Jonathan Josephson: 2025 Hitchcock Christmas Playwright Spotlight

Here we are – the final Playwright Spotlight Series Holiday Edition, of 2025! Today we’re featuring PlayGround-LA alum and PlayGround Directing of Marketing and Communications Jonathan Josephson and his play The Birds is Coming (Inspired by The Birds), one of five plays being presented as a part of PlayGround’s 4th annual A Very Hitchcock Christmas, running at Potrero Stage and Simulcast, December 6-7 at 7pm.  Advance reservations are required: visit playground-sf.org/hitchcockchristmas for details.

What was the impetus for your Hitchcockian/Christmas mash-up?
The Birds is the Hitchcock film I knew best, so I started thinking on that as soon as the concept was announced a few years ago. I quickly realized how impossible it would be to stage anything close to the best scenes of The Birds, which only made me want to figure this out even more! When the idea of a prequel popped into my head, and I rewatched the film and the nasty people kept saying how impossible it was for birds to act “this way” in a unified manner, multiplied that by a Christmas wish, and the rest of it flowed easily.

Give a teaser for your play.
Tis the holiday season and Sparrow, Crow, and Seagull have gathered for their annual gift exchange. Some of the gifts are nice, and some set the stage for bloody revenge. Based on The Birds.

Did you start writing any other scripts before you submitted that one?
No, this was the first one. Though My Vertigo/Die Hard/Prancer mash-up is lying in wait…

Can you imagine a 2-hour version of your play? What might that look like?
You know, not really. Many times I will use a ten-minute play as the starting point for a longer piece, but with this one, I think the idea is stated pretty clearly, and the “longer” version is simply watching the birds and having some insight as to where all of that birdie murder may have come from.

What’s your favorite film? Tell us what you love about it!
The Princess Bride. I’ve loved it since I was a kid and it only matures and enrichens with age. It’s the first movie I ever loved and the novel made me want to me a writer. But the film. The film! Brilliant writing (a screenplay masterclass) the acting, story-creation… it subverts countless expectations of “that kind of movie” while still supply genuine drama; it’s quotable without being glib; it’s got tremendous heart and iconic characters while still being universally identifiable and utterly hilarious. It’s an iconic fantasy story yet it punches like any hero’s journey drama regardless of genre; it gave me the best kinds of nightmares as a child yet I still want to share with my nephews and nieces when they’re way too young. Plus I find that good people find one another through The Princess Bride. It’s one of the first things that drew my wife into my orbit and me to her. What I’m saying is that this film basically set my life on its course. So yeah, I’m a fan.

If you could pick the next iconic director/holiday mash-up as a prompt for PlayGround, what would your combination be?
Kimberly said Jordan Peele/Halloween and I’m so in for that! Or Wes Anderson/Arbor Day, or something equally random. We Anderson/Valentine’s Day? That’s be weird.

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Fifty of Jonathan Josephson’s plays have been produced around the world including Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), Milwaukee Rep (RepLab), Samuel French OOB (Festival Winner), Chance Theater, and Mountain View Mausoleum. His work has been included in several Smith and Kraus Best Of collections, The Great Plains Theatre Conference, Best of PlayGround-LA, and has also been named a Finalist for the O’Neill. Twenty-five of his plays are published by Concord Theatricals, Broadway Licensing, and others. He’s also a co-founder of the award-winning Unbound Productions (Wicked Lit, History Lit, Mystery Lit). B.A. Theatre: Playwriting, UCSD. DG, ALAP. [jonathanjosephson.com]

A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS was created from submission by playwright alumni in each of PlayGround’s four regions (SF, LA, NYC, and Chicago). Over the last three years, A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS reached nearly 2,500 audience members, in person and online. The 2025 production includes two audience favorites from previous years, The Birds is Coming by Jonathan Josephson from 2024 and How the Bates (Almost) Stole Christmas by J.S. Puller from 2023; and three world premiere short plays: Dial M for Merry by Christian Wilburn, Fool Proof by Kimberly Ridgeway, and Shadow of an Uncle Nick by Mark Sherstinsky. The plays are in conversation with the Hitchcock films The Birds, Psycho, Dial M for Murder, Strangers on a Train, and Shadow of a Doubt. Visit playground-sf.org/hitchcockchristmas for details.