Alex (Jennifer Clement) is a perfectionist who is desperately holding fast to her Christmas traditions. While juggling family and work—and a movie star—she loses control of her holiday plans, and her home becomes a disaster zone. Can she save the turkey from the dog and salvage a broken-down tree? Find out in this infectious comedy that is sure to make the holidays bright.
Playwrights Stacey Kaser and Alison Kelly note that this new comedy was inspired by their mutual disdain for Christmas insanity. “We both wondered why it is that women feel so pressured to create the ‘perfect’ Christmas for their families, even when nobody really knows what that is, and we hope audiences recognize themselves in Alex and her family,” says Kelly. Kaser adds, “Comedy is such a fantastic vehicle for looking at human nature. It's so much more fun to laugh at our foibles than to despair over them. And it's always way more fun to laugh at someone else's problems than think about your own!”
In her Arts Club directorial debut, Chelsea Haberlin says, “Stacey and Alison have written a hilarious script told from the perspective of the family matriarch, Alex, played by the amazing Jennifer Clement.” Noting the stylized presentation of the play, Haberlin adds, “Alex experiences the epitome of holiday chaos and controls all the elements that contributed to the comic unravelling. She is the only character who will talk directly to and walk among the audience to show us exactly how things went wrong; revealing both the very naturalistic world of her home and the highly stylized world of her mind. Alex will ‘control’ the theatrical elements that take the audience backward and forward in time and we have an incredible design team that is making this magic happen!”
IN BRIEF: Arts Club Theatre Company’s The Day Before Christmas at the Arts Club’s Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre (162 West 1st Avenue) from November 24 to December 24, 2016. Tuesday–Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday & Saturday at 8 pm, Wednesday at 1:30 pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. Holiday showtimes: Friday, Dec 23 at 2 & 8 pm, Saturday, Dec 24 at 1 & 6 pm. Tickets start at $29, inclusive of taxes and fees. Call the Arts Club Box Office at 604.687.1644 or visit artsclub.com.
