At Shady Acres Retirement Home, the residents are gearing up for their annual Christmas Eve Nativity play, and nothing about it is going according to plan. Ethel, the self-appointed director and overzealous Virgin Mary, tries to wrangle a cast of scene-stealing seniors, each one bringing their own gloriously wrong idea of what the story of Bethlehem is supposed to look like. Forgotten lines, hijacked roles, and outright mutiny follow, but somewhere in the chaos, the residents find real joy and real community.
Who’s In It
- Ethel, the self-appointed director and Virgin Mary
- Betty, Ethel’s practical, dry-witted co-director
- Frank, insistent on playing Baby Jesus at ninety years old
- Mable, adorably confused about whether she is the Sheep or Mary
- Ed and Sal, bickering Wise Men, one grumpy, one a self-styled Wise Guy
- Miriam, the flamboyant, self-declared Star of Bethlehem
- Wilbur, who narrates the whole production through his model train set
- Stanley and Harriet, a devoted couple perpetually lost in the plot
Comedy/Farce, Full-Length, Cast of 16.
If this story belongs on your stage, I would love for you to read it.
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