One Christmas Eve by Lynne Halliday, James Hindman, Arlene Hutton, Craig Pospisil, and Gretchen Cryer
LOCATION
The Road on Magnolia – THEATRE
10747 Magnolia Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91601
One Christmas Eve
By Craig Pospisil, Lynne Halliday, James Hindman, Arlene Hutton, and Gretchen Cryer
Directed by Darryl B. Johnson and Kay Capasso
CAST
Andy: Kris Frost
Darla: Karrie King*
Todd: Jason Kreinberg
Jenny: Jessie Franks
Stephen: Carl Johnson
Erin: Ann Hearn
Matt: Samuel Lewis
Molly: Keelia Flinn
RJ: Merrick McCartha
Taylor: Christine Joelle*
Joellen: Cole Crawford
Abbie: Allison Blaize
Robin: Natalie Llerena
Robert: Chase Cargill
Terry:Ray Watanga
Lacey: Tiffany Wolff
Sharon: Tina Carlisi*
Linda: Sorel Carradine
Gerald: Rob Beddall
Ellie: Lauren Murphy Yeoman
*Appears courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association
TICKETS
No reservations or advance tickets. Admission is by donation ($15 suggested).
MEET YOUR PLAYWRIGHT
CRAIG POSPISIL is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker, and he’s thrilled to be a part of the Road Theatre’s Summer Playwrights Festival for a seventh time. He is the author of the plays Months on End, The Dunes, The Poles of Inaccessibility and Somewhere in Between. His plays have been seen at Purple Rose Theatre, Detroit Rep, Barrington Stage, Bay Street, City Theatre (Miami), around the US, and in two dozen countries on six continents, and translated into seven languages. Craig has written over 60 short plays, including It’s Not You (theAtrainplays, Vol. 1), There’s No Here Here (Best American Short Plays 2014-2015), and Dissonance (Best American Short Plays 2010-2011). Craig, along with Lynne Halliday, James Hindman, Arlene Hutton, and Gretchen Cryer, wrote The Gorges Motel, which premiered at the 20th annual New York International Fringe Festival. His short film January was recently on the festival circuit, and was an official selection at the Adirondack, Bahamas, Berkshire, Big Apple, Cayman Island, and Roma Cinema international film festivals, among others. www.CraigPospisil.com
LYNNE HALLIDAY is a performer and playwright. She has appeared at the York Theatre, 54 Below The Guggenheim Museum and sung with ABT. She is a co-author of “The Gorges Motel”, a FringeNYC standout that is being published by Dramatists’ Play Service, as well as “By the Numbers”, which recently premiered at in Florida and is being developed in New York by the Now Collective. Her work has been seen at Coogan’s Play with your Dinner and her Ballad of 72nd Street appeared in the TBG Fast Play Fest.
ARLENE HUTTON is an alumna of New Dramatists, member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, three-time winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival, nine-time finalist for the Heideman Award, recipient of an EST/Sloan Commission and NYFA Fellowship. Plays include LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC (NY Drama League Best Play nomination), AS IT IS IN HEAVEN and THE NIBROC TRILOGY(both at Actors’ Co-op), and GULF VIEW DRIVE (Rubicon Theatre, 2018 Ovation Award: Best Production, Large Theatre).
JAMES HINDMAN – WRITER: POPCORN FALLS (Off Broadway, Fall of 2018), PETE ‘N’ KEELY (Outer Critics nomination, two Drama Desk nominations), MULTIPLE FAMILY DWELLING (New Jersey Rep), THE GORGES MOTEL (NYFringe Festival), THE AUDIENCE (Transport Group, Drama Desk nom.), THE DRAMA DEPARTMENT (Terrence McNally Award finalist) THE BIKINIS (Long Wharf Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals), POINT OF INTERSECTION (Best short plays of 2018, Smith and Kraus). ACTOR: Six Broadway shows, Marvel’s WOLVERINE podcast, OCEAN’S 8, IRON FIST, PUBLIC MORALS, MADAM SECRETARY, THE BLACKLIST and the upcoming film, THE TORTURE REPORT.
