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Raue Center For The Arts is excited to announce a festive new collaborative holiday event featuring storytelling, holiday traditions and songs. Celebrate the spirit of the season with “Home For The Holidays” from December 22, 2017 – December 30, 2017!

“I have always loved the variety show concept. People buying one ticket to see a bunch of skits, songs and fun for kids from 1 to 92 is the ultimate form of entertainment,” says Jim Wojdyla, lead vocalist of Modern Day Romeos. “The holiday season is all about coming together to celebrate family, friends and all that you are thankful for. ‘Home for the Holidays’ does just that.”

Bring the whole family and celebrate the holidays with Raue Center and members of their professional in-house theatre company, Williams Street Repertory, in this fun, family-friendly and festive new show. Harkening back to the holiday TV specials of your childhood, Raue Center employees Lindsay Wolf and Caitlin Quinn teamed up with composer Evan Swanson to create a holiday special just for Crystal Lake!

The cast of “Home for the Holidays” is comprised of Raue Center and WSRep favorites, including Joel Bennett, Amanda Flahive, Jillie Mayer, Tina Naponelli, Billy Seger and Thomas Squires, who will share personal holiday stories. The lineup also includes the WSRep Comedy Troupe as well as students from Raue Center’s Sage Studio arts education program. Audiences can come share in these stories, sing along to beloved holiday tunes and also rock out with special guests, Modern Day Romeos and LAVA Rock! MDR hits the stage at 8 p.m. on December 22 as well as December 23 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., with performances by LAVA Rock at 8 p.m. on December 29 and 30.

Based out of the Chicago suburbs, MDR has remained the area’s quintessential party band for the past 15 years. All of the band’s members have come together from different musical backgrounds to create one of the most fun, unique and high-energy shows that can be experienced locally. MDR will bring the spirit of the season to the stage with holiday classics mixed in alongside new renditions of old favorites!

“We are really excited about this concept. It is our first time being a part of anything like this and it will also be our first time playing on the Raue Center stage,” says Wojdyla. “We started MDR in Crystal Lake, so for us it literally is ‘Home for the Holidays.’”

LAVA Rock is a multi-tribute band known for recreating the biggest hits and exciting live shows of the four greatest hard rock legends of all time: Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Van Halen and AC/DC. The band behind the hottest classic rock show in Chicagoland will be bringing new renditions of classic hits and some holiday favorites to the stage for a festive twist on their rockin’ setlist!

“The people at Raue Center are great, and it’s nice to get the love and support of the local community,” says Kerry Devine, lead vocalist of LAVA Rock. “The theater itself is a great venue to play. We like to take up as much space as we can in our performance, and Raue Center’s enormous stage is like a playground. We can’t wait to be back!”

This homegrown holiday special is fun, honest, touching and silly. Audience members are welcome to share their own holiday stories and might just start a new tradition. No matter where you are coming from, Raue Center and WSRep invite you to join them in celebrating the ups and downs of this crazy holiday season with their new holiday-themed variety show!

Tickets to “Home for the Holidays” are $35.50 or $6 for students. Tickets can be purchased online at rauecenter.org or via the Box Office at 815.356.9212 or at 26 N. Williams Street in downtown Crystal Lake. For more information, visit rauecenter.org.