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...

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