It’s never too soon to start thinking about your holiday lineup, and we’ve got just the list to inspire you! These festive one-acts are short and sweet, but still boast all of the holiday heartwarming spirit audiences count on. Take a look at our top picks, and get even more ideas by looking through the holiday collections from Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, and Playscripts. Looking for a musical? Scroll down for shorter holiday favorites.
It’s a Wonderful Live: A Live Radio Play adapted by Joe Landry
This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. With the help of an ensemble that brings a few dozen characters to the stage, the story of idealistic George Bailey unfolds as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve. A full-length version is also available.
A Krampus Carol by Brent Holland
On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus’s oft-forgotten demon partner, Krampus, is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, who hopes to get him to see the error of his ways. But the joke’s on Marley: Krampus loves his life! So what if his method for punishing kids who misbehave lost him the respect of his family, friends, and the elves who work for him? He doesn’t have a problem with that, and spying on the past, present, and future isn’t going to change his mind! Hilarious and irreverent, A Krampus Carol pits Dickens’s classic redemption tale against a stubborn holiday fiend who doesn’t think he needs to be saved.
The Gift List by Kyle Nesbit
Santa isn’t the only one who has to check his Christmas list twice. After siblings Keith and Caroline ask for an unwieldy seventy-nine presents from Saint Nick, two elves arrive to tell the kids they can’t have everything they want. Luckily, Keith and Caroline—and their parents—are prepared to negotiate. Funny and charming, The Gift List is a one-act play about dreaming big and making holiday wishes come true.
The Trial of Santa by Don Zolidis
The trial of the century: Santa Claus (aka Kris Kringle) v. Emily Worthington (aka bratty nine-year-old girl). In the TV courtroom of Judge Trudy, Santa is charged with delivering the wrong present on Christmas Day. Will Santa be convicted of this heinous crime? Or will Santa’s Elven lawyer prove beyond a doubt that Emily was naughty, not nice?
Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells by Allison Gregory
Junie B. Jones, First-Grader, is super-excited about the upcoming Holiday Sing-Along and Secret Santa gift exchange at her school. Too bad tattletale May keeps ruining all of Junie B.’s fun. So when Junie B. draws May’s name for Secret Santa, she comes up with the perfect plan to teach her nemesis a lesson! But will the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill interfere before she can give you-know-who what she deserves? A hilarious and endearing tale based on the best-selling book series by Barbara Park.
Home for the Holidays by Arlene Hutton
Part of the collection One Christmas Eve at Evergreen Mall, which includes other one-acts that follow eight intertwined stories in a Midwestern mall on the last day of shopping before the holiday. A diverse cast of characters—from a lovesick mall Santa to an over-eager mall cop, from a pair of brainy misfit teenagers to a pair of battling actors in a production of A Christmas Carol, from a petulant college freshman to a pair of newlyweds—navigate first meetings, second chances, and last-minute choices. One Christmas Eve wraps the joys and sorrows of the season into one festive package.
Short Musicals
The Silver Belles Book by Allyson Currin, Music by Matt Conner, Lyrics by Stephen Gregory Smith, Based on an idea by Cathy Alter & Sandra Johnson
It’s Golden Girls meets Designing Women with a heaping helping of well-known Christmas tunes and clever new country and western ditties. Christmas without the Silver Belles… just wouldn’t be Christmas! When Oralene, the longtime director of small town Sylva Ridge’s Christmas Pageant, suddenly passes away, the Silver Belles must come to the rescue! With the spirit of Oralene looking on, the sterling-hued vixens band together, discover their talents and pull out all the stops to keep the beloved pageant alive.
All Is Calm by Peter Rothstein, Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte & Timothy C. Takach
The Western Front: Christmas 1914. Out of the violence of World War I, a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man’s Land singing “Stille Nacht.” Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, and peace. An a cappella chorale, All Is Calm is a remarkable true story in the words and songs of the men who lived it.
The Great Christmas Cookie Bake-Off! Book, Music & Lyrics by Rick Hip-Flores
The Great Christmas Cookie Bake-Off! combines the time-honored tradition of Christmas cookies with the ever-popular phenomenon of reality baking competitions. In this musical, eight young cookie chefs have been selected from all over the country to battle it out for first prize at the Cookie Coliseum. Just as no two cookies are the same, each contestant reveals their unique personality through song. Suspense mounts as the chefs are eliminated one by one, by three distinguished celebrity judges. Over the course of the competition, feelings of intense rivalry give way to virtues of charity, family, and forgiveness, as the chefs learn what really makes for a winning Christmas recipe.
The Land of Forgotten Toys Music by Dylan MarcAurele, Book & Lyrics by Jennifer Enchin & Jaclyn Enchin, Story & Additional Content by Larry Little, Additional Lyrics by Mike Ross
The Land of Forgotten Toys follows Grace, a brilliant young woman with big dreams and a passion for astronomy, who is stuck at a dead-end job at a toy store days before Christmas. When she is transported to the Land of Forgotten Toys, everything changes. Christmas is in trouble—and it’s up to Grace and her rag-tag crew of forgotten and broken toys to save it!
