I’m in the holiday mood more and more these days. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to write a holiday show off-season. When you think about all those Christmas movies that you’ve enjoyed over the years, they obviously spent a lot of off-season time trying to get in the mood. How Christmasy can you get in the middle of the summer?

Well, as I’m starting to discover, one can get VERY Christmasy if you have the need and drive, which I have.

I decided earlier this year that I wanted to write a Christmas show. I checked with my group of young actors to see if they thought it would be fun to do a Christmas-themed show this year, and I my request was meant with a resounding “yes!” I was thrilled.

I sat down with the entire group in May to do some brainstorming and just to get some thoughts about what Christmas was to them. They gave me a lot of good ideas and much to think about.

So now as I am in the writing season of late June, I find myself writing Christmas tunes, writing Christmas sketches, and trying to find an over-arching theme that would make this Christmas show unique and special.

My goal is to capture the magic of the holiday season. The joy and the wonder, not that everything I will be writing will be cheery and sappy. Oh no, I like the hard-hitting stuff, too. I mean, it’s not drama if I don’t get the women in the audience to cry, right?

I have a particularly heart-wrenching one which is going to be awesome. But my overall goal is to have the audience walk away, humming a new tune with a smile on their faces and an anticipation in their hearts.

I’m working on a completely original production which will be a combination of drama and music.  There will be four shows in early December at the Penang Performing Arts Centre.

I am totally in the mood and am having a blast writing sketches with titles like:

Arise and Touch the Dawn

Jolly Old Saint Hick

The Last Shepherd

Season’s Greetings

The Family Homecoming

AND Much, Much More!

Christmas is the most joyous time of the year—even in June.