Hanukkah Holiday
Rosalind Friedman
The Dreidel Players Present... Best Hanukkah Show Ever!
by Jeremy Desmon, Victor Wishna
Highlights
75 mins Present Day Ensemble Cast Expandable Casting Flexible Cast Size Room for Extras Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes Comedy
Synopsis
The Dreidel Players Present... Best Hanukkah Show Ever!
follows a troupe of passionate (but not-quite-ready-for-prime-time) performers as they band together to create the greatest Hanukkah show there ever was…in just eight days!
As the clock ticks and the candles burn, the Dreidel Players scramble to discover the true meaning of the season and bring a little more light into the world.
The result is a hilarious series of joyful, latke-scented sketches and scenes about all things Hanukkah – delivered tongue-in-cheek and hand-on-heart.
Press Reviews
"The clever wit of the show is impressive and will make you laugh."
— Maryland Theatre Guide
Characters
| Character |
|---|
| The Dreidel Players |
| GLORIA passionate, maternal, and a fan of matching T-shirts; Gloria has formed this unlikely quartet to fulfill a mission: to create an enduring Hanukkah classic, meaningful and entertaining and totally affordable for local JCCs…in only eight days. |
| BARBARA a grand dame of the community theatre—and also Gloria’s real estate agent; she has sacrificed her eleven-year run in A Christmas Carol to be part of Gloria’s dream, though she soon grows skeptical of their ability to pull it off. |
| WALTER a self-doubting, self-published novelist – and also Gloria’s dentist; he is “cutting his teeth” as a playwright with his script for the Best Hanukkah Show Ever, which quickly reveals itself to be an unstageable, hours-long epic. |
| SIMON Gloria’s friend’s nephew – and the only one to respond to her Facebook casting call; he brings an innocent, open-minded energy to the endeavor. Not Jewish. |
| The Company |
| HEAD RABBI the leader of a trio of rabbis, in an indeterminate time and place. |
| RABBI #2 another rabbi. |
| RABBI #3 another rabbi, also. |
| J. P. MASON a marketing and branding guru hired to “zhuzh” Judaism’s image with a hip, new holiday called “Hanukkah.” |
| CANDY a colorful, cheerfully naive anthropomorphized candle, bursting with delight at the prospect of fulfilling a Hanukkah destiny. |
| SPARKY like Candy, but a different bright color. |
| FLICKER like Sparky, but with a different name. |
| WICKHAM like Flicker, but you get it, right? |
| PAUL not at all like the other candles; Paul is grizzled and bent, for he’s “seen what’s out there” and tries to warn of what awaits in the menorah’s fateful grasp. |
| MUFFY one half of Beaumont & Worthington, the “A-number-one” songwriting duo on the 1940s country club social circuit. |
| WINTHROP her equally WASP-y partner in rhyme. |
| LOU Tin Pan Alley music producer who hires Beaumont & Worthington to compose what his Christmas-classics-crafting crew of Jewish songwriters has never achieved: a certified Hanukkah hit. |
| RADIO ANNOUNCER an old-timey announcer, from oldy times. (Can be an offstage character.) |
| MODERATOR the host of The Schvitz National Spelling Bee. Cool, calm, and in control of the final round. (Can be an offstage character.) |
| CONTESTANT #472 a contestant who must spell “dodecahedron.” |
| CONTESTANT #293 must spell “ophthalmologist.” |
| CONTESTANT #18 must spell…you’ll never guess! |
| ELEAZAR one of the Maccabee brothers who liberated Judea from tyranny and now cohosts the most popular property makeover show in the ancient world. |
| YONATAN Eleazar’s brother and wise-cracking sidekick. |
+ 22 more characters
Publication
The Dreidel Players Present... Best Hanukkah Show Ever! is a comedy play written by Jeremy Desmon and published by Dramatists Play Service .
Community Reviews
No community reviews yet
Buy Play
Performance Rights
Available for Licensing
Similar Plays
Plays with similar themes, style, and content.
More from Jeremy Desmon
More plays from Jeremy Desmon that we think you'll enjoy.
