Recommended by Claudia Haas

Before I got to the dialogue, the description of Frosty made me laugh out-loud. A cautionary tale about warming melds with the warmth of the holidays (oh! Should not say heartwarming - too much warming!) and delivers a tale of friendship and the joys of cold. Koppen’s play cleverly combines the holidays with a few social issues. It’s a welcome change from sugarplums.

Cathro’s play is all whimsy and Christmas cheer. A wonderful companion piece to Gift of the Magi, this play will leave you smiling. If you are smart, you will take up the fantasy and start a new holiday tradition.

What we save, what we let go, what we keep. So many themes run through Seven Swans a Swimming. Syran has a relationship heightened and investigated at the most emotional time of the year. Love, mating, Notre Dame, swans and a “decent” year combine for a nuanced and truthful holiday play. There is more than making merry come holiday time.

And now I want more! MORE, Coach Holly! Tackle the cookie exchange, the office party, the cutting down of the Christmas tree! Don’t stop now! What a wonderful indictment of Christmas cheer. Pass the egg nog. Spiked, please. Dakutis just supplied us with true Christmas merriment.

You always knew that the jolly old elves would have a breaking point. Enter Emile and all is topsy-turvey in the North Pole Happiness Village. Christmas Merry and Christmas Despair have more in common than any elf will admit. Emile would have a lot of fun with Scrooge. Read at your “merry peril.” But produce to offset the sugar plums.

The memes about being kind because you never know what others are going through rings loud and clear in Sickles play. Where the main character finds the kindness that he needs is unexpected and poignant. But let’s take and give our kindnesses where we may. A play for every day of the year.

Near death experience, atheism, belief - these are heady themes for a play. Hoke gives them all such a human connection that what could be a philosophical treatise is instead a heart-filled, funny (even irreverent) exploration on our journey trying to figure out what it is to be human. Just follow, wide-eyed, and let the characters lead you on the journey that is a life.

It’s always been my belief that a recipe from the past can turn you into a time-traveller. Carnes does this beautifully - connecting us to WW2 London, today’s USA, and the search for a star two thousand years ago - all in less than ten minutes. A play filled with love and a confection - perfect for all year but especially warming in cold December.

In a short walk around the neighborhood, Minigan gives us a window into the world we are currently living in. Two neighbors of different generations note their new fears and manage to couple them with hope. New paths need to be forged. Is it possible?

Malakhow tackles (and succeeds!) in addressing a myriad of issues. Online forums are helpful but humans need contact. Humans need to look into each other face-to-face without a screen. And the road to recovery from addiction doesn’t have a clear ending. We meet these characters after they have “recovered” and Malakhow explores how rocky and tenuous the recovery road is. Theatrical, poignant, and nuanced, this play will keep you rooting for his characters long after the curtain comes down.