Published in the collection Thin Lines

Almost Christmas

A one act drama for 2M, 1W.

Runtime: 30 minutes

Period: Present Day

Setting: A rural bar.
Characters: (2M, 1W)
CHRISTIE - Late 20's - 30's. As prickly as a porcupine - and as defensive.
GLEN - The bar's oldest and most faithful customer. A fixture.
COREY - A young guy, running a bar that doesn't feel like his yet.


Premiered February 2012
The Venture Theatre
Directed by Robert Brian Wood
CHRISTIE Liz Allen
GLEN Gary Treglown
COREY Wayland Smedley

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Almost Christmas
Staged reading, New York 2012
Between Us Productions
directed by Samantha Lee Manas
Pictured: Eric Chase, Anna Stefanic and Chris Barber

ABOUT Almost Christmas

Drama, 30 min, 2m, 1w

Almost Christmas
Corey Volence, Jenn Gannon and Gary Olson in the 2012 production at the Lowndes Shakespeare Theatre in Orlando. Directed by Daniel Cooksley.

Almost Christmas is a half hour one act for 2m, 1w, and was a top ten finalist for the Arts and Letters Prize for Drama. The play premiered in February 2012 at the Venture Theatre in Billings, MT.

Almost Christmas takes place in a bar, late at night on Christmas Eve, where a bitter waitress clashes with a crusty drunk and the bar's naive new owner as they wait for a post Midnight Mass traditional gathering that may or may not be happening now that the bar's long-time owner has passed away. As tensions rise, secrets are spilled, lines are crossed and the stakes become life or death.

Why this play?

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I joined a theatre company in Santa Monica. The company eventually fell victim to the financial pressures working against a small theatre in a high rent area - but the people I met during that tumultuous time were fascinating, complicated, artistically driven... and, as often happens in small groups, had complex, interwoven personal lives. A couple of them made it into this play - modified, of course, and in a fictional setting.
Glen's monologue about looking in the mirror and being surprised at seeing an old man comes from an off-hand remark by my father about mental ages, and how he mentally pictured himself as he was at seventeen - and it was always a bit of a shock to see his actual outward appearance in the mirror. Don't we all have a mental age that is quite seperate from our actual age? I know I do!

Sample Dialogue...

Almost Christmas

The play is published in the collection THIN LINES from Next Stage Press

Almost Christmas     Almost Christmas