Bad Elf

Screaming children, department stores, seasonal jobs, green velvet costumes. These are just a few staples of the holiday spirit, and it's this madness that writer David Sedaris covered in SantaLand Diaries, an essay about his day-to-day life as an elf at Macy's that first appeared on NPR's Morning Edition in...

By Thorin Klosowski

December 15, 2011

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Screaming children, department stores, seasonal jobs, green velvet costumes. These are just a few staples of the holiday spirit, and it's this madness that writer David Sedaris covered in SantaLand Diaries, an essay about his day-to-day life as an elf at Macy's that first appeared on NPR's Morning Edition in 1992. Since its adaptation for the stage in 1996, the one-act, one-man play has become a nationwide phenomenon of community and professional theater.

This year marks the third time the Boulder Ensemble Theatre will be putting it on, with actor Geoffrey Kent playing the lead character, Crumpet. "It's great holiday escapist theater," says Kent. "You get to sit back as Crumpet mops vomit in the corner, suffers loud children, louder parents and the occasional entomologist Santa." It's a story for people who love the holidays as much as they hate them, and it takes on the strange, modern experience of Christmas and gives it an adult touch. "Sedaris sums up the Christmas experience pretty damn pointedly," says Kent.

SantaLand Diaries opened November 30 at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder, and runs through December 24. Tickets range from $15 to $24; for showtimes and other information, call 303-444-7328 or visit www.boulderensembletheatre.org.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 4 p.m. Starts: Dec. 1. Continues through Dec. 24, 2011

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