Sunday, the Waukesha Civic Theatre will host a benefit concert to raise money for those directly affected by the Christmas Parade Tragedy.
The cast of Sister Act, the musical currently playing in downtown Waukesha will perform a special holiday medley featuring songs from the musical as well as classic Christmas carols. All of the money raised in the Sunday show will be donated to the Waukesha Community Fund.
The Waukesha Civic Theatre was selling hot chocolate
during the Christmas Parade but as soon as all chaos broke the place quickly turned into a shelter for hundreds.
"We probably had you know 150-200 people here but people came in. We helped, we gave water, we put a movie on for the kids were here and you know we were just doing what we could to help," said Ryan Rehak, Associate Manager at the Waukesha Civic Theatre.
At the same time members of the theatre's cast were about to walk in the parade.
"The nuns were at the end of the parade but they had to walk past some pretty horrific things on their way back," said cast member, Paula Garcia.
Silas Knerler was one of those nuns.
"I was super excited, all of us were super excited. We were more towards the back so it was more of confusion for us more than anything. After the parade was canceled then the panic and the fear kinda like set in," said Knerler.
Though panic and fear still haunt them, the cast found a way to turn those feelings into motivation to give the city of Waukesha a positive, community-centered distraction.
"That next day after the tragedy happened we all came together and decided yes we have to do this we need to continue we need to keep going," said Carly Irland, a member of the cast.
