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| Seattle playwright Nick Edwards photo provided by playwright |
Not
everyone knows this, but Seattle playwright Nick Edwards has "a sticky
relationship with Christmas." For one thing, it’s his birthday and like
all kids born on Dec. 25, he has strong opinions about the hoopla that
traditionally surrounds the holiday. "I find myself really drawn to
Christmas stories that have a dark side," he admitted. "Some of the most
heralded holiday stories start and trudge through some pretty dark
stuff. "It’s A Wonderful Life" essentially starts with a suicide
attempt. "A Christmas Carol" begins with a cold, cruel miser being
haunted. Rudolph is bullied and ostracized by everyone he knows. The
best holiday stuff is great because it doesn’t hide the flaws. It
embraces them and tries to do it good despite everything. That’s heart."
At the same time, he’s more than willing to disparage overrated Christmas tales, “probably the most egregious of which is "Love Actually." It’s a terrible movie. It’s a terrible movie and everyone should know it,” Edwards said. So, given that background, it seems natural that Edwards would create a play about the two guys with two very different views of Christmas who end up spending a night debating what it all means. In his revised play "For Christmas," Jesus Christ moves into a studio apartment and calls on his friend Santa Claus to help move a couch. From there, the night gets weirder.
“For Christmas” first appeared as a short play for "SnowGlobed 2014" at Schmeater. “At the time it was a twenty-minute play in a ten-minute play festival, so I think it's safe to say this play may have always been a little too big for its britches,” said Edwards.
The producer of "SnowGlobed," Rachel Delmar, persuaded Edwards to expand his script and directs the new production currently taking place at West of Lenin. “Though, initially I was very reluctant to turn it into a full length, simply because I did not know how to expand it. Rachel and I ended up meeting a few times. And later on Ben and Trevor too (Ben Burris and Trevor Young Marston reprise their roles of Santa Claus and Jesus Christ in this year's production),” said Edwards, “but I left those meetings with very little idea of how to turn the play into anything longer than it already was. Then one night at the bar Rachel cornered me and I promised her either a full-length play or another play that could take place on the same set. She started booking space and working through all the producing logistics. I got a deadline. I had a revelation one day that what I had written already basically needed to stay intact and I needed to write up to that point, rather than expand that scene or use it as a jumping off point.”
Given the “incredibly specific ending” of the play, Edwards held onto what worked and added where he felt the story needed expanding. “When describing the process to friends, I would often compare it to blazing a trail through a jungle. You might have a map but cutting through the terrain is far more difficult and something altogether different,” he said.
Keeping his relationship with Christmas entangled with darker hued theater, Edwards also appears in “Uncle Mike Ruins Christmas” at Jet City Improv, where he is an ensemble member.
At the same time, he’s more than willing to disparage overrated Christmas tales, “probably the most egregious of which is "Love Actually." It’s a terrible movie. It’s a terrible movie and everyone should know it,” Edwards said. So, given that background, it seems natural that Edwards would create a play about the two guys with two very different views of Christmas who end up spending a night debating what it all means. In his revised play "For Christmas," Jesus Christ moves into a studio apartment and calls on his friend Santa Claus to help move a couch. From there, the night gets weirder.
“For Christmas” first appeared as a short play for "SnowGlobed 2014" at Schmeater. “At the time it was a twenty-minute play in a ten-minute play festival, so I think it's safe to say this play may have always been a little too big for its britches,” said Edwards.
The producer of "SnowGlobed," Rachel Delmar, persuaded Edwards to expand his script and directs the new production currently taking place at West of Lenin. “Though, initially I was very reluctant to turn it into a full length, simply because I did not know how to expand it. Rachel and I ended up meeting a few times. And later on Ben and Trevor too (Ben Burris and Trevor Young Marston reprise their roles of Santa Claus and Jesus Christ in this year's production),” said Edwards, “but I left those meetings with very little idea of how to turn the play into anything longer than it already was. Then one night at the bar Rachel cornered me and I promised her either a full-length play or another play that could take place on the same set. She started booking space and working through all the producing logistics. I got a deadline. I had a revelation one day that what I had written already basically needed to stay intact and I needed to write up to that point, rather than expand that scene or use it as a jumping off point.”
Given the “incredibly specific ending” of the play, Edwards held onto what worked and added where he felt the story needed expanding. “When describing the process to friends, I would often compare it to blazing a trail through a jungle. You might have a map but cutting through the terrain is far more difficult and something altogether different,” he said.
Keeping his relationship with Christmas entangled with darker hued theater, Edwards also appears in “Uncle Mike Ruins Christmas” at Jet City Improv, where he is an ensemble member.