←Recommendations of Hugo Saves Christmas...in May!

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced HUGO SAVES CHRISTMAS...in MAY! as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We appreciate this story that that aims to center joy instead of trauma and we were fortunate to find that rare comedy that can lift audiences up without evading the the tougher moments of life. We appreciate the intentions of this story and the way the characters are rendered. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

We produced an audio play version of this script on the Gather by the Ghost Light podcast (https://www.gatherbytheghostlight.com/s4e2). Hayet has built a story filled with nostalgia, humor, and tenacity. Hugo's passion for holding on to Christmas year round is the perfect contrast to the opposing character, Maya, and Hayet unfolds the story in such a way that you are pulling for both of them. And just like the year round Christmas Store in this script, this is a play that you don't have to wait for the holiday season to produce. It's relevant year round!

Hayet crafts all the right elements audiences want in a Christmas story. It's charming, sweet, and full of so much heart!

All I have to say is: Hallmark Channel, when? (Other than after the WGA strike, obviously.) Hayet has created a holiday script that hits all the sentimental notes audiences expect while still sidestepping many cliches and obvious choices one would anticipate. I was particularly struck by the nuanced conversation around adult children’s obligations to their parents. This play is a no-brained for theatres—especially since it can be produced year-round!

A terrific play- humorous and earnest- worthy of reading and production at any time of the year! It also makes for a great listen on the GATHER BY THE GHOST LIGHT podcast!

A moving story of the power of Christmas and the childhood memories we try to hold on to. Well done.

Grief is this complicated creature. All across the internet, slathered in countless books and plays, there's advice from people on how they've dealt with it. Yet still, none of us know, not really, how to kill it. It comes. It eases. It returns. We cry. We search. Sometimes it drowns us. Hope and joy are similar creatures. The three fight, but they're siblings. Steven Hayet's play starts in a sort of jubilation. Whacky antics draw out smiles. Then joy goes to sleep, and grief wakes. But he reminds us, grief sleeps, too. As it yawns, hope starts to stir.

This delightful, heartwarming story will give audiences the feeling of Christmas magic any time of the year. It moves quickly, with great jokes peppered among tender moments of nostalgia and warmth.

Charming Christmas play for any time of the year, about a man who returns to save the year-round Christmas store he adored as a child. Perfect mix of humor and pathos.