“I had the idea for a play about a couple form Minnesota coming to Arizona for a while,” Stuart says. “My wife and I are on the Desert Foothills Theater steering committee and they needed a fundraiser. My wife, in her inimitable way, volunteered me to write a play. So I just took the play and adapted it to Christmas.”

A cast of six men and women use their singing and acting talents to tell the story through 20 familiar holiday tunes with new lyrics.

Once again Stuart brings a hit play first to the Desert Foothills Theater for one night only, before it opens on the west side at Desert Rose Dinner Theater in Peoria. He and his wife Diedre Kaye are active members of the DFT and are donating all royalties and fees to support the fundraising event.

Stuart’s graduation from a background in sports to a full‑time playwright came naturally.

“I was an athletic director in Minnesota when I was younger and the paper where I was asked me to write a sports column. I’ve always written so I agreed. From there it went from writing a column to writing a play about sports to writing plays about anything I want to.

“It helps that my wife is in theater because I can bounce ideas off of her and use her for a sounding board for new ideas.”

“Coyote Dreams” is an over‑the‑top farce Stuart says, which are fun to write, but his work usually carries a message.

“Usually I like to write comedies with a nice social overtone.”

Deidre Kaye, who produced and directed the play, promises a “fun, light” evening.

“We have an excellent cast,” Kaye says. “There will be something for everybody. Lots of clever humor. Light humor works well around dinner. The audience doesn’t have to think too hard.”

The audience will enjoy hearing familiar holiday tunes and get a chuckle out of the Minnesotans’ view of Arizona idiosyncrasies.

“The cast is having a lot of fun with it,” Stuart says. “They’re all good singers. We’ve got high hopes for it.”

The performance will take place at 7 p.m., Dec. 7, at the Satisfied Frog, 6245 E. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek. Tickets are $50 each and can be reserved by calling (480) 488‑1981 or purchased online at www.desertfoothillstheater.com.