This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Patrick Gabridge: Hi, I'm Patrick Gabridge, the writer of SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore.

[0:04] Jonathan Cook: Today's episode, and you're listening to Gather by the Ghost Light!

[0:22] Jonathan Cook: Holiday greetings and welcome back to Gather by the Ghostlight. Original stories for Radio Theater. I'm Jonathan Cook, your host, producer, and sometimes voice actor on this thing. And it's the holiday season, and I hope whatever holiday you celebrate this month is jolly and festive and all the wonderful things that you want it to be.

[0:45] Jonathan Cook: Now, before we get started, I do have a few quick announcements. Uh, the first being that this is the last episode of Gather by the Ghost Light for 2023. That's right, we're coming back full throttle again after the new year in January with plenty of new plays written by kick-ass playwrights. There's gonna be more live events and all kinds of other cool things just for you.

[1:07] Jonathan Cook: And speaking of live events, you have less than two weeks to submit your script to our inaugural off-Broad Street Short Play Festival. Now, that live event will be in April 2024 at La Chad Noir Theater in Augusta, Georgia. Now, the deadline to submit is December 31st, so don't delay. Quit sitting around being jolly or whatever it is you're doing and submit your script. I know there are a lot of great writers that are listening right now, so head over to Gather by the Ghostlight.com to get all the details on that.

[1:39] Jonathan Cook: And now, today, at this time, in this moment, we are about to rock out to the second part of the annual fourth time ever festive Christmas diehard holiday special extravaganza. And on the menu today is a comedic play written by Patrick Gabridge called SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore. You are about to meet two parents who are currently doing their annual SANTA Claus duties for their son on Christmas Eve, wrapping presents, filling the stockings, leaving the glass half full of milk with some cookie crumbs sprinkled on the plate. You see, they just never got around to telling their son that SANTA Claus isn't real. The only problem with that is their son is now a 30-year-old man.

[2:19] Jonathan Cook: Now, gather around the ghost light. Sit back and enjoy. This is SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore. Written by Patrick Gabridge. And be sure to stick around after the story to hear an interview with this writer.

[2:38] Dad: Better do my duty. That's a lot of cookies. Santa has a powerful appetite. And a belly like a bowl full of jelly. Full of cookies. Seriously. Where's your Christmas spirit?

[2:49] Mom: Mine? You're the one who thinks that we— Well, here we are. You win. And you get cookies.

[2:58] Jeffrey: Dad, what are you doing? Just uh um why are you messing with my stocking?

[3:04] Dad: I uh well, I was just going to— Did SANTA come early?

[3:07] Jeffrey: Oh, exactly. Ah, yeah, just missed him.

[3:10] Dad: Oh, wow. And he was so generous. Look at all those great presents. And he even said your father could have his cookies.

[3:18] Jeffrey: That's so hard to believe.

[3:21] Dad: They're really good cookies. So why don't you go back to bed, dear?

[3:24] Jeffrey: I was just going to hang this up.

[3:26] Dad: Oh, I won't be able to sleep now. Can I just see what he gave me?

[3:29] Mom: Tomorrow.

[3:30] Jeffrey: Please.

[3:30] Dad: You heard me.

[3:32] Jeffrey: Okay. Good night.

[3:35] Mom: Merry Christmas.

[3:36] Dad: Merry Christmas, Jeffy.

[3:39] Mom: This is insane.

[3:41] Dad: I think it's sweet. He's 30 years old and still believes in SANTA.

[3:45] Mom: We said we'd let him figure it out on his own.

[3:47] Dad: For most kids, that doesn't get them past age 12.

[3:49] Mom: Oh, it's not hurting anything. I blame myself. Those early years of making little ashy footprints around the fireplace and reindeer tracks on the lawn and then and the notes and the letters and the cookies and half drunk glasses of milk. It was all for fun and love. Isn't that what it is? A great big symbol of unbridled generosity and love. What's wrong with believing in that?

