The 12 Days of Holidays Festival

Possibilities Theatre Company is proud to present their first-ever 12 DAYS OF HOLIDAYS FESTIVAL - A 12-day, 12-play holiday festival exploring all the facets of the holiday season - the joy, the pain, and everything in-between! Come join Possibilities on a Zoom adventure, as they tell different tales from the holiday season, slowly culminating in a worldly expression of the human experience of Christmas, Hanukkah, and beyond!

The festival will feature 6 full-length plays, 3 one-acts, 2 workshops presented over Zoom, and 1 radio play presented over SoundCloud. 

TICKETING INFO:

Possibilities Theatre Company runs on suggested donations to pay their artists, and keep future productions on their (currently virtual) stage. Each play is presented with a suggested $5 donation/per person, or a suggested $25 donation for an "All-Access" festival pass to view all plays in the festival! 

There is also a "Donation" option to donate a different amount when reserving tickets, simply pick the date/time of the performance you'd like to attend-- and donate for that date.

At Possibilities Theatre Company, nobody is ever turned away due to lack of funds, if you'd like to watch a play and are unable to donate, simply email possibilitiestheatrecompany@gmail.com to reserve your tickets!

You will be emailed the Zoom link to the performance(s) you reserved tickets for after reserving!

Got Question? Email possibilitiestheatrecompany@gmail.com! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up on all the latest regarding the "12 Days of Holidays" festival! We can't wait to celebrate the holidays with you!

THE PLAYS

Death by Poinsettia by Dwayne Yancey, directed by Rashaad Bond

Presented: Wednesday, 12/16 at 7:30 PM, and Saturday, 12/19 at 6 PM

MIDWESTERN PREMIERE: A lonely woman tries to kill herself at Christmas by eating a poinsettia, convinced the plant is poisonous. It’s not, though. A male co-worker shows up and a touching scene ensues

Featuring: Monica Villalba and Shiloh Boston

A Very Special Holiday Special by Mark Harvey Levine, directed by Skylar Grieco

Presented: Saturday, 12/12, at 2 PM, and Tuesday, 12/22, at 7:30 PM

CHICAGO PREMIERE: Eight comedies about Christmas and Hanukkah and where they meet. Trees talk! We meet Jesus' Bubbe! And Rudolph fights in the French Revolution.

Featuring: Sarah Cushman, Aimee Kleiman, Harley Karlson, Aaron Johnson, Paul Gary, and Jay Mullens

BALANCE by Audrey Lang, directed by Sophronia Vowels

Presented: Saturday, 12/12, at 5 PM, and Thursday, 12/17, at 7:30 PM

CHICAGO PREMIERE: Does life move on while you sit on the couch and watch "Dance Moms" or baseball games? Ivy's mom lies in her bedroom all day most days, depressed after losing her job. But Ivy's starting to think that when she flicks through the channels mindlessly, it's not as different as she'd like to believe. While her best friends Kaley and Soph rehearse two ballet performances, and her older sister and de facto guardian Nicole pursues a romance, Ivy struggles to find something, anything, to grab onto--whether it's the hope of returning to dance class, the possibility of getting her driver's license, or the remote chance that maybe her mom will get better in time for next year's Nutcracker.

NOTE: This play is being presented as a workshop.

Featuring: Luz Lopez, Olivia Tennison, Madeleine Maret, Elena Toppo, Jessica Sabat, Erin Lockett 

The Carol of Belle by Stephen Murray, directed by Annaleise Loxton

Presented: Sunday, 12/13, at 2 PM, and Friday, 12/18, at 7:30 PM

WORLD PREMIERE: This is a modern-retelling of "A Christmas Carol" focused on the relationship between Ebenezer Scrooge and his one-time-fiancée: Belle.

Featuring: Alana De Sa, Andre Colin, Tommy Waddell, and Hannah Boutilier

A Gift of Light by Dvora Zipkin, directed by Mark Bjorkquist

Presented: Sunday, 12/13, at 6 PM, and Monday, 12/21, at 6 PM

WORLD PREMIERE: Miriam is the only Jew in her class, and she hates being Jewish, especially around Christmas-time. This year, however, a surprising and impossible visit from her dead great-grandmother Sadie gives Miriam a peek into what it really means to be Jewish, and it changes everything.

Featuring: Shaya Harris, Sarah Sapperstein, Scott Spector, Anita Silvert, Alice Gentry, Allison Buck, Annie Gallo, and Jessica Kent

Hard-Boiled Eggnog: A Christmas Noir by Zack Peercy, directed by Kevin Blair

Presented: Saturday, 12/12, at 8 PM, and Monday, 12/21, at 8 PM

WORLD PREMIERE: An aspiring elf detective named Jangle gets his big break when Santa is found murdered just days before Christmas. In order to solve this case, Jangle will have to confront eternal beings, secret friendships, seedy cocoa bars, and the loss of his brother Jingle. Can he find Santa's hat in time to save Christmas? Is he strong enough to process his grief in a healthy way? Did he RSVP to Miss Figgy's Boxing Day Party? Answers, intrigue, and more can be found in this play!

