(HOBOKEN, NJ) -- Mile Square Theatre presents the World Premiere of The Christmas Show Must Go On by Pia Wilson from November 29 through December 15, 2024. This is a new classic tale for Christmas! The fairies in the Christmas Realm have been losing their power and the Christmas ghosts may all be leaving the realm to become Halloween ghosts. Can the Christmas Fairy welcome humans to the show for the first time ever, stop the ghosts from defecting, and make the annual Christmas Show happen?
Taking on the tour-de-force roles of the Christmas Gremlin and the Christmas Fairy (among other roles) are the brilliant Mikey Miller and Keivana Wallace.
The production features scenic/prop design by Matthew J. Fick and Emmett Grosland, costume design by Grace Jeon, sound design by Aeon Andreas, and lighting design by Ian Lloyd Sanchez. Arielle Legere* is the Production Stage Manager.
“I love Christmas and my mother loved Christmas. Even though she is no longer with me, I celebrate the joy and magic of the season,” says Pia Wilson, the playwright. “I am excited to partner with Mile Square Theatre and Kevin R. Free to spread Christmas Joy!”
The Christmas Show Must Go On plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, December 15. Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 2:00pm & 8:00pm; and Sundays at 2:00pm & 6:00pm. Tickets are $45, with $10 off using the code EARLYBIRD if tickets are purchased before Thanksgiving. The theatre is offering a special Black Friday “Pay-What-You-Will” performance on November 29. Visit www.MileSquareTheatre.org for more details. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater a half hour before the performance. Mile Square Theatre is located at 1400 Clinton Street in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The play has a running time of 75 minutes with no intermission. It is recommended for all ages!
BIOGRAPHIES
PIA WILSON (Playwright) wrote the audio component in the Harriet Tubman Monument in Newark, New Jersey, performed by Queen Latifah. The audio - which won a 2024 Anthem Award - can be found on Audible as Monumental: Harriet Tubman and Newark's Liberation Movement. Pia is also a 2024 Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove participant, Newark Creative Catalyst grant recipient, Newark Arts Community Grant recipient, Traveling Master for Dramatist Guild Foundation, resident with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Sundance fellow, and member of the 2008 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater. Her plays have been produced by AD Players, Crossroads Theatre, Workspace Collective, Drew University, Yendor Theatre Company, Adelphi University, Horse Trade Theater Group, and The Fire This Time play festival. Her Webby Award-winning fiction podcast, IF I GO MISSING THE WITCHES DID IT, starring Gabourey Sidibe, is available wherever you get your podcasts and was listed as one of the Best New Podcasts of 2021 by Variety and Mashable. She has also written episodes for Audible’s TILL TODAY podcast, a nonfiction companion to the movie about Mamie Till Mobley and her son Emmett. As a writer for Wondery's BLACK HISTORY FOR REAL, Pia has written about the Talented Tenth and Motown vs. Stax. In television, Pia was a staff writer for NatGeo’s GENIUS ARETHA and BET’s SACRIFICE.