[4:12] Dad: Because it's a symbol. It's not real. At some point there comes a time when. I mean, what about this Peterson girl he's dating? Does she know that he still believes in—

[4:20] Mom: Still believes in what?

[4:23] Dad: Nothing, honey. You should get some sleep.

[4:25] Mom: You know, I've been wondering.

[4:27] Dad: Yes?

[4:28] Mom: Well.

[4:29] Dad: Ah, nothing. Go ahead and ask. We'll answer.

[4:32] Mom: Oh no, that's that's that's okay. I'll just go back to bed.

[4:35] Dad: There's no SANTA.

[4:36] Mom: You are a very bad man.

[4:38] Dad: It's been me and mom this whole time.

[4:40] Mom: That's impossible.

[4:41] Dad: We agreed to wait. He was never going to ask.

[4:44] Mom: Seriously?

[4:45] Dad: Well, where's your workshop? You're here right now. If you were SANTA, you'd be out delivering presents all around the world.

[4:51] Mom: No, it's the other parents are in on it too. They all do it for their own kids.

[4:55] Dad: See? You mean there's a gigantic worldwide conspiracy where hundreds of millions of parents conspire to dupe their children into thinking there's a magic elf who delivers gifts, then buys extra presents, puts up stockings, and tells stories about the North Pole and reindeer?

[5:09] Mom: All carefully aligned?

[5:11] Dad: Under whose coordination?

[5:13] Mom: Coordination. You're telling me that an effort like this just happens, and that somehow everyone knows and how and when to do this?

[5:20] Dad: Pretty much.

[5:21] Mom: Yeah. How's that even possible? The scope of it is just it's just mind boggling.

[5:26] Dad: I next you go let's say the Easter bunny.

[5:29] Mom: Same deal.

[5:30] Dad: What are you doing? Let's get it all out. Is it every holiday?

[5:34] Mom: Thanksgiving.

[5:35] Dad: The pilgrims didn't do so great by the Indians.

[5:37] Mom: Native Americans. It was the start of a massive genocide, actually. Started with the Columbus.

[5:42] Dad: Not Columbus Day. Christopher Columbus, who sailed the Ocean Blue.

[5:45] Mom: And killed a couple of million Arawaks on the island of Haiti.

[5:48] Dad: All of them, actually. I want a divorce.

[5:50] Mom: And our real last name is Steinberg, not Smith.

[5:53] Dad: Racial redlining was invented by the government.

[5:55] Mom: Bush did not defeat Al Gore.

[5:57] Dad: JFK cheated on his wife.

[5:59] Mom: The NSA listens to our phone conversations.

[6:01] Dad: Supermodels have pores in their skin.

[6:04] Mom: Dumbledore is gay and also fictional.

[6:07] Dad: Mr. Peterson is your real father.

[6:09] Mom: What?

[6:09] Dad: What?

[6:10] Mom: So you really should not be dating Jane.

[6:12] Dad: Oh.

[6:13] Mom: And you. You know how much you like that deli scene from when Harry met Sally?

[6:17] Dad: Oh, come on! I'm a much better actress than Meg Ryan.

[6:20] Mom: That can't be true. You seem so proud of yourself.

[6:23] Dad: And those spa weekends I said I spent with my sister? Were like the fishing trips I supposedly took with Jerry?

[6:28] Mom: Oh. I can't believe you lied to me. For so long.

[6:33] Dad: Seems like we have a talent for it. We just wanted you to be happy. It's a cold, miserable world out there, buddy. And we wanted to protect you from it as long as we could.

[6:43] Mom: Supermodels really have pores. Just like the rest of us.

[6:46] Dad: And racial segregation? Didn't happen all by itself.

[6:49] Mom: And a tooth fairy? Mom has a whole bag of your teeth.

[6:54] Dad: Ew.

[6:55] Mom: What? What am I supposed to do? Throw them in the trash?