Featuring: Pat Regan, Ruth Kaufman, Xavier Roe, Chris Khobasha, Madison Freeland, Peter Ruger, Aidan Schliesmann, and Maggie Cain

The Long Christmas Journey to Wellesley and Weston by John Minigan, directed by Suzanne Delle

Presented: Saturday, 12/19, at 2 PM, and Wednesday, 12/23, at 6 PM 

MIDWESTERN PREMIERE: In the style of Thornton Wilder: Over the course of 63 years, multiple generations of an Italian immigrant family take a Christmas car ride through time and place on their way to becoming an American family, gaining wealth and status but losing parts of their identity and history.

Featuring: Chrissy Nickel, Desi Brown, Eric Skoglund, and James Hoffmann

The Let's Fight Seasonal Affective Disorder Together Spectacular! by Lauren Wimmer, directed by Iris Sowlat

Presented: Monday, 12/14, at 8 PM, and Sunday, 12/20, at 2 PM

MIDWESTERN PREMIERE: It's the beginning of October which means the holidays are upon us and the weather's going to be super sad soon. A group of four strangers suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) respond to a classified ad to put up a show that will cheer up the community and, hopefully, themselves. Nearly ten years after the spectacular becomes a massive success, the message is appropriated and what was once a wholesome, cathartic show to provide solidarity has been co-opted by the new generation as a harmful glamorization of mental illness. The four once-strangers must reunite and remount the show to remind the world what its message is all about.

Featuring: Victoria Chavari, Daniel Vaughn Manasia, Gayle Starr, Isaac Otterman, Rebecca Husk, Sherry Legare, and Jordan Uecker

White Elephant by Sofia Tosches and Ben Lundy, directed by Zoey Laird

Presented: Sunday, 12/20 at 8 PM, and Wednesday, 12/23, at 8 PM

WORLD PREMIERE: Eight millennial "friends" gather together for a White Elephant gift exchange Christmas party. While the stockings may be hung by the chimney with care, St. Nicholas if probably staying as far away from this sh*t show as possible. People are stressed, people are drunk, and people are picking gifts from under the tree. Will they get what they want? Or will their secrets be what get unwrapped this year?

Featuring: Sydney Hanson, Harper Ford, Julie Roberts, Morgan Fuller, Holly Souchack, John Drea, Mitchell Nease, and Allie Wessell

The House in the Holler by k. Lyons, directed by Natalyn McCants

Presented: Tuesday, 12/15, at 7 PM, and Saturday, 12/19, at 8 PM 

WORLD PREMIERE: It's December 16th, 1966. In a small holler in West Virginia, a traveling abortion ring has come into town for one night only. Over the course of the evening five different patients show up, all with one goal: to get. that. abortion. However, their personal histories, unexpected side effects, surprise visitors, and outside pressures continuously complicate their evening. This play follows these women throughout the night as the exercise their right to choose--whatever the choice, no matter the cost.

Note: This play is being presented as a workshop-- meaning, a chance for the playwright to further develop the play for future production. There will be an audience talk-back with following each performance. 

Featuring: Paris Lachae, Keke Antoinette, Stephanie Anuwe, Maya Posey, Janan Ashton, Shiro Kihagi, SJ Hannah, Diriest Crowell-Buffington, and Jonella Landry

Bad Daughter by Julie Weinberg, directed by Megan St. Amand

Presented: Sunday, 12/13, at 8 PM, and Sunday, 12/20, at 5 PM

Maddie lives the woke life in Paris as far away from New Jersey as possible. But as the old Jewish proverb says: You can’t avoid your meshuga family forever.

Featuring: Ren Bell, Matthew Schufreider, Bill Chamberlain, Cynthia Thomas, Karla Rennhoffer, and Marisa Flores 

Black Santa by Aaron Mays, directed by Aaron Mays

Presented: Ongoing, 12/12/2020 to 12/23/2020

RADIO PLAY PREMIERE: Shortly before Christmas break, a third grader named Sharifa stands in front of her class and says, “Santa Claus is a black man from Detroit," sending the school into an uproar. To quell the storm, Patrice Patterson, the school's only black teacher, is asked to create an ad campaign to make Santa white again. As events unfold, Sharifa’s enrollment is placed in jeopardy, and Patrice must decide how to protect Sharifa and ultimately herself. 

This comedic play examines how race and racial prejudice can have a foothold on one of the most benign figures—Santa Claus.

Note: This play is ongoing, as it will be presented over Sound Cloud. Upon reserving a ticket, the Soundcloud link will be emailed for your listening pleasure. 

Featuring: Candice Jeanine, Siddhartha Rajan, Ellen Buschang, Steve Silver, Ayssette Muñoz, and Willie B. Goodson