THEATER 156: The Christmas Cracker

Send us Fan MailThree friends open Christmas crackers at a holiday party. Two contain the usual paper crowns and bad jokes. The third contains something that's absolutely terrifying.Bernadette Armstrong directs a cast that includes Noelle Evangelista, Matt Foyer,Cynthia Gravinese Brown, Kevin Carr, and Gilbert Glenn Brown.John Leslie is the playwright. He is a Los Angeles-based actor and writer.  Hisacting credits include 19 seasons as the corrupt Senator Alfred Winston in Theater Forty's production of The Manor at Greystone Mansion. His last appearance was in The Explorer's Club, also with Theater Forty. As a writer, he adapted Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest for Wicked Lit. His short story Trick was recently published in the anthology Ghosts, Echoes, and Shadows. He combined acting and writing for The Soft Click and Other Stories, his one-man show about his years as a substitute teacher.Support the showFounded by playwright and filmmaker Bernadette Armstrong, Open-Door Playhouse is a Theater Podcast- like the radio dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. The Playhouse launched on September 15, 2020. At the time, Open-Door Playhouse provided Playwrights, Actors and Directors a creative outlet during the shutdown. Since its inception. Open-Door Playhouse has presented Short and One-Act plays from Playwrights across the country and internationally. In 2021 Open-Door Playhouse received a Communicator Award for Content for the Play Custody and in 2023 the play What’s Prison Like was nominated for a Webby Award in the Crime & Justice Category.Plays are produced by Bernadette Armstrong, Sound Engineer is David Peters, sound effects are provided by Audio Jungle, and music from Karaoke Version. All plays are recorded at The Oak House Studio in Altadena, CA. There’s no paywall at the Open-Door Playhouse site, so you could listen to everything for free. Open-Door Playhouse is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and if you would like to support performances of works by new and emerging playwrights, your donation will be gratefully accepted. Your tax-deductible donations help keep our plays on the Podcast Stage. We strive to bring our listeners thoughtful and surprising one-act plays and ten-minute shorts that showcase insightful and new perspectives of the world we share with others. To listen or to donate (or both), go to  https://open...