorske said. “We do have some new people playing some of the parts. The servers will sing and there will be some comedic parts. The four butlers are lovingly called the four stooges because they bring the mayhem and the comedy.”

Zach and Nancy Morris will play the innkeepers again this year. The four butlers will be played by Dominic Burkhard, Matt McLaughlin, Andre Rosenbrook and Josh Lasley. Howard Epperson will portray the centurion.

Michael Wright and James Lasley will appear in the roles of shepherds.

The dinner menu will be switched up a bit and will not be served family style, but in individual plates, as an extra precaution due to COVID. The menu will include hummus and pita bread, Fattoush salad, roasted vegetables and chicken, and baklava.

The audience may participate in the show, even if it’s just by booing and hissing at the mention of the Romans, Swedorske said.

“You get music, you get food and you get to be part of the entertainment because it’s just a full emersion,” she said. “You’re not just sitting there watching, the show is all around you and you get to be part of it as much as you want. We do try to make it a full 360 sensory experience.”

The final song, “Do You Have Room,” is “just gorgeous,” Swedorske said.

“It makes you think, ‘Do I have room for the Savior? Am I going to be an innkeeper and refuse him room in my life?’” she said.

After dinner, guests will be led to the pavilion, where they will view a living Nativity with the Holy Family and live animals including a miniature donkey, goats, sheep, an alpaca, and a small calf or horse. Sydney and Noah McLaughlin will play Mary and Joseph.

“The experience what the season is all about,” Swedorske said.