[6:57] Dad: I'm not sure what's real anymore.

[7:00] Mom: Me neither. You really want a divorce?

[7:03] Dad: I'll be from a broken home with no SANTA.

[7:06] Mom: I don't know. Can we can we just go back to to how things were? I I'll try harder. Uh whatever it takes.

[7:14] Dad: Really?

[7:15] Mom: Hello? We're talking about SANTA here.

[7:17] Dad: You are. We're not. I'm having an existential crisis.

[7:22] Mom: Oh honey. You need to get a job, move out, and stop believing in SANTA Claus.

[7:29] Jeffrey: But but mom.

[7:30] Mom: Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey. What took you so long to even wonder?

[7:36] Jeffrey: I love the magic of Christmas morning. The way the entire world glows with love and possibility. I want that feeling to last every second of every day. I mean, what kind of person wants to poke their fingers through the shiny scene to touch the dark and dirty pieces behind it?

[7:51] Mom: Well, someone has to pay the price for all those things you choose not to see.

[7:55] Jeffrey: I don't care. Want the magic. We all do. How about just on Christmas?

[8:00] Mom: We can go back to tomorrow morning. Let's just act like nothing ever happened, okay?

[8:05] Jeffrey: One more time.

[8:06] Mom: I don't know. I suppose it wouldn't hurt.

[8:09] Jeffrey: Well, if that works for you.

[8:12] Mom: It might. I don't know. But the rest of it. Message received, loud and clear. Job apartment. Dump chang.

[8:19] Jeffrey: But tomorrow morning?

[8:20] Mom: Okay.

[8:21] Jeffrey: Really? Thanks!

[8:23] Mom: And next year, I'll do the stockings for both of you. It'll it's like I'll actually become SANTA.

[8:30] Jeffrey: It's crazy. Good night.

[8:33] Mom: Oh, there he is. Merry Christmas, buddy.

[8:36] Dad: Good night, dear.

[8:38] Mom: Well, Merry Christmas.

[8:41] Dad: Merry Christmas.

[8:54] ♪ Musical number: "Shim Sham Shimmy" — performed by Unknown performer ♪

[9:44] Jonathan Cook: That was SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore, written by Patrick Gabridge. It was performed by Marian Thibodeau as the mom, Krys Bailey as the dad, and Michael Silvio Fortino as Jeffrey.

[9:55] Jonathan Cook: Alright, so with me now is the writer of the story you just heard. He's a playwright based in Massachusetts. He has written many plays that have been produced around the world, and he's also written novels, and he's helped start several theater companies, and many of his fellow playwrights know him as the creator of the online playwright spinge. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Patrick Gabridge.

[10:17] Jonathan Cook: Patrick, how are you?

[10:18] Patrick Gabridge: I am great. Really nice to see you here.

[10:24] Jonathan Cook: It's always fun to be part of it.

[10:26] Patrick Gabridge: Yeah, this is actually your your third time on this podcast. Uh, I believe last time you're here was uh two years ago with uh with a holiday play called North Pole Noir. And now you're back with another Christmas themed play, uh, which is uh a fantastic little play called SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore. But before we dive into that, uh, what have you been up to? I know you've been you've been a very busy guy doing working with a lot of your different theater companies. So tell us what's going on in your life right now.

[10:53] Patrick Gabridge: So I run a company called uh Plays in Place, and we specialize in creating site-specific plays in partnership with museums and historic sites um and other institutions. So it's not all history plays, but mostly. So yeah, we've got three big projects coming up next year, two of which are productions that we'll be returning. One was at Old North Church in Boston, another one at Historic Northampton where I live. And then we're doing a big play in the Massachusetts State House. We just got permission to finally produce this play. Um, it's set in the Senate chamber of Massachusetts State House, and we'll get a very limited run there, but very exciting. So that keeps me busy.

