Christmas, Apparently...

Synopsis

Christmas Eve has been organized into forty-nine laminated tabs.

Holly Hartwell’s binder accounts for everything: dinner, decorations, arrivals, departures, even contingency plans. Then the doorbell starts.

An electrician who expected a five-minute job. A professional Santa on his last season. A delivery driver who can’t close out his route. The Oak Street Community Carolers—including one teenager completing court-ordered community service.

Nobody leaves. Dinner keeps not happening.

Every chair pulled up to the table makes the evening harder to manage—and harder to imagine without.

Production Approach

The audience should fall in love with the house before they realize why.

Nothing about the set should feel theatrical. Every object belongs to someone who has lived here for years. Christmas is already in progress when the audience arrives.

The comedy grows because every solution creates room for one more problem. The evening becomes larger, warmer, and less controllable with every knock at the door.

By the final scene, the room should look exactly like Christmas feels after everyone you love has finally found a seat.