KEVIN R. FREE (Director) At Mile Square Theatre: Pipeline; It’s A Wonderful Life; Berta, Berta; The Burdens. Elsewhere: Black & Blue (Ars Nova ANTFest); Pass Over (Marin Theatre Company); Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure; Last Ship To Proxima Centauri; Where We Stand; Marianas Trench; The Last Five Years; Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Portland Stage); Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet (UNLV); The Gravediggers Union (Bates College). Upcoming: Murder on the Links (at Portland Stage); Tiny Beautiful Things (at Mile Square Theatre); Kudzu Calling (World Premiere, Alabama Shakespeare Festival). Former: Producing Artistic Director, The Fire This Time Festival (Obie Award). The narrator of over 500 audiobooks in the past 20 years, he was honored with a Golden Voice award by AudioFile Magazine in 2023. He just completed a New Works Lab Fellowship at the Historic Apollo Theatre, and was honored with the inaugural Everett Quinton Award by New York Independent Theatre Awards. IG: @kevinrfree
MIKEY MILLER is ecstatic to be making his MST debut! A Jersey City-based actor, writer, and educator, Mikey has his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. Favorite credits include Clue: The Musical (Professor Plum) at the Round Barn Theatre, The Foreigner (Ellard) at the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, Fiddler on the Roof (Motel) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Benjamin) at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre, and The Little Foxes (Leo) at Hudson Theatre Works. When Mikey isn’t acting, he can usually be found guiding high schoolers through the college applications process or searching for the world’s best cookies and cream milkshake. @mikeyemiller
KEIVANA WALLACE was born in Washington D.C., moved to Maryland, but her heart is in both. She grew up in a house based on faith, family, comedy, and sports. In May 2023, she graduated from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts - Acting BFA. Some of her Rutgers theater credits include The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra as Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe), Midsummer Night’s Dream as Oberon, and Men on Boats. Since graduating she has performed in The Mountaintop (Lean Ensemble Theater), Queen Vashti in The Purim Concert (92NY), and The Christmas Tree Farm (Mile Square Theatre). Outside of acting Keivana is also a dancer, professional singer, poet, natural hair enthusiast, and an “athlete at heart.” Her goal is to continue to spread the light of Christ in a dark world. She is a walking miracle and beyond blessed for the life she was given. If you ever need a word of encouragement she will willingly give.
MATTHEW J. FICK (Scenic Designer) has been a member and scenic designer at Mile Square for 21 years. Throughout, his work has included: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, Good Night Moon, Circle Mirror Transformation, Dracula, Sonia, Vanya, Masha, and Spike, Driving Miss Daisy, Cyrano, Core Values, 12th Night, Othello, ‘Scapin, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, A Christmas Carol, Rikki Tikki Tavi, Go, Dog. Go! , God of Carnage, Berta, Berta, Rabbit Summer and It’s a Wonderful Life: the radio play...thrice. Not to mention a vast majority of MST’s 7th inning Stretch. He received his MFA from Rutgers University in the Spring of 2005 and has been a freelance designer working up and down the Eastern seaboard. Matt is currently Professor of Design at the College of Staten Island CUNY.
EMMETT GROSLAND (Prop Master/Scenic Artist) is an artist, an actor, a maker, and an advocate for trans joy. They have designed, propped and/or painted for Mile Square Theater, The Peddie School, The New School of Drama, Malloy University and others. As an actor, they have worked at Steppenwolf, Berkeley Rep, Tuacahn, The Signature, and many others. Or you can see them as Nurse Kai Brunstetter in NBC’s New Amsterdam. Em received his BFA from Washington University in St. Louis. @EmGrosland
ARIELLE LEGERE* (Stage Manager, she/they) is a stage manager, actor, teaching artist, and technical theatre professional based in the New York City area. She is the resident stage manager at Mile Square Theatre, and teaches for the MST education program. Arielle is a multidisciplinary artist and a member of Actor’s Equity Association. She is also frequently involved in NYC nightlife, notably at House of Yes and the Red Pavilion in Bushwick. Recent credits include In Search of Elaina (Drift In, Act Out); Sustainable Fashion is a Cabaret (zero waste daniel for NYFW); Rabbit Summer, The Christmas Tree Farm, Funny Like An Abortion (world premiere), Balloonacy, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, The Burdens, Virtual Impossibilities with Eric Walton, It's a Wonderful Life, & 5 Times in One Night (MST); The 24 Hour Plays: Hoboken (24 Hour Plays Co); box. bag— & blood (Edinburgh Fringe); The Devouring (Paradise Club at The Times Square EDITION); Dr Faustus, All’s Well That Ends Well, & Macbeth (Hudson Shakespeare Co)
Mile Square Theatre was founded in 2003 as a non-profit professional theatre. MST enriches and engages the region through the production of professional theatre and innovative arts education. MST produces original and gently used productions year-round, including shows for young audiences and their annual festival of plays about baseball, 7th Inning Stretch.
