The Iberia Performing Arts League will present its third USO Christmas show next week. 

And because this year’s show is set in the 1970s, said show director Donald “Doc” Voorhies, IPAL has decided to honor those who served at the time by offering 100 free tickets to the show for Vietnam veterans and their spouses. 

“I am of that generation, and I know how badly treated they were when they came back,” Voorhies said. 

“So this is something to honor them for their sacrifice and for their service.” 

The free-for-veterans performance, which is also for family members of the cast and crew, runs before the show opens to the general public. The special showing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Veterans can call IPAL at 337-364-6114. 

The IPAL box office will take down their names and number, and they can pick their tickets up at will call at the time of the show. 

For everyone else, the show runs for one weekend only, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m. A matinee performance also will be offered at 2 p.m. Dec. 2 and at 3 p.m. Dec. 3,   

Voorhies said for the past two years IPAL has done a USO Christmas show set in the 1950’s, one year honoring WWII veterans and one year honoring the Coast Guard in New Iberia. 

“This time we’ve kind of updated that,” Voorhies said. “It was like an old Bob Hope show, where he used to tour and perform for the troops. The most popular stuff we’ve kept, but we’ve added some new songs and some skits and things. It’s a new show,” he said. 

The show, titled “A USO Christmas Show — 20 Years Later,” features popular, period-specific Christmas music, comedy and skits. 

 While it is presented with permission of the USO, proceeds do not benefit USO, nor does the performance constitute an endorsement of IPAL by the USO.

“We did the show two times before and people kept asking, ‘are you going to do it again?’” said the show’s musical director, Mike Parich. “We don’t like to repeat stuff like that. So, long story short, we made the decision to do the show again, but we wanted to make a few changes. So we picked the theme — now it’s 20 years later.”

Parich said the crew is different too, with some old voices unable to participate and some new voices stepping in to fill those spots.

“We do about half of the show in a flashback kind of thing, where we remember stuff that we did. That sets the mode, and then we transition into the current crew,” he said.

Parich said that, in addition to music specific to the time, the show concludes with traditional religious music and then a musical finale tribute to the military.

“At the end, we reprise our grand finale, which will be a special group that does a medley of the U.S. armed forces branch songs,” he said.

Tickets are $20, and are available at Delaune’s Pharmacy, Paul’s Flower Shop, or the offices of the Daily Iberian. They can be found online by searching for “IPAL” at eventbrite.com. 

For more information, visit ipaltheater.com, email ipal@cox.net or call 337-364-6114 and leave a return phone number.