Cast Requirements

• JEN: High school teen (Fairy Snow Queen in Church play.)
• MEL: High school teen
• ROB: High school teen
• CHRIS CAROLE: A woman in her late 30s. She was married very young, and her husband abandoned her. Forced to give up her young children, this sweet lady barely makes a living on Market Street playing Christmas Carols year-round on her tambourine and drum, occasionally singing or humming. She’s not the world’s greatest musician---but the most dedicated. She lives frugally in a boarding house and donates all of December’s earnings to the soup kitchen where she volunteers.
• SANTA/NICK: A man in his 40-50s, sturdy, very likeable, good hearted and generous. A recovering alcoholic, he has been through the mill, but has been on the wagon for ten years. A Social Services Counselor by trade, he donates his December vacation to being a Street Corner Santa for the Homeless Shelter.
• JOE: A smart, very skeptical young teen. Underneath a tough exterior, he has a 10 karat heart.
• JOSEPHINE: Joe’s girlfriend. She is a young teen, bright, attractive and good-hearted. She tries to make excuses for Joe, because she understands he’s a good kid underneath.
• LITTLE MIKE: 12- 16-years old. Male or female. A rough, tough, smart street urchin, victim to a hard life.
• BRIT: Chris’,16-year-old daughter.
• RICH: Chris’, 17year-old son.
• NOEL: Chris’, 18 year-old daughter.
• SHOPPERS/PASSERSBY: Male/Female, all ages, any number.

Plot Summary

Chris Carole is a street musician who’s life has been a chapter out of the book of hard knocks. Married young, abandoned by her husband, and forced to place her three children in someone else’s care, Chris makes a paltry living playing Christmas Music on a portable cassette player, tambourine and drum. Whenever extra is available, though, she gives her extra earnings to the soup kitchen where she volunteers. It’s a life… not a great one, but it’s hers and Chris lives with her lot. Imagine her surprise, though, when her children, now in their teens with adopted families, team up and start a search for their mother!

Enter Nick, who in addition to his job at Social Services, collects donations in his Santa suit during Christmastime, to help support the Homeless Shelter which redeemed him and saved him ten years earlier. Through Nick, Chris’ children find a link and begin their quest with the aid of a woman hard on her luck, but great in heart. Much searching of records and investigating ensures, until finally… coincidentally (?), Chris is reunited with her own children after the children she is helping turn out to be her own.

From the start of this one-act, you feel the excitement of Christmas in the air, as well as the spirit of the holiday through the selfless acts of all of the characters involved.

The Setting

Bethelton (anywhere & everywhere). The present, about two weeks before Christmas on Market Street . No set is necessary. It’s simply a busy street corner, a simple backdrop or flat, and a street sign indicating Market Street. The Diner scene needs just a small table with two chairs and two place settings. The only other set pieces (props) are brought on by Chris and Santa and taken off with them when they exit.

$7.50/individual copy

$TBD/package
$30/performance royalty

Have you read Conti's The Mystery of the House of the Seven Gables, Wenceslas, The Little Drummer Boy, Little Miracle of Bethlehem, Taming of a Bull-(Y) or Shades of Sylvia ?

Author Biography

Born: in the shadow of the Verrazano Bridge, Brooklyn. Spent 4 years U.S. Navy. Member: 4 Biz-Unions AEA-AFTRA-SAG-AGMA; & DGA. Education: St. John’s U; CUNY-Media. Singing-Priv: E. Fowlston; Acting: American Academy of Dramatic Arts & American Theater Wing. Singing/Acting Perf:- 6 Summers, Equity Stock; Equity Library Theater, Columbia Artists Choral Tour; Lincoln Center: Philharmonic Hall (Schola Cantorum.) & N.Y. State Th:-German Schiller Theater. Operas: Traviata, Boheme Romeo & Juliet.Swedish Am. Line, Singer, 2 W. Indies. Cruises. Off Bwy: Provincetown Playhouse; TV: Nurses, Defenders, & Jackie Gleason; Cable TV-El. Commercial:-Rheingold Beer; Movies: The Hustlers & Love with the Proper Stranger.Radio: 8yrs., Hudson Valley, NY- DJ/Announcer/Newsman [also wrote news & copy]. Playwright Credits:- NY---2000: Alessandro, One Act play, finalist; Dawn:- “Lights Up Contest,” Cuneen-Hackett. Arts Center, Vassar st., Poughkeepsie, N.Y.2002: ‘Alessandro,’ Reading; Depot Th., Garrison, N.Y. Publications:-Drama Source: 5 One Act comedies: “ The Legacy,” “The Godmother I,” “The Godmother I-101,” “Saint Nicolas & Rudy,” & “The Godmother I and the Grump that Stole Christmas.”Merriwether Publ: One Act Comedy: “Night of the Living Cryonic Dead.”Lazy Bee Scripts Publ. (U.K.): 3 One Act Comedies: “The Merry Women of Windham,” “Mirror Mirror on the Wall,” & “Alessandro.”Finalist: Nov. 2005: Gettysburg College World Premier, One-Act Play FestivalOf : “The Merry Women of Windham.” Honorarium & 2 full Productions. Magazine Articles: 2001, Savannah; Theater Memories. 2004: (Child.) Whimsy; The Dragon That Could Sing Bass. Placebo Journal; (Epigram), “Doctologist.” Poetry.Com: 4 Poems. Song: Walking in Your Heart on C.D. Web: www.NickConti.com.

New England Entertainment Digest is owned by JAC Publishing & Promotions JAC Publishing & Promotions - P.O. Box 88, Burlington, MA  01803