That Time Christmas Was Saved — ‘Welcome to Meadowlark Falls: Christmas at Home’ (Review)
Tin Can Productions’ holiday movie themed show spread cheer in a hard year.
Christmas was just over a month ago, but because time just feels weird now, it seems like it was last week and an eternity ago. Since then, we’ve moved into a new year, lived through an attempted coup, inaugurated a new president, and been forced to learn about the intricacies of the stock market. January was really, really bizarre, to put it mildly.
Near the end of the month though, the final piece of Welcome to Meadowlark Falls: Christmas at Home arrived in my mailbox. I hadn’t realized there would even be a coda to the experience, but opening that brown paper envelope and discovering what was inside was something of a balm. Like the rest of the experience, it was meticulous, hand-crafted, and personalized. A pleasant reminder of what had come before and at just the right time.
Tin Can Productions’ Welcome to Meadowlark Falls: Christmas at Home takes place in the fictional small town of Meadowlark Falls and the real world of our current pandemic. That format informs the style of the show as one that’s conducted through mailed packages and online videos, but also the circumstances of the characters in it. Due to local COVID-19 regulations, Meadowlark Falls was unable to hold their Annual Holiday Festival and the will of the Town Council was just not there to figure out a way to safely connect for the holiday season. That is until the newest member, Jenny Snow decided that there must be a way to save Christmas for the town.
Participants acted as a pen pal for Jenny as she conveyed her feelings about the situation through letters and packages she mailed out. These are the centerpiece of Welcome to Meadowlark Falls. Looking back at it again, I’m struck by the sheer volume of goodies in these boxes and envelopes (the header image isn’t even everything!). There were letters from Jenny, advertisements for shops around Meadowlark Falls, bits of town history, photographs, the town newspaper, and more. Plus one particular letter that must have taken forever to make one of, let alone however many the team made over the run of the show.
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Taken together, the items demonstrate a thoughtfulness and handcrafted appeal that embodies the best parts of Christmas and the holiday season. They also quite literally craft this particular version of the world with the quirky, silly elements of a small town. (You could also write back to Jenny via addressed envelopes which she’ll respond to. I didn’t partake in this element, but it’s yet another demonstration of the care the team put in.)
Jenny’s letters also led you to the video elements of the show where you could watch, but not participate in Zoom calls between the townsfolk. This is where most of the plot played out as Jenny came up with and executed her plans to celebrate the holidays. Along the way there was more quirky small town shenanigans and some will they/won’t they between Jenny and her friend/maybe more than a friend Noel. It all came together with a genuinely touching gesture that connects the people of Meadowlark Falls with each other, and you with them, in a strange, disconnected holiday season.
The whole show had the hope, charm and cheesiness of holiday movies, which is very much what Tin Can Productions is going for. Prior to the pandemic there was an in-person show set in the town with some of these characters, and I would look forward to experiencing something like that. But, in some way, this carefully crafted experience felt like the right way to visit Meadowlark Falls and I would happily return in the future.
Welcome to Meadowlark Falls: Christmas at Home ran in December 2020. Keep an eye on their website for future projects.
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