Taking a step back from the busyness that surrounds the Christmas season, getting a renewed perspective on the reason for the season, and all we have to be thankful for.

Cast: 1
likely female, could be male

Set: bare with a chair

Props: phone, TV remote

Special Instructions:
Leave reasonable room between actor’s lines for the person on the phone to have responded, rehearse the timing of “listening time”
Through facial reactions, body language, the actor appropriately responds to what the person on the other end of phone is saying.

Script:

actor comes on stage, yawns, stretches, sits, picks up remote, flips through channels, phone rings
Throughout the call the actor occasionally flips through the channels, showing that there is no real concern for what the caller is saying. Then later on in the conversation the actor “shuts off the TV” and lays down the remote, signalling that the actor is now really thinking about the discussion

phone rings
Hello . . .
listens
Oh Tracy, how are you?
listens
Good to hear, . . . Me? . . I am OK too, . . . kinda tired, you know, preparing for the Christmas season, extra things at work, always something, you know the drill . .
listens
Oh I agree, we oughta take some time out at Christmas . . question is, where does that time come from?
listens
Well of course it is all about the real meaning of Christmas, but . . it gets a bit of a grind, know what I mean? . . Home, job, and then there’s the stuff at church.
listens
Tracy, I gotta tell you that the way it stands right now, things to do with church seem to take up most of my life at Christmas.
listens
Of course I don’t begrudge the time I spend working at the church; after all, it’s what we all need to do. . .
listens
Well feels like I just want to sit down, put my feet up, take a deep breath. . . Thank goodness the children’s Sunday School Christmas concert is behind us at long last, maybe now things will settle down for a bit. . . But next thing I know it’s planning for the Easter program, youth group mission project, summer Vacation Bible School, . . . the list goes on, doesn’t it? . . . And it’s not even Christmas day yet!
listens
Yeh, we are having Ted’s mom over, . . . and a guy from work didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas so of course Ted invites him along as well. . .
listens
Oh sure, the usual, the whole nine yards, . . . turkey, stuffing, ham, pumpkin pie . .. (sings) . . . and a partridge in a pear tree! (chuckles)
listens
Yeh, I finished up my shopping last week . . . hope the kids like their gifts . . there’s so much out there, and what with the heavy duty marketing on TV, peer pressure, . . how is a parent supposed to know what gifts to pick? . . And the cost! . . . . Where did the old days go, it was simple and straightforward then . . . a Barbie doll, GI Joe . . . .

The complete script, plus all 1,600+ other DramaShare scripts, are available at no charge to DramaShare members, non-members may purchase the individual script.