A dramatic take on holidays you love to hate
People have been telling me for years that I need to read David Sedaris, but now Sedaris will be coming to me – well, in a sense. Sedaris’ break-through work, “The SantaLand Diaries” is coming to Houlton. The Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Project will be presenting the Penobscot Theatre production of “The SantaLand Diaries” at the end of the month. The piece was originally written as a personal essay recounting Sedaris’ brief stint working as an elf in the New York City Macy’s department store SantaLand display. In 1992, Sedaris read the essay on NPR, it was well received and later adapted into a one-man, one-act stage play which has become a seasonal staple among regional and college theatre.
“The SantaLand Diaries” is the sort of piece for people that love to hate the holidays. Or, at the very least, can enjoy laughing at the absurdities of the Christmas season. For when you can’t handle one more jolly Santa, listen to one more Christmas carol, or bear one more cheesy holiday popcorn movie – and it’s not even December, “The SantaLand Diaries” will help spare you your sanity.
Sedaris is snarky and sarcastic – bitter, but all the while having fun. While Sedaris is certainly chagrined at having to take the elf job in the first place, he revels in the inherently ridiculous nature of the situation. I haven’t yet seen the Penobscot Theatre’s production of “The SantaLand Diaries” – but I’m looking forward to it.
The Penobscot Theatre presentation of “The SantaLand Diaries” will be on Friday, November 30 at 7 p.m. at the Houlton High School auditorium. Tickets are $10 in advance (available from SACAP at 66 Main Street, Houlton) or $12 at the door and $5 for students. For more information call 532-9119.
Elizabeth “Liz” Gartley, of Houlton, has a BA in media studies from Emerson College in Boston. She has studied abroad in the Netherlands and Australia, and most recently interned at a production company in Hollywood. She can be reached online at egartley@gmail.com or leave a message for her at your local newspaper office.
