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This article is about the original play and the novel. Cancel Christmas

Cancel Christmas is a novel written by Sam Younghans, first published as a play in 1976, and then published as a book in 1996. It is placed in the literary sub-genre of a Christmas adventure novel. The story is set in Santa-land near the North Pole a short time before Christmas. It depicts the experiences of Santa, his elves, and Bogwig, king of the evil Trolls. In the summer of 1976 a group of about 26 children called the “Mini-Players” were meeting every Saturday at the theatre to study acting. Sam Younghans, the author of Cancel Christmas, was teaching the class. During that summer, they had been performing small skits for various events, and for organizations like the Sonoma Historic Society; done mostly in the amphitheater in the City Plaza. Some of the youngsters were members of The Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma. In October, the director of the Boys and Girls Club contacted Sam with a request to produce a Halloween show at the Sonoma Community Center. After the Halloween show, the Boys And Girls Club requested a Christmas show.

Sam decided to write a new Christmas play, rather than do any of the old standards; he gave it the title Cancel Christmas because of a note left on Santa’s door. Since it was already November, Sam had his group in rehearsal before the first act was completed. It garnered a lot of good publicity and the play ran three seasons at the Sebastiani Theatre. One of the reasons Sam formed the Mini-Players was to be near his two children – he wanted to spend the summer with them. His daughter, Samantha and his son, Torre were in the first three years of the production. One season, Samantha, played Mrs. Santa, and, Torre, played Bogwig, king of the evil trolls, for all three seasons. Cancel Christmas was born the Christmas season of 1976 in Sonoma, California on the stage of the Sebastiani theatre. The theatre was built in 1933, a mini replica of the famous Fox theaters of that time. The first live production in 1934 starred Edward G. Robinson. It was a beautiful theater, seating 400, with a balcony, a proscenium stage with a grid and an orchestra pit. Over the following years, the play had been revised and many new items added, including wonderful music by Paula Samonte, who helped with the first productions in Sonoma. Various theatre groups in Northern and Southern California started producing it. In 1996, a book adapted from the play was published, and the full musical version was produced at the Patio Playhouse in Escondido; directed by Sam’s son, Torre Younghans. That same year, Paula Samonte produced it in Ukiah, California. From the many good comments about the play, from the children and their parents, it was noted that this was a play for children of all ages. Many people said that this was badly needed for the children of these times.

It was produced at the San Diego Children’s Museum, the Huntington Beach Playhouse, and 2006 brought the production to the Eagle Rock Stage where 2,200 attended three performances. In 2008 the Boys and Girls Club of the Harbor area.(Costa Mesa, Irvine and Newport Beach) produced it. In 2011, Eagle Rock Stage, once more produced it. In 1982, Sam began converting the play into story form. Thus, the story of Cancel Christmas became a published book in 1996. In 2002 a screenplay was written; a Writers Guild agent represented it. There are now illustrations created for an illustrated version. It is a story for parents to read with their children. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fron_cover_of_%22Camcel_Christmas%22.jpg First edition cover Author(s) 	Sam Younghans Country	United Sates Language	English Genre(s)	Children’s Christmas novel, Adventure Publisher	Pinnacle-Syatt Publications Publication date	June 10, 1996 Media type	Large Print (paperback) Pages	142 (paperback- first edition) ISBN ISBN 1-886580-96-0