An actress in a Christmas pageant who was suspended 25 five feet in the air by an overhead rope fell headfirst onto a concrete church floor and died authorities said.

The actress, 23, and two other performers were playing wise men on their way to Bethlehem before about 2,000 spectators during Wednesday night’s opening performance at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati.

The three were approaching a star when the young woman fell into an aisle in the theater, witnesses told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The young actress died Thursday morning. —L.A. Times, 12/19/08