by Tony Annicone

Arctic Playhouse’s holiday shows these year are three short Christmas plays. The first one is based on O. Henry’s story, “A Gift of the Magi”, which centers on a husband and wife who are very young, terribly in love and want to buy Christmas gifts for each other but both have little money to do so. They each want to find a gift that will express their warmth and closeness they feel towards each other. What happens is they find out the true meaning of the Magi gifts of giving of yourself to each other. “The First Noel” is about a homeless and hungry girl, Noel who returns to the site of her childhood home which is now a Chinese takeout. Will her journey get her the handout she wants or the nurturing she needs? “Balls” centers on five eccentric Christmas ornaments who find out just how fragile life can be and who don’t seem to get along with each other – but is that really the case? Each of them are different colors and have different temperaments and their wild and crazy antics keep the audience rolling in the aisles. Director Rachel Hanauer directs “Magi” and “Balls” while Jeff Blanchette directs “Noel” and assistant directs “Balls” with both of them doing double duty by appearing in the shows. They choose topnotch performers for ten roles and infuse them with the insight and energy to make the audience choke up, cry and laugh at all the right times.

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