Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus - Drama:   Inspired by a simple, poignant letter written over 100 years ago by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon to the editor of the New York Sun and by the timeless editorial response printed on the front page of the Sun.  

Virginia wondered and wrote: "Dear Editor, I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says if you see it in the Sun, it's so. Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?" Ed Mitchell, the Sun's editor, gives the assignment of answering Virginia's letter to Frank Church who, until his wife and baby died last Christmas Eve, was the Sun's best and most dependable reporter. Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus is a play for young and old, magically reaffirming life's highest beauty and joy "the eternal light with which childhood fills the world."      

In the madcap comedy tradition of Lend me a Tenor, the hilarious Moon Over Buffalo centers on George and Charlotte Hay, fading stars of the 1950's. At the moment, they’re playing Private Lives and Cyrano De Bergerac in rep in Buffalo, New York with 5 actors. On the brink of a disastrous split-up caused by George’s dalliance with a young ingénue, they receive word that they might just have one last shot at stardom: Frank Capra is coming to town to see their matinee, and if likes what he sees, he might cast them in his movie remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Unfortunately for George and Charlotte, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, abetted by a visit from their daughter’s clueless fiancé and hilarious uncertainty about which play they’re actually performing, caused by Charlotte’s deaf old stage-manager mother who hates every bone in George’s body.

Hilarious misunderstandings pile on madcap misadventures, all of which are magnified by Charlotte's deaf mother who manages the theatre.   "Hilarious ... building up its laughs methodically shtick by shtick.... Ludwig stuffs his play with comic invention, running gags ... and a neat sense of absurdity.... Go and enjoy." N.Y. Post.    

Debbie Hubbard is delighted to have been selected as a guest director for "Moon Over Buffalo" for the Old Courthouse Theatre. She has been involved in theatre in one aspect or another for over 30 years. She has performed in a variety of productions both professionally and in the community setting. Over the years she has worked in nearly every area of theatre production from stage managing and properties to running a light board and front of house. She teaches theatre classes with Catawba College's Community Music program, an after school enrichment program for young people. She teaches theatre classes for home schooled students and is a director of the Piedmont Players Theatre winter and summer drama workshops in Salisbury, NC. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Education from UNC-Charlotte.

Cast of Moon Over Buffalo

Name	Position
Debbie Hubbard	Director
Denise Ablard	Stage Manager
Jim Esposito	George Hay
Susan Capotosto