[11:32] Jonathan Cook: Very cool. So with Plays in Place, do you do a lot of the writing or do you have uh guest writers that come on and and write the scripts for you or anything like that?

[11:40] Patrick Gabridge: Uh both I do a lot of writing for it, um, but not every not every play, not every project. So uh I think we're working with eight different writers this year. Um so it in various stages. We have uh five or six projects in different stages of development right now.

[11:57] Jonathan Cook: Very cool. So with that, do you pull a lot of your writers locally, or do you do like a submission thing for uh for people that want to write for it? I know with Plays in Place that has to do with the area you live in, right? Or am I right?

[12:08] Patrick Gabridge: It has to do with the the plays that we make, these site-specific plays are really grounded in the spot where it's at. So it could be a historic cemetery or an old church, or that has when they're grouped rooted in history for sure. Um, so I would say we have mostly worked with local writers. I think as we branch out to do plays in other areas, we will start reaching out to other writers. We don't have a submission process. If writers wanted to work with us, they would need to let us see their work in some way. Not send me a script but say hey I've got a production going on here. We build everything from the ground up. So sometimes people are saying like oh I have an Emily Dickinson play you live out near Amherst. We could do that. I'm like no we we work with the companies the institutions and commission new work. So everything is on commission is commissioned so which is great because we're actually paying writers to make these things.

[13:07] Jonathan Cook: That is awesome. Now there's a a script you wrote uh that that everyone just heard it's called SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore and uh and a little bit of trivia um back in 2017 I actually saw this play on stage and the Inspirato Theater in Toronto Canada.

[13:27] Patrick Gabridge: Yeah wow which just closed.

[13:27] Jonathan Cook: Yeah yeah and um you um I believe you actually the play won the audience favorite award or it won something that for that festival didn't it is that right?

[13:27] Patrick Gabridge: Yeah I that's uh that sounds right I uh no one uh one of the yeah I think that one won an award at Inspirato and I think I went out I went out to see that one too maybe we might have crossed paths.

[13:27] Jonathan Cook: Oh my gosh yeah I was there because uh I I traveled there because one of my own plays was in the festival um and while I was there I got to see all these other great works and SANTA DOESN'T't Live Here Anymore was was one of the ones that stood out to me, and it's one that you know, obviously I've been thinking about it for years because here I am now recording these audio plays, and that was one that uh I remembered and I read through the script again. I was like, Yeah, this would be a great audio play. Let me get in touch with Patrick about about putting this one on. Um, so tell us so how how did this play come about?

[14:19] Patrick Gabridge: Was it uh a lot of playwrights right from prompts? Uh, or was this just a story? Was it based on a real life experience, or or how did it work for you? Um, I will say it was inspired by a real life experience um in that yeah, I have two kids, they're grown now, but definitely one of them wanted to be a believer for a long time.

[14:41] Patrick Gabridge: Um, and I think we were of the philosophy of, you know, when they figure it out, they figure it out, we're not gonna tell them. So, and I had been raised that same way, and I was also like that as a kid. I was like, I'm not in a hurry, you know. And your friends start talking, you're like, no, no, no, no, I don't want to hear it. You know, it's kind of like uh no no. Um so no, I could definitely relate. So just it was just one of those things where, well, what if it just went a little bit longer? And then the question is, well, if we tell ourselves stories about this, what else are we telling stories about?

[15:14] Patrick Gabridge: And so, and how's that affect your family? And what does that mean? So it's a dark, it's a weird play that's a lot darker than it seems on the surface.

[15:21] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, I really like how it starts off as just SANTA, and then all of a sudden, wait a minute, Thanksgiving, wait, the Easter bunny, and then also all these other holidays just start.

[15:30] Patrick Gabridge: So you put all these different layers on it. It was just uh it's very comedic. Um, and at the time we're recording this, we're actually performing the stage version of this play in my hometown of Augusta, Georgia, along with some other great little holiday plays.

