(gently chiming bells) - The theater was a natural part of my life.

When I got to New York, I started at the very bottom of the run as a painter on film crews.

And eventually, somebody asked, "can anybody here draft?"

So they took me up to the art department, and as I say, I never left.

This is the lobby gallery of the Dietrich theater in Tunkhannock, and there are six showcases that on a monthly basis have different displays of local art, local history.

And then at Christmas, they're specifically decorated for the Christmas season and about 17 years ago, I was asked if I wanted to do one and being a stage designer in the beginning of my career, I figured well, these are sort of like stages, I can make a little theater and put it in there with the Christmas theme.

And I enjoy doing it and community loved having it.

So it sort of became a habit and it grew and grew.

I realized I had a lot of stuff in storage.

You know, maybe we could do something.

Why don't we call it Christmas in July?

And I'll fill up a couple of the cases with the pieces that I have in storage.

This window represents a little tribute to the Commedia dell'arte acrobats.

I had seen a wonderful full moon from our apartment window in the city so the idea came to me, let's put together these little Commedia figures that I have as though they're putting on their show on a night of the full moon, which was in December so it's right before Christmas.

(upbeat music) This is a setting of the inside of a clock tower, which is a wonderful, both architectural space and mechanical space.

I'm always looking for characters to put in the models because it starts with having a story of what the characters are up to.

And then I found these little monkey musician characters.

Suppose the monkeys have run a muck in the clock tower on Christmas Eve.

So that's what I titled it.

It's Christmas Eve - Mischief In The Clock Tower Who Let The Monkeys In?

And monkeys are climbing on the scaffolding, knocking over the chairs and generally causing mischief on Christmas Eve.

So that's the story.

I have credited everybody who's helped me on which is quite a list of people it takes to build all of this.

These windows are only nine inches deep.

These are 19 inches deep so I've got more space to actually do something.

That box is absolutely inflexible, everything has to fit.

The Nutcracker is the most popular Christmas ballet, the family has a party and the child falls asleep and the Christmas tree magically grows in her dreams and the nutcrackers come alive.

And I called it Nutcracker Sweet because it's a very sweet story and it also indicates that it isn't the full Nutcracker ballet, but it's a sweet little image of it.

This window is a preview of what will be in the big window across the hall, a Victorian themed idea of a circus in a theater, not in a tent.

(upbeat music) I've got to have a story to tell.

I don't do a design and then look for characters, I've got to have the characters to start with and the story then.

Whatever story creates in your imagination how you see it and, where it's set and what it ought to be and what it feels like.

(upbeat music)