A Festivus for the Depressed of Us

Like an overinflated balloon, the holidays strain at the seams with cultural expectation—the good cheer, the idyllic family life, the perfect gift for that special someone. It’s a pretty picture few actual lives can match, and for most, it all adds up to little more than disappointment and deflated hopes...

By Jef Otte

December 23, 2010

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Like an overinflated balloon, the holidays strain at the seams with cultural expectation—the good cheer, the idyllic family life, the perfect gift for that special someone. It’s a pretty picture few actual lives can match, and for most, it all adds up to little more than disappointment and deflated hopes.

So come, then, all ye disenfranchised, and behold: A Very Dark Holiday Playwright Festivus, a handful of short plays exposing the sad, seedy underbelly of the most wonderful time of the year. Charged with producing one-act stories tackling the dark side of the holidays, six Colorado playwrights produced six plays, like Mark Sbani’s Bored to Death, a monologue piece in which a girl alone in a hotel room contemplates suicide on New Years’ Eve, or Frank A. Oteri’s Intimate Information, in which three mall Santas get drunk in a bar and talk shop. How’s that for depressing?

All six pieces are showcased at each performance; the show begins its run tonight at the Vintage Theatre, 2119 East 17th Avenue, at 7:30 p.m., and continues nightly, except December 24 and 25, through New Year's Eve. For the full schedule, tickets or more information, call 303-839-1361 or visit www.vintagetheatreproductions.com.
Dec. 21-23, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 26, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 27-31, 7:30 p.m., 2010

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