[15:43] Patrick Gabridge: Um, but yeah, and we and it's the same cast that recorded the audio are the ones performing it on stage. And so we opened the show last night, and it was so well received. There was so much so many laughs at your play along with with the others, and uh, and we got we got two more performances, it's it's all going great. I just thank you for giving us this great play to produce and entertain our people in Augusta, Georgia. It's been a lot of fun.

[16:05] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, well, thank you for sharing it with them. And I'm really always up happy for this to reach an audience for sure.

[16:12] Jonathan Cook: So for you, a serious question: when did you stop believing in SANTA Claus?

[16:18] Patrick Gabridge: That's a good question. Um I mean, late, like either like fourth or sixth grade, kind of kind of late.

[16:28] Jonathan Cook: Yeah.

[16:28] Patrick Gabridge: And like you said, it's one of those things where, you know, I kind of am suspicious, but I don't really want to push it yet.

[16:35] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, yeah.

[16:35] Patrick Gabridge: And I had experiences as a young child where um, like I remember very, very distinctly. Um, I don't know, I must have been five or six staying at my grandparents' house, and like in the middle of the night, waking up at like midnight and heard like a little jingle bell out in in the room, and I was like, I just was frozen, paralyzed because I was like, oh my god, he's here.

[17:00] Patrick Gabridge: And and I I can't see him because I don't that if that you know that's against the rules, quite like I shouldn't even be hearing him. And I remember like it was like that was a moment like I believed. I was like, oh wow, something happened.

[17:12] Patrick Gabridge: And I don't know if it was my grandparents or parents or something, but I was like, oh yeah, and my parents were good about you know the notes and the cookies and milk and all that stuff.

[17:21] Patrick Gabridge: And I took over. So I have a younger sister who's three and a half years younger, and once I kind of was in high school and knew, I think our family kind of never spoke about who does SANTA stuff, but it became my job.

[17:35] Patrick Gabridge: Like I would set my alarm at 5:30 in the morning, get up and fill the stockings before my sister got up and before everybody had, and for everybody. Um, so I just took it on for myself.

[17:44] Jonathan Cook: Um, so I just took it on for myself.

[17:47] Patrick Gabridge: But it was something you wanted to do, it wasn't an obligation. It's not like I'm the one who my parents probably thought I was crazy.

[17:53] Patrick Gabridge: Um, I was like, no, I'm gonna do this. I want to, I want this magic to continue.

[17:58] Jonathan Cook: There, see, and I and I so the character Jeffrey, uh the 30-year-old that believes I I see that in you, the way the way you explain that, um, how you wanted the magic to continue because that's one of his monologues towards the end.

[18:10] Patrick Gabridge: Uh yeah, very nice, very nice.

[18:12] Jonathan Cook: Uh so uh, like a lot of people listening. Um, I'm sure there's a lot of people that have heard of you and some haven't, but all of your fellow playwrights know who you are, and that is because anyone I ever talk to, it's like, oh, Patrick Gabridge, yeah, I know Patrick, because you launched the online play the online playwrights bench, which every playwright I know is a part of this, and um is I guess it's like two months a year where we all get together, we all share submission opportunities, and we all are submitting to all the totally overwhelming all these theaters, taking submissions.

[18:45] Patrick Gabridge: Um, but so tell us how that started and how it evolved to what it is today.

[18:51] Patrick Gabridge: Uh, because I think it started off much smaller scale in the beginning, I imagine.

[18:55] Patrick Gabridge: Yeah, yeah. So it started um some 20 years ago. Uh I had I had heard um some news story about a town that all decided to lose weight together.

[19:07] Patrick Gabridge: And so it was kind of like this collective goal and a lot of collective response, you know, reporting, so that everybody felt a sense of accountability. And I was like, oh, that's interesting.

