A Very Williamston Christmas just completed its opening weekend at Williamston Theatre and is the best way to guarantee laughter for yourself the rest of 2024 until it finishes its run on Dec. 29th
The hilarious script won Wilde and Thespie awards for best new script when it was done by the theater two years ago, I unfortunately missed that production, which is why I was so glad to get a chance to see this production on its second go round. (I've been informed that even if you saw the first production you will still find some updated or altered jokes in this production which keep it fresh!)
Writer Robert Hawlmark has crafted a funny and incredibly well paced script that offers great delight to any resident of Ingham County and especially Williamston. This play, which lampoons many a made for T.V. holiday movie, incorporates some great inside jokes for the Mid-Michigan area, obviously Robert Hawlmark was able to do some great research on the Williamston area which was extra surprising after learning he and director John Lepard have never even been in the same room at the same time!
John Lepard orchestrates this comedy with a small but highly engaged cast and many great tongue in cheek moments that blur the fourth wall and engage the audience as much as the actors, who maintain the high energy throughout
Dani Cochrane leads this production as "Feliz Navi" (don't get ahead of it.) She and co-star Nick Yocum (George) bring both a charisma and chemistry that makes them immediately likable while still maintaining stock characters of a Hallmark movie and the comedic timing of a comedy such as this.
Actors Emily Sutton-Smith and Patrick Loos have their work cut out for them playing the remaining seven characters, which the show is gleeful self-aware of. Quick changes and plot points that would require them to be onstage with, well... themselves, add to the charm and stakes of the show. So an extra kudos goes to Stefanie Din, Aaron Delnay, B Beetham, and Adam Kruger for helping these quick, crazy, character shifts and technical moments that the audience might not even realize are happening throughout.
The rest of the designers:
Sonja Marquis- Sound Design
Shannon T. Schweitzer- Lighting Design
Michelle Raymond- Props and Set Design
Karen Kangas-Preston- Costume Design
Bartley H. Bauer- Set Design
Alison Dobbins- Projections Designer (whose projections add to jokes during scene changes, including a product placement that gets an applause break.)
All deserve a shout out for helping Williamston Theatre put everyone in a more Christmas Spirit than even Silver Bells could!
A Very Williamston Christmas continues Thursdays at 2p
Fridays at 7:30p
Saturdays and 2p and 7:30p
And Sundays at 2p
From now until Dec. 29th with a Conversation Sunday on Dec. 15th's production
Tickets at: https://www.williamstontheatre.org