Christmas 2.0

by Donna Hoke

All Angela wants is a happy Christmas–or a more exciting life–but her daughter’s left for college, her husband’s obsessed with fantasy football, the plumbing’s a mess, and her cat won’t stop peeing where he shouldn’t. Mom May thinks she should get a hobby–or a handyman–but a run-in with old friend Kelly leaves Angela aspiring to the thrills her pal gets from social media. Before long, Angela’s giving Candy Crush lives to high school sweetheart Billy Sweeney, despite Kelly’s warnings that Billy’s a guy who uses shouty caps and the wrong form of your. Ignoring the danger signs, Angela invites Billy to fix her pipes, and the former prom dates find themselves bonding over flip phones as they color Christmas pictures by the fire. Their nostalgic bliss is interrupted by an ominous phone call from Kelly, but not before Angela’s cat and her husband catch them in the act and force everybody, including May, to adopt a healthier relationship with technology.

This play was workshopped at the 2015 Hormel Festival of New Works at Phoenix Theatre and the third place winner of the Pickering Prize for Playwriting Excellence.

• Cast Size: 2M 3W
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

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About the Playwright

Donna Hoke’s work has been seen in 47 states and on five continents, including at Barrington Stage, Barrow Group, Celebration Theatre, Gulfshore Theatre, Queens Theatre, The Road, Phoenix Theatre, Atlantic Stage, Purple Rose, Skylight, Pride Films and Plays, New Jersey Rep, Hens and Chickens (London), The Galway Fringe Festival, and Actors Repertory Theatre of Luxembourg. Plays include BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART (Kilroys List), ELEVATOR GIRL (O’Neill, Princess Grace finalist, and Austin Film Festival finalist), SAFE (winner of the Todd McNerney, Naatak, and Great Gay Play and Musical Contests), and TEACH (Gulfshore New Works winner). She has been nominated for the Primus, Blackburn, and Laura Pels prizes, and is a three-time winner of the Emanuel Fried Award for Outstanding New Play (SEEDS, SONS & LOVERS, ONCE IN MY LIFETIME). She has also received an Individual Artist Award from the New York State Council on the Arts to develop HEARTS OF STONE, and, in its final three years, Artvoice named her Buffalo’s Best Writer—the only woman to ever receive the designation. An ensemble playwright at Road Less Traveled Productions, Donna is also a New York Times-published crossword puzzle constructor; children’s and trivia book author; and founder/co-curator of BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories; and has served the Dramatists Guild in various capacities for more than a decade.