[19:16] Patrick Gabridge: You know, uh, I've been I had at one time published a marketing newsletter for playwrights for quite a while. And I was like, I so I've always been interested in helping playwrights market their work, but I was kind of like, wow, what if we did something like that?

[19:29] Patrick Gabridge: But for writers, and we just get a group of people together. And I already was was part of like an AOL chat, like weekly or biweekly around playwrights.

[19:38] Patrick Gabridge: And I was like, hey, what if we do this and just pool resources? I think there's about a dozen of us, and we're like, we're just gonna build the accountability and so we're just gonna send out something and report back to the group today.

[19:49] Patrick Gabridge: I sent something. And then it grew, and it was all just email lists for a while for quite a while until it became a Yahoo group some years in, probably four or five years in.

[19:59] Patrick Gabridge: As it grew, there was a story about it in the Boston Globe that caught some attention. So all of a sudden it went from 30 people to 200 people.

[20:07] Patrick Gabridge: Um, and it's and just to let viewers know, like it's free, like it doesn't cost anybody anything to join. It's a very supportive online community.

[20:15] Patrick Gabridge: And I it kind of became that way from the beginning, and that we're kind of all doing something, even though we're competing, we're still working together and building that sense of camaraderie and community was really helpful.

[20:26] Patrick Gabridge: And I think it just was a rare online community that stayed really positively focused.

[20:34] Jonathan Cook: I mean, there's dust ups that happen, and it's pretty simple to manage on my end.

[20:38] Patrick Gabridge: So it wasn't like I needed to get paid to do it, right? I could just manage this group, takes a little bit of time.

[20:44] Patrick Gabridge: We are on a different platform now, but again, it's pretty cheap. So people donate every once in a while.

[20:49] Patrick Gabridge: Um, but yeah, and now it's evolving. It what happened was it went from uh you know a dozen people to now it's 1300 people around the world, which has become a minor problem.

[21:03] Patrick Gabridge: In that, like you said, we overwhelm companies sometimes, and uh also the market has changed for uh submission opportunities over the last few years.

[21:14] Patrick Gabridge: The pandemic, a lot of theaters have closed, a lot of companies have changed the way things happen.

[21:19] Patrick Gabridge: The arrival of the new play exchange has changed the way that companies find work and availability of work.

[21:26] Patrick Gabridge: So we're actually working on transitioning a little bit from us as a collective group of a thousand playwrights sending out 30,000 scripts in one month to this collection of you know, whatever hundred places get listed or whatever, which is uh good and bad.

[21:43] Patrick Gabridge: Um, to having people focus much more on thoughtful marketing.

[21:49] Patrick Gabridge: So working on say today's the day you're gonna work on your resume, and this is that you're working on building a contact with a local director and things like that.

[21:57] Jonathan Cook: I don't know if it's totally caught on with the group yet, but it's the direction we need to move, otherwise we're actually doing potential damage to the market, and we don't want to do that.

[22:07] Jonathan Cook: Right.

[22:08] Jonathan Cook: I know um I I've seen in the group before where um theaters just aren't expecting it, especially the smaller theaters that are just starting a festival the first time, and then uh when it hits the playwright binge group, is like every playwright in that group is gonna send you a script.

[22:23] Patrick Gabridge: So these little theaters are getting all these scripts, like we don't have enough readers for this.

[22:27] Jonathan Cook: What's going on?

[22:27] Patrick Gabridge: Yeah, and it's like they have no they have no clue how the word got out.

[22:31] Jonathan Cook: Uh yeah, and that's true, even uh medium-sized theaters, like I think playwrights uh uh especially aspiring playwrights who are really getting serious about sending the workout, they know about this, but I think the larger theatrical realm still doesn't quite know that we're there.

[22:46] Patrick Gabridge: So they are often surprised to get two or three hundred scripts like overnight.

[22:50] Jonathan Cook: Like the thing goes out and then boom, everybody's like, Yeah, that's what I have really well.

[22:55] Patrick Gabridge: It's uh it's a it's a great group.

