A VERY SPECIAL HOLIDAY SPECIAL Opens This November at Little Fish Theatre

Little Fish Theatre is excited to present A Very Special Holiday Special as the final production of its 2016 season. Written by Mark Harvey Levine, our world premiere collection of short plays featuring both Hanukkah and Christmas themes - and a musical, too - will leave audiences ready for the holiday season.

In this Holiday Special anthology, we take on everything from a talking Christmas tree, to Grandma's visit to the babe in the manger, to the sons of Israel watching a flame, to a Rudolph and Les Miz mashup - all by Levine, the 5th most-produced short play writer in the world, with over 1300 productions of his plays produced to date. Helming the pieces will be LFT Company Member Holly Baker-Kreiswirth, who last directed the hit shows Domestic Tranquility and Ethan Claymore for Little Fish Theatre.

The Holiday Special seven-member cast is comprised completely of Company Members from Little Fish's talented sea of actors, each playing multiple roles in the eight pieces presented. Featured are Madeleine Drake* (LFT's The Ladies Foursome and Last Train to Nibroc), Amanda Karr* (LFT's The Clean House and Pick of the Vine), Susie McCarthy (LFT's The Clean House and The Ladies Foursome), Jim Rice (LFT's The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea and director of this season's Sleuth), and Daniel Tennant (LFT's Domestic Tranquility and Oh, Baby). Also in the cast are Margaret Schugt and Bill Wolski, who together performed in LFT's StageSceneLA "Scenie" Award-winning production of Tryst, also directed by Holly Baker-Kreiswirth. Schugt last directedCentral Park West for LFT, while Wolski was seen in this season's The 39 Steps and Domestic Tranquility.

Director Baker-Kreiswirth was first approached in 2014 by playwright Levine, who had the idea of a night of holiday-themed short plays. The following year, Holiday Special was given the green light for production. "It's exciting to direct an entire night of short plays written by one of the modern short play masters. I'm honored that Mark entrusted his World Premiere to both me and Little Fish Theatre," states Kreiswirth, "and to have a production that celebrates Hanukkah as well as Christmas makes us unique in the world of same-old holiday shows." Levine remarks, "I wanted to write a collection of plays celebrating the holiday season as I see it, in all its absurdity and sentiment: a little festival of silliness at the crossroads of Christmas and Hanukkah." He continues, "I've worked with Little Fish Theatre Company for over a decade and know you always get a wonderful production with them. I'm thrilled to have the World Premiere of A Very Special Holiday Special with them."

A Very Special Holiday Special runs from November 11 through December 17 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm (no performance on November 25), with two Thursday shows on December 8 and December 15 at 8:00pm, and three Sunday matinees on November 20 & 27 and December 4 at 2:00pm. The November 20 matinee features a special Talkback session where the actors and creative team will be available for 10 to 15 minutes for a post-show discussion with the audience.

Founded in 2002, Little Fish Theatre presents classic and contemporary plays in an intimate setting on Centre Street in downtown San Pedro. Producing eleven plays each year in a one-room, 65-seat venue, Little Fish delivers the quintessential close-up theatrical experience, where audience and performers share space and sight lines, making for eruptive laughter, highly-charged action, and palpable emotion.

*This production is presented under the auspices of the Actors' Equity Los Angeles Membership Company Rule.

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