←Recommendations of THE SEVERED HEAD ATOP THE TREE HAS A FEW THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THE HOLIDAY

I am all in for a Dr. Fluffles series. I cannot get enough of the indifferently evil feline. Adam Richter has created an endearing tale of broken ornaments, tired holiday conversations, and a cat with deliciously contrary motivations. A fractured festive fairy tale for the modern age.

Having grown up with the traditional Christmas tree and all the heirloom ornaments and, at one time, three cats in the house, I felt this deeply and smiled the whole way through. We even had a lighted angel ornament (who looked more like a hood ornament) atop the tree. I know the stress the season brings with the forced jollity and the adherence to tradition are migraine triggers, so seeing it from the side of the ornaments and the cat brings a dimension of appreciation for Adam Richter's imaginative interpretation of the reasons we go through this every year.

As someone who is bullied into putting up Christmas decorations myself, the question at the heart of this wonderful short play really spoke to me: how important are traditions? How do we maintain connections with the past without rituals, especially if those rituals involve dusty talking oranments? Richter's play has excellet comic pacing and he's got a great ear for the perfect one-liners. Well done!

This would be so fun to execute live on stage! Of course, the meat of the story is "how important are traditions?" Is it worth it to keep up a yearly holiday tradition if it only brings you stress? Does the warmth of nostalgia and not disappointing others (even broken, sentient ornaments) outweigh the misery you go through to get there? These questions can't be answered sweepingly, but in production, it's a hilarious way to posit them!

The gravity of the eternal war between cat-kind and Christmas tree is sometimes lost. Thankfully, Richter has written us a dutiful reminder of not only this, but the true meaning of the season (and how hard it can be to keep it up). So much fun potential here for designers and actors, as the visuals are hysterical just on the page. The pacing here is just beautiful, from the entrance of the doctor, to the couple, to the most delicious ending.

A clever take on an hysterical title. Richter, like the Severed Head itself, forged ahead to create a very unique holiday play. Love the anthropomorphism of the broken ornament desperate to be heard and its exchanges with the diabolical cat; a great juxtaposition to the very real human "where's the joy in the holidays" debate going on.

There is something to be said about the stress of maintaining traditions during Christmas, and Adam Richter says it with humor here. The visuals of the characters alone -- the disembodied head of a Little Drummer Boy ornament and a self-centered cat -- will get audience laughing. Throw in a pair of humans whose opinions about work and effort seem a bit skewed, and you've got a crowd-pleasing comedy.

Funny and absolutely delightful holiday play that wonderfully combining the loneliness of a broken tree ornament, a destructive pet cat, and two humans who don't quite get what the holidays should be about. Super-fun for all ages!

When does the effort suck the joy from the holidays? That's the question at the heart of this witty rumination on perhaps doing a little less. The interchange between the cat and the ornament provides a funny counterpoint to the more pragmatic exchange between the human couple.

This short Christmas play is SO clever! I especially love the dynamic between the ornament and the cat, and listening to them argue with each other and try to communicate with the humans they live with - all while the humans have no idea, of course. This is a very original take on the debate between tradition and simplicity which crops up every December.