FrostyFest Holiday-Themed Theater Festival Kicks Off

FrostyFest is here!

Theater producers The StageCrafts have launched the first ever holiday themed theater festival in Los Angeles. The festival offers patrons a spirited collection of seven seasonal classics and new holiday fare over the next two weeks!

See, share and soak up the holiday spirit!

Helmed by veteran stage artists and producers Greg and Jenn Crafts, FrostyFest is a series of seven unique holiday-themed shows. All ranging in length, concept and style, some are on the nice list and some the naughty. Shows are being presented back-to-back from December 12-22 on multiple nights at The Hobgoblin Playhouse. The event marks the first time ever in Los Angeles that patrons can enjoy seasonal theatrical fare in a festival setting.

“People are always looking for things to do during the holiday season, and we’re giving them a lot to choose from, both family friendly and more irreverent,” said Jenn Crafts. “FrostyFest is an opportunity to see holiday shows in a Fringe-like setting with multiple shows going up a day and runtimes from 30-90 minutes. So it’s entirely possible to make a day out of seeing a few very different holiday shows in a row in the same amount of time it would take you to see something like a traditional Nutcracker or Christmas Carol.”

“You don’t see other holiday-themed performing arts festivals in L.A.,” said Greg Crafts. “Sure, individual companies have their traditional holiday offerings, but we’re offering something bigger––a full lineup of holiday celebrations ranging from comedy to drama to action. There’s puppets, poetry, Jewish Space Lasers, and a 60-minute adaptation of A Christmas Carol performed by a cast of twenty! There’s something for everyone, no matter what you celebrate.”

Here are the seven productions that will make up the inaugural FrostyFest:

A Very DIE HARD Christmas: Come get a little seasonal cheer as Theatre Unleashed brings back one of its most popular shows for the Holidays! Action, humor, Professor Snape taking people hostage, singing, dancing, the guy from Family Matters, guns, puppets, explosions, the EPA guy from Ghostbusters getting punched in the face, Christmas miracles and familiar holiday friends galore. Maybe even an appearance by the legend himself, Santa Claus! This is much more than a stage version of the holiday classic, it’s parody at its best.

Half-Past the Unlucky: On Christmas Eve, two EMTs find themselves stuck between a scatterbrained patient and the rude receptionist of a hospital waiting room. They have been told they must wait till morning for their patient to be admitted. Will they sacrifice their personal lives or use their cunning to make it home?

Ugly Cry Christmas: Ugly Cry Christmas is about Candy, a dejected 19-year-old barista living on her own in Portland, Oregon and Gertrude, an elderly woman who shares her loneliness on a message board. Will their unlikely intergenerational friendship blossom in time to ensure neither spends Christmas alone, or will their differences keep them apart?

A Christmas Carol in 60 Minutes: First published in 1843, A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s triumph over selfishness. This defines the holiday as a time for family, reflection, and giving. This fresh 60-minute adaption captures this and so much more.

A Child’s Christmas in Wales: This one-man retelling of Dylan Thomas’ classic poem will bring you back to a simpler time and place and help you to find the magic of the season through Thomas’ beautiful words.

Kosher Salt: Told with both humor and gravitas, Kosher Salt is a journey through Jewish comedy and Jewish tragedy. A clown show, a personal memoir, and a rollicking trip through some real tough shit. Abel Horwitz is going to solve antisemitism in 45 minutes. You’re welcome.

The Comedy Roast of Santa Clause Hosted by Krampus: Get in the ho-ho-holiday spirit with The Comedy Roast of Santa Claus, hosted by Krampus! We’ve kidnapped Mr. Sandy Claus, and we are going to spill the coco with special guests including Mrs. Claus and elves. Tis’ the season of giving, and trust us, our comics are really going to GIVE IT to Santa.

About The StageCrafts

Since founding StageCrafts in 2017, Greg and Jenn Crafts have hosted hundreds of productions at various venues, including The Hobgoblin, The Madnani Theater, Howard Fine Acting Studio, Javista Coffee and the former Studio/Stage. FrostyFest came about from both the popularity of the Hollywood Fringe Festival and the many actors they’ve worked with wishing aloud for a Fringe-style festival to happen during the holidays. The Crafts also saw the potential and said, “well, how about we do it!”

The StageCrafts wanted to make sure they offered a wide variety of programming like shows with established pedigrees (like Kosher Salt and the audience favorite A Very DIE HARD Christmas) as well as new shows for audiences to see.

Other festivals planned by The StageCrafts in 2025, include a mystery/suspense/thriller-themed event called SleuthFest. There is also BardFest, which focuses on Shakespeare and his contemporaries (plus derivative works) and the sci-fi/fantasy-themed MythicFest. The best shows in these various festivals will be invited back to perform as part of The StageCrafts Spotlight Series later in the year.

Information on dates, times, and ticket prices (which range from $10-$30) can be found at FrostyFestLA.com. You can also follow them @TheStageCrafts on Facebook and Instagram.

Photo by Matt Kamimura: The, “A Very DIE HARD Christmas” cast.