Author Profile:  Christy Fredrickson

When Christy Fredrickson’s youngest daughter was a freshman and the school play needed helpers, she volunteered.  The next year she was asked to become assistant director and set designer.  She enjoyed the experience very much but realized how hard it sometimes was to find the right play for a small school cast.

“We had a rather different situation that year since we had a large number of boys to work with as well as girls, but were having a hard time finding a play that would showcase them.”  Since she was a published writer, Christy decided to write one herself.

“The play we did my second year involved a gangster who was out in the jungle with his girlfriend and a henchman.  Although these were not the main characters, they were interesting characters who seemed out of place.  I decided to take a gangster character and give him a whole life in his own world.”  The result was Pistols and Posies, a fun romp through Prohibition-era Chicago.

After Pistols and Posies was presented to a full house, it drew rave reviews from the local papers.  Shortly thereafter, the play sold to Pioneer Drama Service and later became a co-winner of the 2010 Schubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest.

The best part of all that?  “Seeing those characters in my head actually come alive up there on stage,” says Christy.

Christy and her husband live on a farm in western Nebraska.  Their family is grown, but all live nearby except the youngest daughter (the original Isabella Malvone of Pistols and Posies) who is away at college.  Christy still serves as assistant director and set designer of the local school play and definitely plans to write more plays.  As she says, “I guess you could say I'm addicted!”

For more information, visit christyfredricksonplaywright.com.