How me and my friend produced and cast a surprise Christmas Play featuring our guests at our holiday party:
The surprise murder mystery at Friendsgiving went so well that my friend and I wanted to do another one for our Christmas party with our friends. But how were we going to top such a successful event?? We went to our usual place to brainstorm some ideas - a local bar.
Because our friend group is so diverse - touching almost every continent in the world - we knew we wanted to host another potluck. We asked our friends to bring something from their culture. And boy was that a good choice. We ended up with dumplings, rice dishes, sweet potato pies, and lots and lots of leftovers. We could have stopped there and just enjoyed the free leftovers and maybe we should plan more parties for the free food, but we knew our friends were expecting more. So when Wendy looked at me in the bar and said “Surprise Christmas party play” where all the guests will perform a roll, we knew we had our idea!
We decided in that bar that the play would have three acts and we would switch up the characters for each act, but what play would we adopt? The Grinch? No. Elf? No. Die Hard? Not even a Christmas movie to 50% of America. No, too controversial. Then Wendy came up with A Christmas Carol - Perfect! It already has three acts built in: past, present, and future.
To switch it up (and avoid copyright infringement) we added a special twist. Scrooge would become Becky S. Cooge a mean cold lady who ran a music publication and who hates everything Beyonce. As Beyonce fans ourselves that meant one thing Beyonce songs peppered in to explain the story and build the tension. You might be thinking we planned this whole party to sing Beyonce songs in front of an audience that can not leave and get food from our ethnic friends. We also thought that was a good idea.
So the plan was set. The invitations were sent with a special disclaimer that if you RSVP you had to show up. No Flaking! Now all me and Wendy had to do was write a script, assign the roles, and buy the props. Easy! So that’s why we waited until the night before to do all that simple work. With a little help from ChatGPT, we pulled off a Christmas miracle.
Anh killed the Becky role and we perfectly cast Bob Crachet (her boyfriend) as the nice employee who just wants to get Tiny Tim tickets to see Beyonce. Tiny Tim killed his dance break and even won an award for the scene! Our publication employees brought much-needed comic relief to the play and deserved a bigger role next time! Shout out to Tikka, Erik, Michael, and Yarkenda. Our funky Christmas ghosts Ali, Jayme, and Bindu taught Becky a lesson and made her think about the error of her ways. Our Narrators Ndea, Selam, and Hayley perfectly read the scripts, in terrible lighting mind you, They helped move the play along and tugged at our heartstrings. Joseph and Tara stole the show with their mildly inappropriate grinding and make-out sessions. And how could you not feel for Becky when we found out that her Beyonce hateration was fueled by the hurt Tara and Jayme’s character caused by their betrayal depicted in Act 2 Scene 1.
Only one guest had the foresight that we would be casting all of our guests in a mandatory play. It was so fun to see all of them excited to get their roles, practicing their parts, and trying on props. The entire production was a testament to how our friends go along with our wacky ideas and I was so happy to see them enjoy our magnum opus.
