At the moment when the vision of the cathedral is to appear, the screens marked E E are parted and folded back disclosing the chancel.  Perhaps some church nearby has stored in its basement an old stained glass window, which may be borrowed and used as background for the church scene.  Such a window was used in a performance of “Much Ado About Nothing” given some years ago at one of the Eastern colleges.  It was dimly lit from behind by electric globes and proved very successful in creating a churchly atmosphere.  If this can not be done, cover two of the tallest possible screens with any rich sombre colored drapery and stand them against the back wall.  In the Los Angeles production, the chancel was represented by a curtain of black velvet, flanked by two silver pillars, between them the altar.  Black makes an exceedingly rich and effective foil for bright colored costumes.  Whatever is used for backing in the chancel can be masked if unsatisfactory by Christmas greens, which should be arranged in long vertical lines that carry the eye up as high as possible and give a sense of dignity, or in the Gothic curves suggestive of church architecture.

Against this background, and in the center of the space, place the altar.  This can be made of a packing box painted gold or covered with suitable hangings.  In one performance of this play a sectional bookcase which stood in the room was hung with purple cheese cloth and served as an altar.  Should the stage space be deep enough broad steps before the shrine will give an added height to the priest and the angel.

If it is possible to have real scenery the most illusive method of revealing and hiding the chancel is to have the back of the hut painted on a gauze drop, which is backed by a black curtain.  At the cue for showing the chancel the lights in front of the gauze go out leaving the stage dark, then the black opaque curtain is rolled up or drawn aside and as the light is slowly turned on the chancel, the vision begins to take form through the gauze, the latter becoming invisible and transparent when there is no light in front of it.  The gauze prevents Holger from actually placing the pennies in the priest’s hand but if the two approach the gauze as though it were not there, and stretch out their hands so that they seem to touch, the priest being provided with additional pennies which he holds up at the altar, no one in the audience would guess that the coins had not been given him by the child.

Very few halls ostensibly built to house amateur play-giving are adequate for the purpose.—­Often the stage is merely a shallow platform without curtains to separate the actors from the audience, and the ceiling and walls surrounding the stage are so finished that the necessary screws for hanging curtains, may not be driven into them.  The amateur manager reaches the depths of despair when he finds that even the floor of the shallow platform offered him, is of polished hardwood and may not be marred by the screws of stage braces.