San Benito Stage Company will present a unique double feature holiday production this month, combining two one-act plays that explore the magic of Christmas from both historical and whimsical perspectives.
“Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” and “The Night Before Christmas” will run Dec. 12-13 and Dec. 19-20 at the company’s theater at 549 San Benito St. Both productions were cast, rehearsed and staged in just five weeks, a fraction of the typical rehearsal time.
“I love doing the holiday show because I think there’s an appetite for something festive at this time of year, and there just hasn’t really been a lot available in town,” said director Dina Gregory, who helmed “Yes, Virginia” while Julia Peck directed “The Night Before Christmas” for the local theater company.
The production is what SBSC calls a “sidecar,” an additional show outside of the four main productions the company typically presents each year, which is the cause of the compressed rehearsal timeline.
The first of the two productions, “Yes, Virginia” tells the true story behind a famous 1897 editorial published in the New York Sun. In the play, young Virginia O’Hanlon questions whether Santa Claus exists after her friends cast doubt. Her best friend, Marylou Parker, is the daughter of an impoverished widow, and Virginia struggles to understand why her friend receives fewer Christmas gifts than the other children.
Virginia’s father, portrayed by Zac Isom, tells Virginia, “If you see it in the Sun, it’s so.” This prompts her to write her now-famous letter to the editor on Christmas Eve, in which she demands to know if Santa Claus is truly real.
Enter struggling journalist Francis Church, portrayed by Athena Vasquez, who faces losing her Christmas bonus and possibly her job because her editor believes she hasn’t produced worthy stories. The writer finds renewed inspiration in Virginia’s letter and the plight of the Parkers, whom she meets in person in line at a soup kitchen. She is also spotted there by her grouchy editor, Walter Gibson, portrayed by James Swan.
“The editor actually changes his heart, seeing her at the kitchen in the soup line,” said Deanna Fry, who plays Hannah Parker, Marylou’s mother. “So he changed his mind and gave her the money back and gave her another chance. And so that’s what inspires her to write a beautiful letter back to Virginia.”
Julianne Woolton plays the title role of Virginia, who is thrilled that her letter to the Sun was answered, and goes out of her way to ensure everybody knows about it.
“She’s very excited,” Woolton said. “She’s telling everybody, ‘Oh my God, he’s real!’ She tells her sister, she tells her whole family, she goes over to Marylou’s and all of her family, and she ‘proves’ to them that he is real.”
A twist on a classic
The second show offers a playful twist on Clement Clarke Moore’s classic poem. As “Papa,” played by Kaleb Srch, reads “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” to the audience, the characters literally come to life around him, the tale unfolding as a sassy mouse, dancing sugar plum fairies, reindeers, even Santa Claus himself, also played by Swan, flanked by Mrs. Claus, who takes issue with her husband’s penchant for cookies and milk.
“She is encouraging Santa to be healthy,” said Casillas. “Mrs. Claus comes to remind him to exercise and eat his fiber bar, and he’s like ‘no no no, you’re embarrassing me!’”
After the grounded, concrete reality of the true story told in “Yes, Virginia,” “The Night Before Christmas” provides pure comic relief by bringing absurdity and amusement to the stage.
“It’s a lot of the elements of the classic story, but with kind of this silly element of it all coming into this guy’s living room,” Gregory said.
Swan, a veteran of about 70 theatrical productions, said he enjoys the juxtaposition between his two roles in the different shows.
“It’s fun being able to do two different roles that are so opposite each other,” he said. “I thought the great challenge on this one was that it was such a short rehearsal time. It’s fun to see what you can do with that.”
The production marks the stage debut for several cast members, including Kim Casillas, who plays Martha the soup server in “Yes, Virginia” and Mrs. Dorkus in “The Night Before Christmas”—a neighbor who believes that Santa and his reindeer are, in fact, aliens from outer space.
Casillas said her granddaughter Julianne inspired her to audition.
“She wanted someone in the family to do it with her,” Casillas said. “I just saw what an amazing group of people these were and how supportive they were, and I just really wanted to be a part of that.”
For showtimes and ticket information, visit sanbenitostage.org.