MEET YOUR DIRECTORS
DARRYL JOHNSON
Darryl Johnson is a 15-year member of The Road has directed several plays here, including COOPERSTOWN, SMORGASBORD, JIMMY JUMPS, SOAR, THE JUNTO, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and a plethora of staged readings. His numerous other directorial credits include: INTO THE WOODS, PIPPIN, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, WORKING, THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE, PVT. WARS, THE CLEARING, and A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD at venues such as InterAct Theatre, the Met Theatre, The Tiffany, The Matrix, Theatre Neo, Fremont Centre Theatre, Yorba Linda CLO, and the McCoy Rigby Conservatory of the Arts. Darryl attended the USC Film School and the American Film Institute and has directed several films. He runs a business directing and teaching musical theatre to kids, including a summer camp called TheatriCamp.
KAY CAPASSO
Kay Capasso has acted in more than eighty theatre and film projects in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and in regional markets all over the country. She holds an MFA in Acting from Actors Studio Drama School and a BA in Theatre from Alma College. www.kaycapasso.com
An Interview with Playwright Craig Pospisil
1: What is the name of your play?
I wrote two scenes – MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT and BEARING GIFTS WE TRAVERSE AFAR – in the play ONE CHRISTMAS EVE.
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
I was an apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the summer I was sixteen, turning seventeen. I built sets, made props, whistled like a bird for their production of THE CHERRY ORCHARD, and played a cook in CYRANO DE BERGERAC.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
No, of course not. (Yes, of course I do. But fortunately few people ever realize it…)
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
In terms of what I write about, I know that my plays have themes of alienation that I return to again and again. It’s not that I set out to write about alienation when I sit down to start something new, but a lot of my characters struggle to make themselves clear to each other.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
My three and a half year-old daughter. Of course, sometimes she usually demands our passion . . . which leads to another passion: wine.
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
Always. I have a couple of full length plays that I’m working to finish. And both of them – THE POLES OF INACCESSIBILITY and DISSONANCE – were part of earlier Summer Playwrights Festivals at the Road, and that helped a lot in developing them.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
As a kid I would always say lemon meringue pie. As an adult . . . just anything with sugar in it. Except flan.
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
I always have to thank my family for their support and encouragement. Oh, and for putting up with me.
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
Christmas is coming!
An Interview with Playwright Lynne Halliday
1: What is the name of your play?
“What Child is This?” and “Deck the Halls”, both parts of “One Christmas Eve”
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
Playing Polly in “The Boyfriend” at the Sharon Playhouse. For 25 dollars a week, plus room and board.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
It’s impossible not to- you only realize it after the fact, though.
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest
Art, community, need.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
I confess I am addicted to playing bridge.
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
Tons! Like producing James Hindman’s brilliant play, “Popcorn Falls”, directed by Christian Borle. It opens at the Davenport theatre in midtown Manhattan in September!!!!
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
Souffle.
8: Describe your play in 3 words!
Charming Christmas ornament.
An Interview with Playwright James Hindman
1: What is the name of your play?
ONE CHRISTMAS EVE. I am one of five writers.
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
I painted the sets! I needed a ride home one day after high school and a friend said ‘I’ll give you a ride home if you help me paint the set.’ It was a melodrama. I painted three large tombstones. The teacher asked if I wanted to help out. So for the three performances, I sat behind one tombstone and held it in place. The audience never saw me…but I was hooked!
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
Yes. But I don’t always write what these people would do in real life…I write what I would WANT them to do in real life. I also try to make them funnier.
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
As an artist, I tend to gravitate toward ‘people learning their power.’ People fighting for their place in the world.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
I am also an actor. I’ve appeared in many Broadway and television shows.
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
Yes, I have a play, POPCORN FALLS that is opening Off Broadway this fall. It will play at The Davenport Theatre in New York. And my play, MULTIPLE FAMILY DWELLING will have a reading in London this winter.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
Banana Cream pie!!!
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
If the Big Bang Theory is correct, we are all connected, so never be afraid to tell your story because it is the story of us all.
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
Magic of connecting.
An Interview with Playwright Arlene Hutton
1: What is the name of your play?
Home for the Holidaysand We Need a Little Christmas,
both in the evening of one acts ONE CHRISTMAS EVE.
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
Running the box office at the Rollins College summer theatre.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
Yes! All the time.
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
Stories about women.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
Travel. Seeing theatre.
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
I have an EST/ Sloan Foundation commission and a commission from the Big Bridge Theatre Consortium.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
Chocolate chip cookies
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
Many thanks to all the actors. Wish I could be there in LA to take you out for a drink or meal!
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
One Christmas eve.