“Fruitcakes by Julian Wiles . . .is a delightful little gem of a comedy. It’s also a great community theater play, since it has a cast of thousands (well, about 30), which includes lots of children, all of whom looked like they were having the time of their lives—Add to the mix a bunch of town eccentrics, including Mattie Sue a six-time widowed woman with a heart as big as all outdoors. . . Skeeter a Harvard graduate with a degree in engineering who spends his time fishing, using nothing but poetry for bait . . . and a group of hunters who pray to Clyde the hunting angel. . . such a fun way to start the holiday season.” —The Davis (California) Enterprise, 2011
Cast: 4M, 4W, 6 boys, 7 girls (extras as desired)
Set: 4 locations: a barn, a kitchen, church basement, house decorated with Christmas lights
Recommended for: middle and high schools, general audiences
Mix together a batch of fruitcakes, three dozen Christmas trees, 10,000 outdoor Christmas lights, a chicken pox epidemic, two southern spinsters, an estranged old man, a lost cat named Tutti Frutti, and a Christmas hog named Buster, and you've got the recipe for a fun-filled and touching evening of holiday cheer. Into this world comes Jamie, a city kid who has run away from home and traveled as far as his money will take him. At first he thinks this town's inhabitants are "nuttier than fruitcakes," but soon he comes to admire, appreciate, and adore this nutty little town. A moving story of alienation, understanding, and reconciliation, Fruitcakes provides audiences with a heaping helping of holiday warmth and Christmas cheer.