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<p>LARKSVILLE &#8212; Stiffly formal and oh-so-proper, a guardian of precious medieval manuscripts and Renaissance paintings, Sebastiano Longinioso looks askance at the Bohemian tourist with the light-up socks and iPod.</p><p>Why is she bringing a paint brush and canvas into his museum?</p><p>&#8220;Bash, I&#8217;m not here for the tour,&#8221; she tells him, cheerfully ignoring Sebastiano&#8217;s protest that he doesn&#8217;t like that nickname. &#8220;I&#8217;m here to steal &#8212; oops! sorry, God! &#8212; I&#8217;m here to be inspired.&#8221;</p><p>Audience members who attend the new Nativity Play &#8220;A Christmas Card Portrait,&#8221; at 4 p.m. Dec. 24 at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville will soon learn the tourist, whose name is Felicity, hopes to glean ideas from Nativity paintings by Pietro della Francesca, Frederico Barocci and Matthias Grunewald and other artists for her own line of Christmas cards.</p><p>Along the way she&#8217;ll learn what the old-time masters included in their artwork, and why.</p><p>While 16th-century painter Grunewald, for example, inserted a homey wash tub and a potty into a Nativity painting alongside luxuriously attired angel musicians, &#8220;the purpose was to show Jesus was not only divine but human,&#8221; said the Rev. Gerald Gurka, pastor at St. John the Baptist, who wrote the play.</p><p>Despite his divinity, Gurka said, the holy child needed the same things all babies need.</p><p>The holy family would have craved warmth and nourishment, too, as artist Conrad von Soest illustrated in a 1403 painting in which Joseph has built a small fire to grill food. Puffed-out cheeks show he&#8217;s blowing on the fire to keep it going.</p><p>Other artists who gave St. Joseph various tasks on the first Christmas night showed him cutting up his socks to create swaddling clothes or hurrying off in search of midwives, Gurka said.</p><p>When the women skilled in childbirth arrived, according to a legend Gurka encountered in his research, one of them doubted her colleague&#8217;s assertion that the young mother was a virgin.</p><p>Her hand withered as a punishment but, as Sebastiano explains to Felicity in the play, &#8220;God is all merciful and forgiving. The illuminated manuscript beautifully portrays Salome&#8217;s hand as being healed when she holds the infant Jesus.&#8221;</p><p>Angels, shepherds and kings are part of the story, too, along with a donkey and ox who, according to another legend, have the gift of speech on Christmas Eve.</p><p>Mary Sincavage, of Larksville, portrays the donkey, admitting she rented &#8220;the most outrageous (donkey head) I could find&#8221; from Costumes By Barbara in Luzerne so she could add another humorous element to the play.</p><p>Gurka had already injected some levity by suggesting the stable was the innkeeper&#8217;s &#8220;man cave&#8221; where he escaped from his nagging wife and having Felicity come up with several schemes for making money.</p><p>Eventually, Felicity will step away from her plan to design a line of Wise Men capes and explain she wants to &#8220;put my heart &#8230; myself &#8230; into what I create,&#8221; which leads to Sebastiano gaining a new respect for her.</p><p>Taking part in the Nativity play, which is the latest in <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/features/5380/portraits-of-the-passion-artwork-inspires-play-at-local-church" target="_blank">a long line of &#8220;Father Jerry&#8221; productions</a>, are several dozen children, parents and senior citizens &#8212; in some cases entire families.</p><p>&#8220;The children are very interested in the Christmas story. We put up a Nativity scene under the tree,&#8221; said Jessica Lee, who portrays Mary while her husband, Dennis Lee, portrays Joseph. The couple&#8217;s 7-year-old twins, David and Dennis Jr., have roles as shepherds and their 5-year-old daughter, Dannica, is an angel.</p><p>&#8220;It gets us in the mood for Christmas,&#8221; said Curt Suda, who portrays King Melchior. &#8220;It gets us ready for the season.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The cast of &#8220;A Christmas Card Portrait&#8221; includes, first row: Mary Sincavage as the donkey; Dannica Lee and Julie Antall as angels; Dennis Jr. and David Lee as shepherds, and Paige Suda as an angel. Second row: Gabriela Gronkowski as a midwife, Sarah Lechak as the angel Gabriel, Annette Fetchko as Mrs. Innkeeper, Curt Suda as King Melchior, Rachel Suda as an angel playing the violin, Jessica and Dennis Lee as Mary and Joseph and Caitlyn Suda as a reader. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns3_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>The cast of &#8220;A Christmas Card Portrait&#8221; includes, first row: Mary Sincavage as the donkey; Dannica Lee and Julie Antall as angels; Dennis Jr. and David Lee as shepherds, and Paige Suda as an angel. Second row: Gabriela Gronkowski as a midwife, Sarah Lechak as the angel Gabriel, Annette Fetchko as Mrs. Innkeeper, Curt Suda as King Melchior, Rachel Suda as an angel playing the violin, Jessica and Dennis Lee as Mary and Joseph and Caitlyn Suda as a reader. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns4_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mary Sincavage portrays the donkey and Sarah Lechak portrays the angel Gabriel in the Nativity play at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns4_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Mary Sincavage portrays the donkey and Sarah Lechak portrays the angel Gabriel in the Nativity play at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns2_faa-1-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jessica Lee and Dennis Lee portray Mary and Joseph in &#8216;A Christmas Card Portrait,&#8217; a living Nativity at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns2_faa-1-.jpg</photo2><caption2>Jessica Lee and Dennis Lee portray Mary and Joseph in &#8216;A Christmas Card Portrait,&#8217; a living Nativity at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Five-year-old Dannica Lee and her brother, Dennis Lee Jr., who portray, respectively, an angel and a shepherd boy, wait their turn to rehearse &#8220;A Christmas Card Portrait&#8221; at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_stjohns1_faa.jpg</photo3><caption3>Five-year-old Dannica Lee and her brother, Dennis Lee Jr., who portray, respectively, an angel and a shepherd boy, wait their turn to rehearse &#8220;A Christmas Card Portrait&#8221; at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville. </caption3><photoCredit3>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Christmas play is latest written by church pastor the Rev. Gerald Gurka</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;A Christmas Card Portrait,&#8217; a meditative journey through the art world&#8217;s depiction of the birth of Jesus</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Written and directed by the Rev. Gerald J. Gurka from an original script</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 4 p.m. Dec. 24. Followed by the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass.</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> St. John the Baptist Church, 126 Nesbitt St., Larksville</p><p><strong> Info:</strong> 570-779-9620</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘A Christmas Card Portrait’ is the Rev. Gerald Gurka’s latest Nativity play at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville