I don’t know what it is about the Christmas season, but I’m always a sucker for a feel-good Christmas cozy — a play, book, or Hallmark movie that makes me feel all squishy inside and excited for the upcoming season.
I’m a firm believer in Santa Claus, flying reindeer, and the eternal optimism of the Christmas miracle. In my world, Santa always visits, Clarence gets his wings, and Ebenezer Scrooge is changed, emerging from the baptismal pool of having the bejeezus scared out of him.
So I was more than happy to see Operation: Whispering Pines at the Breakthrough Theatre Company, thanks to Ilana Jael, one of the contributors to Orlando Theatre Review — she played Selma in OWP.
Operation: Whispering Pines is a one-act play written by Karen Jones about — what else? — the Whispering Pines retirement home.
Whispering Pines is a small, homey assisted living facility, but for how long? On the death of the owner, the facility has passed to his daughter, who is determined to unload this “albatross.” She has lined up buyers but there’s only one problem.
Or really, six problems: the current residents. And together they agree they are not going out without a fight! Knowing that the new owner must find another facility to take them in, they come up with a plan. It’s an elaborate scheme that will ensure that no one else will accept them.
So “Operation: Whispering Pines” is put into action. Can the residents pull off a Christmas miracle, or will everything backfire, causing them to lose their “family of friends?”
OWP is a classic “the inmates are running the asylum” story as they sneak around and spy on the staff and the dragon-lady owner, Maxine. She sees the residents of Whispering Pines as a minor inconvenience to dump off so she can sell her father’s legacy. We open on Maxine having a shouty phone call right before Christmas about her sinister plans.
Afterward Selma (Ilana Jael) and Betty (Julia Scully) discuss Maxine’s plans while Eli (Thomas Limbacher) slumbers in a nearby rocking chair. They’re worried about the people who are about to lose their home, so they vow to make this year The Best Christmas Whispering Pines Has Ever Seen. They’re careful not to discuss their plans too loudly in case someone overhears them. But they’re not worried about Eli, since he’s dead asleep and anyway, he’s hard of hearing.
Except — deception! — Eli was faking the entire time. And the residents already know what’s going on. The five women — Bernice, Susanna, Ruthie, Clarissa, and Myrna — come to Eli after Selma and Betty leave, and he fills them in on what’s happening.
He reveals that a spy is expected to come in to assess them for placement at — ick! — Golden Acres, but they don’t know who it is.
Is it the plumber (Joshua Kuhn)? His pants are covering his butt-crack, so is he even a real plumber?
Is it the Rotary Club guest (Joshua Kuhn)? He comes bearing gifts, but is quickly chased off.
Is it the youth leader (Joshua Kuhn)? He’s too busy chasing down one of his young choir members (Hunter Limbacher).
Is it the buyer (Joshua Kuhn)? I think you know the answer to that one. (Hint: No.)
As they try to figure out who the spy could be, a new resident, Agatha Prescott, moves into the home. This is most unexpected because it’s so close to Christmas. Is she the spy? She seems to be the most obvious choice that, when she arrives, she meets the new residents, but something’s terribly off with all of them.
Bernice (Amy Barnickel) is grouchy and curmudgeonly; Ruthie (Lynne Edinger) is trying to crack the aliens’ code in the newspaper classified ads; Suzanna (Lorraine O’Connell) thinks she’s 16 and is getting ready for her debutante ball; Clarissa (Debbie Gibson Newlan) thinks she’s the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and recruits young Hunter to help her find the Cowardly Lion; and Myrna (Cynthia Ros McClendon) thinks she’s the Ghost of Christmas.
Agatha beats a hasty retreat to her room and the residents celebrate as they have flushed the most-likely spy from their midst and away from their precious home.
They’re not prepared when she shows up dressed in a Romani fortune teller.
Maxine returns with her real estate developer buyer, eager to show off the building she’s trying to sell. She and the rest of the crew are surprised to discover that Agatha Prescott is actually her Aunt Agatha, her father’s sister. And she announces she’s putting a stop to the sale and is saving Whispering Pines from the chopping block.
Maxine storms out, shouting that this isn’t over, but this is a Christmas story, so we know that it most definitely is.
We wrap up the story with a solo performance of “O Holy Night” by Bernice’s granddaughter, special guest performer Aliyah Miyasato.
The song has been sung, the bells have run, and Whispering Pines is safe from the greedy clutches of Maxine and the real estate developer. It truly is the best Christmas Whispering Pines has ever seen.
Cast and crew
- Thomas Limbacher – Eli
- Amy Barnickel – Bernice
- Felicia Melcer – Agatha
- Lynne Edinger – Ruthie
- Loraine O’Connell – Suzanna
- Debbie Gibson Newlan – Clarissa
- Cynthia Ros McClendon – Myrna
- Jessica Griggs – Maxine
- Julia Scully – Betty
- Ilana Jael – Selma
- Joshua Kuhn – Plumber, Rotary Club Guest, Youth Leader, Buyer
- Hunter Limbacher – Hunter
- Wade Hair – Director/Sound/Lights/Set Design
- Mary Lee Stallings – Costume and Prop Coordinator
- Fred Berning, Jr. – Poster Design
Operation Whispering Pines ran on the first two weekends in December 2024.