Even in wartime, Christmas music brings people together. On Christmas Eve 1914, before the most brutal fighting of World War I, British and German soldiers sang Christmas carols in the trenches and laid down their weapons for a holiday truce. All Is Calm, now playing at Stage West in Fort Worth thro ugh Dec. 21, recounts this miraculous respite from war. The show by Peter Rothstein, with vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, features an a cappella chorus singing period pieces and the season’s most beloved carols while weaving together the soldiers’ letters and poetry. The show celebrates humanity, camaraderie, and the power of music. This production of All Is Calm reunites seven alumni and staff of Martin High School in Fort Worth, including Director and Stage West Executive Producer, Dana Schultes (class of 1995); Music Director and Actor, Jason Jordan (class of 1994); Choral Instructor, Randy Jordan (opening Choir Director); Scenic/Projection Designer and Stage West Technical Director, Bryan Stevenson (class of 1997); Assistant Director, Larry Cure (opening Theatre Director); Dialect Coach, Megan Noble (class of 1995); and Actor, Sinclair Freeman (class of 2014). Schultes talks about the show, what makes her high school special and lessons from a truce that happened more than 100 years ago. NBC DFW: What makes Martin High School Theater Department special that teachers and alumni can reunite after years to do a show?Dana Schultes: Good question. The group of people I went to school with are still in touch with one another, and are also not coincidentally alumni’s of the theatre and choir departments. Those departments had many strong women associated with it over the years. But the constant was two male teachers – best friends named Larry Cure and Randy Jordan, heading up theatre and choir, respectively.  For my part, it was the former Larry Cure, who I credit with being the glue. From the first days of school, all of us under his tutelage were instilled with the core values of trust, excellence, and tradition. We students were empowered to find joy and creativity with underpinnings of fierce dedication and hard work. We thespians came to our projects as collaborators and coworkers intent on making something brilliant every time.  And Larry Cure perfectly straddled the line between theatre father, teacher, and mentor. There was just something special and we all knew it.NBC DFW: Music is beloved, especially at the holidays, but what makes music so powerful at wartime? DS: Music is feeling that song can lift our spirits and provide the greatest joy. It can comfort us when we are scared or alone, brokenhearted. It can creep into our minds and become the soundtrack for anything we need to unpack cathartically. I believe it is precisely in times where we have conflicting emotions that music is most necessary. Music helps to bring us together at the holidays, and it helps lift the spirits under siege. It is one of the most powerful mediums we have as human beings. The show featuring Justin Mayer and Danny Horn includes an a cappella cast.. NBC DFW: This is an a cappella score. How does the voice raised in song with no instrumental accompaniment reflect the humanity of war?DS: A cappella is the voice in its purest form. War is humanity in its rawest form. Both are different; both the same. The marrying of the two is quite powerful. NBC DFW: There are many Christmas carols in this show. Do you have a favorite among them? Why?DS: There are too many to choose! There is great joy in “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “Wassail” and then the haunting, gorgeous overcoming “Silent Night” is hard to pass up as a favorite. In general, what I love about the show is its ability to find joy and uplifting moments even in the hardest of times. All of the music contributes to that. And they sound outstanding! I love my cast. NBC DFW: There are wars and conflicts around the world right now. What can this story from more than 100 years ago teach us about finding peace today?DS: I’m particularly sensitive to this as I am very aware of various conflicts around the world. They tear at my heart. This show helps me humanize those conflicts all that much more. I connect with the knowledge that even in those dire circumstances, people are finding moments of levity, peace, and strength – because that’s what the vast majority of us want. We need it. We seek it. We can look to this moment in history and remember to ask ourselves, “How can we find such courage to be vulnerable and find commonality with those who are ‘supposedly’ so different than us?” At the end of the day, that’s what those men found: those people weren’t different. They were people who were drawn into conflict through fierce propaganda…. Leaders who told them that The Others are The Enemy. This is happening even today. We don’t have to be this divided. We have so much more in common than not. As long as we let the few divide the many, we are lost. Once we let go of the few, we can find the many and be reminded that we all just want to have good, kindness-filled lives that allow us to do a little better for our kids. Learn more: Stage West ...read more read less