Local playwright Phil Paradise offers a double bill of seasonal one-acts for the December entry in Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative’s monthly reading series, set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Aronoff’s Fifth Third Theater.

 

“Soldiers’ Christmas” is a comedy/drama that Paradise describes as “a timely parable of war and peace” set along the front lines in northern France in late December 1914 and based on an historical truth  -- through encounters in no man's land, enemy combatants “discover their common humanity and (much to their officers' chagrin) fraternize with the enemy, playing soccer and singing Christmas carols as they celebrate Christmas during a temporary cease-fire.”

 

Nice cast includes Michael Bath, Kevin Crowley, Bill Hartnett and Don Volpenhein, who also directs.

Second half of the bill is “The Footprints of the Polar Bear,” about an encounter between a firefighter and a homeless man who identifies with the precarious life of the polar bear. Crowley and Hartnett are the readers.

 

Paradise is president of CPI and lives in Fort Thomas. This is his sixth CPI reading.

 

Tickets are $6, $3 students at the door. Advance reservations available at the Aronoff Center box office, or call 513-621-2787, and online at www.cincinnatiarts.org.