

A Good Old-fashioned Big Family Christmas
David Patrick Cook
It’s Christmas Eve, and a young newspaper reporter on the brink of being fired has been assigned a last-chance story about a typical family Christmas – his family’s Christmas.
He goes home to his recently widowed mother, his crazy uncle, his eccentric grandmother, and his battling siblings and their neurotic spouses, who provide no shortage of material.
One by one, we learn each family member’s secrets, problems, and dysfunctions, and when they learn that he’s writing an article with some very personal family information, the fruitcake hits the fan.
The question is, will the magic of Christmas bring this family back together?
| Character |
|---|
| Mom 50's - 60's. Very nice. Always putting on a happy face, her goal is to keep the peace and get thru the family event without incident. Mom’s husband, Carl (senior), died three years ago. She's doing her best to get over the loss and keep everyone happy. |
| Grandma 70's - 80's. A real character. Grew up in a one room house with 10 brothers and sister on a farm in northern North Dakota. Had a very tough life growing up. She is tough as nails, and wants everyone else to be, too. Think Estelle Getty on "The Golden Girls." |
| Michael 20's - 30's. The older brother. The doctor. A little nerdy. Wears a bow tie. The favorite son, at least at first. He’s a little self absorbed, a little blind to what he needs to do to keep his marriage to Jill, his wife, intact. |
| Stacy 20's - 30's. The younger sister. Nice. Kind of a wholesome innocence, even given what we learn about her. Overlooked, but not angry about it. |
| Uncle Bob 50's - 60's. A partier. Fun loving. Has an agenda. Everyone has a crazy Uncle Bob. |
| Jill 20's - 30's. Michael's trophy wife. Emotional from being hormonal. Sometimes a little spacey. The only one who seems to understand Grandma’s crazy sayings. |
| Carl 20's - 30's. The middle brother. Grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Michael, the doctor. Has a little inferiority complex toward Michael. He writes a column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. |
A Nice Family Christmas is a comedy play written by Phil Olson and published by Samuel French .
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