[22:56] Jonathan Cook: So yeah, all the all the writers out there listening. If you're not familiar with the playwrights binge, uh, you know, join the group and and there's submission opportunities that come up.

[23:05] Patrick Gabridge: What are the two big months that we call submission months? Isn't it?

[23:07] Jonathan Cook: Uh it's March.

[23:09] Patrick Gabridge: March and September.

[23:10] Jonathan Cook: March and September.

[23:11] Patrick Gabridge: But there's also little things that come up throughout the year when people hear about it.

[23:15] Jonathan Cook: But March and September is like every day everyone is is uh my my email box like fills up just because I'm getting everyone's uh responses, but but no, it's it's a great, great group.

[23:25] Patrick Gabridge: I love the the like you said, the camaraderie of everyone, everyone's pulling for each other.

[23:29] Jonathan Cook: Uh, you know, it's uh it is competition, but you know, it's friendly competition, it's it's a lot of fun.

[23:34] Patrick Gabridge: Very much so, and I think we really focus on the supportive nature of it.

[23:38] Patrick Gabridge: That you know, I think there's a lot of congratulations when things go out.

[23:41] Patrick Gabridge: We want people to send to post to the list when something good is happening.

[23:45] Jonathan Cook: Um, and so and I think people are worried about too much traffic in your inbox.

[23:50] Patrick Gabridge: Most of the year it's not it's not a lot, yeah.

[23:52] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, yeah.

[23:53] Patrick Gabridge: Two months of the year, it's a lot, though it's less than it used to be, I think, as we've changed our focus and as opportunities have dried up, right?

[24:00] Jonathan Cook: Right.

[24:01] Jonathan Cook: So, other than uh your play, SANTA doesn't live here anymore being performed in Augusta, Georgia.

[24:06] Patrick Gabridge: What do you have?

[24:08] Patrick Gabridge: Well, what do you have coming up of plays that you've written where people can go and uh and and see it in a theater near them?

[24:14] Patrick Gabridge: Um, let's see. I think SANTA doesn't live here anymore, might have another performance in Miami in Spanish.

[24:21] Patrick Gabridge: Uh but I think that might be done. That was kind of fun to know that it was happening that you were doing an English version, there was a Spanish version happening.

[24:23] Patrick Gabridge: That was kind of fun. Um I have a reading of a play coming up in March in Northampton, Massachusetts, of a play called Mox Knox.

[24:37] Patrick Gabridge: It's a full-length play. Uh that's a lot of the interesting play about sisterhood and climate change.

[24:45] Patrick Gabridge: And then in uh in Boston, we'll have a show running at Old North Church next summer for 10 weeks, uh called Revolution's Edge.

[24:54] Patrick Gabridge: And so that'll run June through August. We'll play in Northampton in June.

[24:59] Patrick Gabridge: Uh called Um Pulling at the Edge Three When Act Plays Around Northampton History.

[25:04] Patrick Gabridge: And then this play Light Under the Dome in August at the State House in Massachusetts.

[25:09] Patrick Gabridge: Uh it'll be uh just it's a play to scene an amazing place.

[25:13] Patrick Gabridge: We'll only probably ever do it eight times.

[25:15] Jonathan Cook: Um so it's kind of thinking you're like, if you if you're around, don't miss your ticket.

[25:19] Jonathan Cook: Man, that is great.

[25:20] Jonathan Cook: You so you're your 2024 is already all booked up with all your plays being reformed, it sounds like.

[25:25] Patrick Gabridge: Yes, yes.

[25:26] Patrick Gabridge: We uh 2024 is a pretty busy year.

[25:29] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, and our company uh I can already tell you we've got two big productions in 25 and 26 is starting to fill up.

[25:37] Jonathan Cook: So yeah, we look two, three years out sometimes for stuff.

[25:40] Jonathan Cook: Awesome.

