About the Play:

FrUiTCaKeS is a full-length comedy by Julian Wiles. A hilarious, family-friendly Christmas comedy about two old spinsters who bake fruitcakes for every family in their small town each year. Fruitcakes is a heart-warming tale that highlights the true spirit of Christmas and forgiveness when a runaway steals a fruitcake in the close-knit town.

FrUiTCaKeS is a comical Christmas play set in a stereotypical "small town" that is similar to a fruitcake: mostly sweet with plenty of nuts. Mix together a batch of fruitcakes, three dozen Christmas trees, 10,000 outdoor Christmas lights, a chicken pox epidemic, two spinster sisters, an estranged old man, a lost cat named Tutti Frutti, and a Christmas hog named Buster and you've got the recipe for a fun-filled and touching evening of holiday cheer. Into this bucolic world comes Jamie, a kid who has run away from home and come as far as his money will take him. At first he thinks this town's inhabitants are "nuttier than fruitcakes," but soon he comes to admire, appreciate and even adore this nutty little town. A moving story of alienation, understanding and reconciliation, Fruitcakes provides audiences with a heaping helping of holiday warmth and Christmas cheer.

FrUiTCaKeS was first produced in 1990. The show has been a popular and favourite Christmas-time play for regional, high school, college, and community theatre productions ever since.

Cast: 4 female, 4 male, 6 boys, 7 girls, extras if desired

What people say:

"Fruitcakes by Julian Wiles is a delightful little gem of a comedy. It's also a great community theater play, since it has a cast of thousands (well, about 30), which includes lots of children, all of whom looked like they were having the time of their lives." — The Davis Enterprise (California)

"We have never had such an overwhelming audience response as we did with FrUiTCaKeS. A funny, heartwarming, yet thought provoking play that had our audience laughing one minute, crying the next. Highly recommended." — Theatre Night in Merrickville (Ontario)

About the Playwright:

Julian Wiles is an American playwright, director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and producing artistic director of Charleston Stage Company which, under his leadership, has grown into one of South Carolina's largest arts organizations. More than 100 productions of his plays and musicals have been produced across America from Hawaii to Maine, and internationally as far away as Newfoundland and The Netherlands.