"Christmas: 1933" is based on the short story “That Terrible Night Santa Got Lost in the Woods” written by Larry King and adapted as a reading by founder and artistic director of the American Readers Theatre Jeffrey David Stocker. The story is set at Christmas as a middle-aged man and his aged parents reflect back on the terrible Christmas Eve in 1933 when a father got lost in a blizzard with toys bought on credit so a five-year-old boy would find the magic of the season under his Christmas tree. The holiday excitement is set against the troubling realities of the Depression in a story that stresses the hardy values of a rural family. Jeffrey’s adaptation places the setting of the story in Pike County with historical references and local names used.
