A parade of characters and themed activities are planned prior to each performance so that audience members may meet the participants, get autographs or have pictures taken..

As many readers and theater staff will be performing their own holiday traditions this week, there are few productions to report. However, there are still one or two groups taking advantage of the lag and presenting concerts and performances of cheer. And there is even more to look forward to as we start heading into a new year.

The theater is also coordinating a Children’s Theatre Scholarship Fundraiser with the performances to help raise money for disadvantaged kids to attend acting classes and summer camp, as well as enable Title One schools to attend its regular season shows.

Next week, it’ll begin to look a lot more like Christmas when the Children’s Theatre of Winson-Salem Youth Playhouse presents A Children’s Christmas Carol.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem will host a variety of holiday festivities throughout December. This week, the museum is giving guided candlelight tours Thursday through Saturday, which include stories about the Reynolds family’s holiday traditions and an organist playing carols on the historic home’s original Aeolian organ.

Saturday, the Uptowne High Point Association and the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival join to present the sights and sounds of Christmas at the third annual “Uptowne High Point Holiday Stroll: A Dickens Christmas,” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The familyfriendly event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, High Point University’s music department will treat the community to a night of music and entertainment with its Opera Workshop, which features a series of opera scenes. Showcasing both well known pieces, such as that of Mozart, and lesser known pieces, the event will be held at 7:30 p.

Also bringing fairy tales to life this week is Community Theatre of Greensboro. Filling the Carolina Theatre with munchkins, flying monkeys and witches, the community’s 18th annual production of The Wizard of Oz.

The outrageous comedy centers around three sisters and their attempt to put on a Christmas play. Each sister has her own unique personality and unusual events happening in her life — one is arrested, one is pregnant and one is pulling her hair out as the Christmas pageant becomes a mess.

Also, on Saturday only, High Point Theatre is featuring a wild night for its audience. Drawn from the classic and well-loved TV series “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” High Point Theater’s stage show is featuring upclose encounters with beautiful beasts, as well as select filmed scenes from the series with narration by Peter Gros.

Also on Saturday, Greensboro Symphony’s concert at Westover Church includes three talented “phantoms.” Craig Schulman, Ron Bohmer and Ciaran Sheehad all have performed as the lead in Phantom of the Opera.

The warmhearted comedy is set in Atlanta, Ga. in the 1930s, where the members of the extended Freitag family prepare for Ballyhoo, the social event of the season. While the conflict in Europe looms and Gone With the Wind.

And although Woods of Terror’s haunted trail doesn’t take place in a theater, it’s still putting on some hair-raising performances now through Nov. 3, as is Spookywoods in Jamestown’s Kersey Valley..

In other news, the Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum is still seeking fulllength original plays or musicals for its 20th annual North Carolina New Play Project. Deadline is Nov. 15. For more information visit www.playwrightsforum.org.

In other news, the Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum is seeking fulllength, original plays or musicals for its 20th annual North Carolina New Play Project. Any play or collection of related one-acts by a North Carolina resident or student can be submitted.

Also continuing this week is North Carolina Shakespeare Festival’s main-stage production of the classic Romeo and Juliet.

North Carolina Shakespeare Festival’s main-stage production of the classic Romeo and Juliet.

Saturday night, check out Greensboro College’s Huggins Auditorium for an enlightening and fascinating presentation of dance. The world dance benefit, which will feature African dance, bellydance, sword balancing and more, is sponsored by the Torque Bellydance troupe and Twisted Dance Studios.

North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (NCShakes) is celebrating this final Friday of August with a “Final Friday” celebration, a monthly entertainment series. The Winston- Salem improv comedy group Nekkid Feet will perform at the theatre’s Spirit Center in High Point.

Continuing to promote its upcoming Shakespearean classic, NCShakes is also hosting a series of Shakespeare Slams, the first of which is Saturday at DaBeen Espresso, 709 W. Lexington Ave., High Point. Individuals and small groups will have a time limit of five minutes to present sonnets or short scenes from Shakespeare’s plays.