[25:40] Jonathan Cook: So the as far as your theater companies, where could people find that information?

[25:44] Patrick Gabridge: Just on your personal website or yeah, go ahead and throw throw the website.

[25:47] Patrick Gabridge: If they went to plays in place.com.

[25:50] Jonathan Cook: Okay.

[25:50] Patrick Gabridge: Uh that gets that'll take them right there and they kind of see what we're up to.

[25:53] Patrick Gabridge: I highly recommend if they're in our area to get on the mailing list, the email list, because the sell the shows, the limited run shows sell out really fast.

[26:02] Jonathan Cook: So, but if they're on our list, you can know about it.

[26:05] Patrick Gabridge: Um, and that helps a lot.

[26:08] Patrick Gabridge: The 10 week runs, those tend not to sell out as fast, though we've had long runs before where it's like it's already in the ticket.

[26:14] Jonathan Cook: Very nice.

[26:15] Jonathan Cook: And uh, what is your own uh the are you active with your own personal website and social media and all that?

[26:20] Patrick Gabridge: Uh yeah, yeah.

[26:20] Patrick Gabridge: So uh Gabridge.com is my personal site, and that has lots of links to lots of plays and projects and things like that.

[26:28] Patrick Gabridge: And I'm on Facebook and Instagram, um, in kind of Patrick Gabridge.com or Patrick Gabridge on Instagram and moving off of Twitter.

[26:38] Jonathan Cook: I think I think a lot of us are.

[26:39] Patrick Gabridge: Yeah, I think we're gone.

[26:41] Jonathan Cook: Trying out threads.

[26:42] Jonathan Cook: All right, Patrick.

[26:43] Jonathan Cook: It was it's nice having you.

[26:44] Jonathan Cook: Like I said, uh, thanks for letting us do this wonderful little play.

[26:48] Jonathan Cook: Uh, I gotta have you back on a fourth time.

[26:50] Jonathan Cook: I think I owe you a jacket if I get you on four times or or owe you something.

[26:54] Patrick Gabridge: Well, I got some I like the Christmas comedy thing is a lot of fun too.

[26:57] Patrick Gabridge: We have there are more in the hopper.

[26:59] Patrick Gabridge: So yeah, I would love to be back for sure.

[27:01] Jonathan Cook: All right, well, keep creating, keep writing, keep doing all that cool stuff, and uh hopefully we'll be collaborating again soon.

[27:08] Patrick Gabridge: I love that.

[27:09] Patrick Gabridge: Thank you so much for having me.

[27:10] Jonathan Cook: Thank you all for listening.

[27:11] Jonathan Cook: And if you are associated with a theater and you would like to produce the play you heard today on your stage, send an email to info at gather by the ghostlight.com or contact the playwright directly at his website, Gabridge.com.

[27:23] Jonathan Cook: And if you'd like to have some cool gather by the ghost light merchandise, t-shirts are available at the merchandise link in the show notes, along with the year one and year two books, which are both also available at Amazon.

[27:35] Jonathan Cook: Intro and out your music as always is provided by artist JK47.

[27:39] Jonathan Cook: And if you enjoy this podcast, maybe you're a longtime listener, or maybe this is the first episode you've ever heard.

[27:46] Jonathan Cook: Let us know, please.

[27:47] Jonathan Cook: Leave us a rating or a review in all the places that you can, and also be sure to follow Gather by the Ghost Light on social media to stay up to date on new episodes.

[27:56] Jonathan Cook: Don't forget, submit your script to our inaugural play festival by December 31st.

[28:02] Jonathan Cook: And all you guys, please have a great holiday season, have a happy new year, all that cool stuff.

[28:08] Jonathan Cook: Whatever you're doing, I hope is the best time of your life.

[28:11] Jonathan Cook: I'm Jonathan Cook, and as always, stay safe, and I'll see you next time.

[28:15] Jonathan Cook: We gather by the ghost lights.