Sneak Peek: Kendra Malm Adapts ‘The Gifts of the Magi’ for the Olympia Little Theatre Stage

Published July 23, 2026

Earlier this year, I spoke with Olympia Little Theatre’s (OLT) Artistic Director Kendra Malm about OLT's 2026-2027 season (our conversation will be featured in my JOLT column very soon).

When Malm told me that OLT has chosen to do The Gifts of the Magi this December, I got very excited! If you have not read the original The Gifts of the Magi by O. Henry, you can read it here for free.

Chatting with Malm about the show, she described how she had wanted OLT to do The Gifts of the Magi for a while, but could not find a script out there that met the two act requirement, was good quality, or was not a musical.

The process of how OLT chooses their season selections will be described in my JOLT column soon, but for now I will tell you this: OLT had limited options of Christmas plays suggested for this season, and Malm volunteered to write a retelling of The Gifts of the Magi that would meet all of the requirements. OLT’s play reading committee loved the idea, the show got approved for this season.

Malm’s retelling will take place during the Great Depression instead of the Gilded Age.

Working on this project now and in the spirit of “Christmas in July,” we both agreed that now would be a fun time to give you all a sneak peek of what is to come!

Enjoy our conversation on The Gifts of the Magi!

Sneak Peek

Benton: Can you tell me some of the ideas that are floating through your mind as you work on this project, and how those contrast to the original piece?

Malm: “The original piece is by O.Henry, who was known for his twist surprise endings. The problem with this story is, it’s not really a surprise for most people. They’ve heard or seen some version of it before. I said to myself, ‘well, okay let’s not worry about putting a surprise ending in it.’”

“The story itself focuses on [the couple’s relationship] and the wife, Della. It’s all told from her perspective. The easiest way to expand it is to bring in scenes from Jim’s [the husband’s] perspective, so that you can see both of them struggling with how to make this Christmas special.”

“The original story only has one other character, and that is the wigmaker Madame Sofronie. I’ve added two more characters to give Jim and Della people to interact with as they go through their thought processes. I’ve added Maud, who is Jim’s sister and Della’s sister-in-law, who Della loves like a big sister. For Jim, I’ve got his boss Mr. Skinner, who is the one that is telling him, ‘times are hard, it’s the depression. I can’t afford Christmas bonuses, so you’ll have to figure out some way to do it.’

Benton: What led you to choose to have the story take place during the Great Depression?

Malm: “It still fits the sort of milieu of their being poor, working class, still hoping for more, and not despairing. Jim has a decent job — they’re getting by, but they don’t have enough money for the finer things, the little luxuries. That seemed to fit with the whole theme of struggling through the hard times. Plus, it will be a hell of a lot easier to costume it.”

“In the original, Jim actually sells his watch for the combs for Della. She says ‘my hair will grow back,’ but Jim permanently doesn't have his watch, [which she got a fob for]. That’s why I thought pawnshop because when you pawn something, as long as you’re making the payments on it, you can eventually get it back. Della’s hair will also eventually grow back, so this makes it much more of a balanced sacrifice for them.”

Benton: I am so glad you did that because I was always a little bit bugged by the original version — what were they going to do with these gifts they sacrificed so much for now that they don’t have the things they were meant for. It’s kind of sorrowful.

Malm: “[With my version], they can’t do anything with their gifts now, but they can in the future. Their gifts represent hope for the future.”

Benton: As you have been thinking about this show, I imagine you've thought about how many of its themes relate to now. I think there is a sort of poetry in choosing to do a show like this in Olympia, WA at this current moment. I would love to hear some of your reflections on how it relates to now.

Malm: “I’ve certainly heard it proposed that we are living in a new Gilded Age where you’ve got the robber barons squeezing the lower and middle classes for every cent they can get. The Gilded Age was the same era the original story was set in, which is why Della and Jim, though respectable, are so poor because the entire system is set up to make them poor.”

“It shows that, no matter how poor they are, they have something that the robber barons, the finance bros, and the tech bros can’t take away from them and that is each other, their love, and their caring for each other. That’s the most important thing we really can have.”

“The gifts themselves are luxuries, but they are luxuries that show the heart and show how each one of them knows what the other [treasures]. With Della, it is her beautiful hair and for Jim, it is his gold watch from his Grandfather. These are the luxuries they have, and so their gifts are to make the luxuries worth even more for the other person.”

Benton: This story that dives deep into love and away from the superficial things of this world. Someone might see the heart of the story, but then see that it still centers around physical gifts, luxuries that could be considered superficial, and say “wait, their pawning off their luxuries for more superficial gifts? Isn’t it all still superficial, how does that contribute to the theme?” How would you respond to someone with questions like that?

Malm: “It can definitely look like that, but in this case, their gifts are chosen to show off each other's most prized possessions. It’s something to enhance the happiness of the other person in the one thing that does bring them joy outside of their relationship.

Benton: So it’s like the cherry on top! We all have physical possessions we enjoy.

Malm: “Yes, and a lot of wealthy people seem to think that the poor should suffer. They have the idea that ‘well, you need to give up any sort of luxuries if you’re poor. You need to give up any luxury so that you can get by.’ But don’t the poor deserve luxuries as well? Do only the rich deserve luxuries? You know, even if it’s a small luxury, everyone deserves something like that.”

Benton: Earlier you were telling me that you were going to describe scenery expressively in the script so that the set designers could have more freedom and contribute their own ideas in telling the story. The one thing though that I am still curious about is if you are going to tell them to decorate for Christmas in any of the spaces?

Malm: “Oh, that’s a good point. I think we do have to have [some Christmas decorations] to give that signifier. I think there is going to have to be a small tree on the table.”

“Now, I am going to have to give this some thought because I could have a tree there at the beginning, or have Maud the sister-in-law bring it in, or have Jim bring it at the end of the show."

"Which is going to be the most effective for the actual story I am trying to tell. I will have to see when it feels right.”

Benton: Another question from another perspective: Why does OLT do Christmas plays each year when not everybody celebrates Christmas?

Malm: “We’ve tried to do things that aren’t holiday plays at that time of year, and they don’t really sell that well. We’ve tried several times to be a little bit off beat, and it doesn’t sell quite as well as a holiday play. This being a majority Christian country, many are gonna be Christmas.”

“I’d like to do a nice Hanukkah play, even though I’m not Jewish, but I have to find one.”

Benton: Or maybe even write one!

Malm: “Or maybe even write one!”

[...]

“I think The Gifts of the Magi has a pretty universal application to it. It just happens to take place during Christmas because, you know, that’s the culture we’re in."

"The ideas of gift giving and selflessness are universal sentiments, something that can happen any time of year. Just because of how our culture is, [December] is the time of year that triggers people towards that door.”

Benton: What do you want audiences to walk away with?

Malm: “I want them to walk away feeling happy. I want them to walk away with a sense of charity, charity towards other people, and also with a sense of hope that no matter how bad things get, you can still find the good things [in those moments.]”

Benton: Is there anything else you would like to share with myself or my readers?

Malm: “Earlier, we had talked a bit about the Christian holiday. Well, the pawnshop owner will be Merv Frankengold, who is Jewish. Merv has a wife named Valerie, and I kind of modeled them after Max and Valerie in The Princess Bride. So that is going to be a fun little thing with this little old Jewish couple helping the Christians with their holiday, having them say ‘oh this is so sweet. You’re crazy, but it’s sweet.’”

Be sure to get your season subscriptions and tickets to this show on https://olympialittletheater.org/