Community Corner

Chatham Players' 'Christmas Cards' Features Warm Holiday Sketches

Production runs through Sunday.

Chatham Community Players present G. David Post’s holiday production “Christmas Cards,” a collection of original holiday sketches for the whole family, Thursday through Sunday.

The script was written when Producer Leslie Reagoso and Director John A.C. Kennedy—aware of Post’s love of Christmas—asked him to write a few holiday sketches for a show in December, according to a news release.

"One look at my eight-foot revolving Christmas tree with 1,200 European glass ornaments is enough to tell you how much I love Christmas," Post said. "When I was offered the opportunity to write some sketches for a holiday show, I jumped at the chance.”

Ideas came easily.

“If you took a guy who grew up watching the Rankin-Bass Christmas Specials, Carol Burnett and the X-Files and asked him to write a collection of sketches for a holiday Christmas show, I’m pretty sure he’d come up with the same pieces I came up with," he said.

The first script was inspired by a story a friend shared about his childhood. The next was inspired by one of his coworkers, who envisioned a courtroom scene. The same coworker inspired Post's favorite piece: a treatment of the Christmas Truce of World War I.

“This amazing story, of which I had never before heard, came to haunt me during the development of the work,” Post said. 

The cast of New Jersey residents includes Kristin Bennett of Montville, Joelle Bochner, Dexter and John A.C. Kennedy of Springfield, Howard Fischer of Berkeley Heights, Bruce Gandy of Florham Park, Ronan Green and Leslie Reagoso of Chatham, Mike Harvey of Summit, Jacob Lesser and Vikki Massulli of Gillette, Julie Ann Nolan of Little Falls, Chip and Kathy Prestera of Stirling, S. Lynn Rase of Edison, Scott Tyler of Morristown and Glen Post of Boonton.

Kennedy has directed more than 15 productions in Virginia, California, New York and New Jersey, and "Christmas Cards" will be his directorial debut at the Chatham Playhouse. He earned his MFA in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts and was executive producer of the CalArts New Play Festival in Los Angeles.

Rounding out Kennedy’s production team: musical director Evelyn McNair of Mendham, producer Leslie Reagoso, choreographer Shannon Barry O’Grady, stage manager is Andrea Herbert, scenic designer Steve Ruskin, scenic artist Donna Post, costume designers Maryann B. Post and Bev Wand, lighting designer Richard Hennessy and sound designer Joe DeVico.

Box Office Information

Performances are 8 p.m. Dec. 12, 13, 14 and 3 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15 at 3PM. All performances are at the Chatham Playhouse, 23 North Passaic Ave., in Chatham.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online at  ccp.ticketleap.com. For more information call 973-635-7363.

Cast photo caption: (L-R Top) Glen Post of Boonton, Bruce Gandy of Florham Park, Mike Harvey of Summit, Leslie Reagoso of Chatham, John A.C. Kennedy of Springfield, Howard Fischer of Berkeley Heights, (L-R Middle) Shannon Barry O'Grady (Choreographer) of Morristown, Kathy Prestera of Stirling, Scott Tyler of Morristown, Julie Ann Nolan of Little Falls, Vikki Massulli of Gillette, Kristin Bennett of Montville, (L-R Bottom) Joelle Bochner of Springfield, Chip Prestera of Stirling, S. Lynn Rase of Edison, Ronan Green of Chatham, Jacob Lesser of Gillette and Dexter Kennedy of Springfield.


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