Quannapowitt Players Highlight Festive Tales in 'Suburban Holiday 13'

It’s Christmas time! Get out the tree, ornaments, and put on Die Hard.

The Quannapowitt Players’ Suburban Holidays has returned for its annual 13th showcase, presenting seven holiday-themed plays. Ranging from 10 to 20 minutes each, the performance explores Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. The production is a fun and engaging show that gets audiences into a festive mood.

This year, the theater selected from 200+ scripts by local playwrights, including writers based in New York and New Zealand! Each play was directed by a different director who collaborated closely with the actors during rehearsals about the story’s themes. Some groups had the opportunity to speak with the playwrights of their segment.

The evening began with the hilarious Mom-ologue, How the Holidays Happen. It’s a funny one-woman 10-minute monologue. Featuring Angela Rossi, she masterfully portrays a whirlwind of maternal pride and chaos, listing all the events moms juggle during the holiday seasons. The audience enjoyed her narration and bubbling sarcasm. Rossi and playwright Alicia Ana Hernandez-Roulet illuminated a mom’s role in comical wit.

Next came A Christmas Hallmark Romance, a fast-paced and humorous satire on the tropes of holiday romance. While the cast was witty and had great comedic timing, it was a little hard to follow. Based on the rapid scene changes, I interpreted Jack McCleland's play as how fast holidays go by in the blink of an eye.

Brian Sensale and Michael McAfee are heading out for the hunt in T-Day+1. Their destination is not revealed until the conclusion, but certain people take this post-Thanksgiving event very seriously. The actors were bursting with energy perfectly capturing the chaotic tone of Tom Coash’s play.

Have you ever wanted to travel to someplace warm over the holidays? In one of the funniest plays, Kris Reynolds and Jodie Putnam scramble for the last pool chair. The laughs started right at the beginning when Shawn Maguire was fighting with his chair. Aside from all the calamity, playwright Lindsay Brown focuses on the real dilemma at stake.

After intermission, Letting Go of The Past takes a philosophical angle. Through creative storytelling, Chris Shaw Swanson’s play weaves a narrative about the past, present, and future. As the Past and Present have debates, the Future is quiet. Damien LaCount (Future) does excellent non-verbal performance, implying that even the future is unsure of events.

Ghost Resters takes a darker angle. I have always been interested in ghost stories. Amy Bennett-Zendzian’s story centers on a mother and daughter helping ghosts with unfinished business. It’s a compelling, but somber play. The actors delved into the moving narrative, portraying tough emotions and themes.

For the final segment, Die Hard Widows by Steve Korbor asks audiences an important question: is Die Hard (1988) a Christmas movie? Anetta LaCount, Jaime Hennesey, and Pegah Rouhani enjoy a holiday girls' night as their husbands watch the film in the living room. The trio fangirls over the late Alan Rickman, even incorporating a full-size cut-out into their festivities. Wait until you see who they invite at the very end!

The direction in these seven plays each offers something unique. Quannapowitt Players’ black box theater creates new settings with props, lighting effects, or slideshows. At one moment you’re sitting on a park bench until you’re in a cemetery surrounded by tombstones, and in the next moment, you’re in a kitchen. The theater knows how to evoke imagination for audiences.

Running for one more weekend, this showcase is a perfect way to kick off the holiday season. Bring your family, and immerse yourself in an evening of laughter, reflection, and holiday spirit for Quannapowitt Players' Suburban Holidays 13.