November 19, 2007                                                                                                                                             Associate Director of Marketing

                                                                                                                                                                               Phone: 253.573.2360

                                                                                                                                                                               Email: laceyl@broadwaycenter.org

If Your Holiday Sugar Needs A Little Spice:

See David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries and Other Stories

Produced by the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts

Sponsored by LeRoy Jewelers and Concrete Technology

Tacoma, WA – Beginning November 30 through December 9, 2007 in Downtown Tacoma’s Theatre on the Square, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts has produced nine performances of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries and Other Stories.

Performance Dates and Times:

Friday, November 30, 2007 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 3:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 3:00pm
Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 7, 2007 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 3:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, December 9, 2007 at 3:00pm

If your Holiday sugar needs a little spice, then David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries and Other Stories is the remedy. Based on David Sedaris’ work Holiday on Ice, the stories performed include Santaland Diaries, Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol and Christmas Means Giving.

Santaland Diaries is Sedaris’ outlandish, but surprisingly true, experiences of Crumpet the Elf in Santaland, also known as Macy’s Santa display in New York City.  The story portrays Sedaris’ personal account of working as Crumpet the Elf during the holidays and gives the inside story of what happens behind the scenes in Santaland.  Crumpet the Elf discovers a hilariously dark underside to the jolliest of seasons. This sardonic and merrily subversive tale has become an ‘anti-holiday’ cult classic. The performance is recommended for Mature Elves only, due to some adult language.

Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol follows theatre critic as he tears apart the various holiday plays and pageants presented by elementary school students with humorous observations.

Christmas Means Giving is the story of two neighboring families that find their own – competitive – spirit of the season. In attempts to out-holiday each other, the families amp up their decorations, acts of kindness and holiday cheer. As the rivalry escalates and antics become more and more outrageous, the extreme holiday madness will leave audiences laughing out loud.

Director, Russ Banham has most recently directed Merchant of Venice for Seattle’s Wooden O Theatre, previously directed Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Othello at Seattle Shakespeare Company, and adapted and directed Ethan Frome and Romance with Double Bass for Book-It Repertory Theater. Banham was the formerly the artistic director of Montana Players Inc., overseeing 28 productions and directing nine plays.  He also has directed performances for Spokane’s Interplayers, Montana Repertory Theatre, Bigfork Playhouse.  He’s directed and taught at the University of Montana. Acting credits include the Broadway production of The Merchant. Banham has starred as Brad in the NBC sitcom, Joe’s World, and co-starred as Crockett in the summer sleeper, Meatballs with Bill Murray. He is the author of 17 books, including the international best-seller, The Ford Century, a biography of the Ford dynasty translated into 13 languages. 

Santaland Diaries and Other Stories features two accomplished and local actors: Tim Hoban, who’s been a regular in local productions for years.  Hoban has worked with improv comedy groups Elastic Picnic, Lab Monkeys, and the Twilight Zone Players.  He has also appeared as Edgar Allan Poe in the B. Willis Production of Edgar Allan Poe, as Stanley in the Lakewood Playhouse’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and as the Marquis and Cadet in Harlequin Production’s Cyrano. He works on The Spud Goodman Show, which airs on Comcast cable and through the Spud Goodman website. Hoban will be on the staff of the Academy of International Education for their summer drama camp and also serves on the board for the Northwest Playwrights Alliance.

Seattle-based actor Chris Maslen last appeared as Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice with the Wooden O Theatre, directed by Banham. He played Guildenstern in California for Rubicon Theatre Company's Hamlet, and worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2005. Some of his favorite past roles include: Berowne in Love's Labours Lost and Laertes in Hamlet, both with Wooden O Theatre. Maslen also appeared in the film Conversations with God. He is an avid writer, with a BFA in Original

Works from Cornish College of the Arts and occasionally performs in Seattle as a stand-up comic.

David Sedaris made his comic debut recounting his strange-but-true experiences of being a Macy's elf clad in green tights, reading his Santaland Diaries on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Sedaris' sardonic humor and incisive social critique have since made him one of NPR's most popular and humorous commentators and a bestselling author in the United States and abroad. The great skill with which Sedaris slices through euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire. Everywhere he goes David Sedaris delights his audience with his irreverent style and great humor. In addition to his commentaries on NPR, Sedaris is the author of the best sellers Barrel Fever and Naked. His collection of Christmas related stories is entitled Holiday on Ice. His most recent book of essays, Me Talk Pretty One Day, was published in June 2000 became an immediate bestseller. Sedaris is a regular contributor to Esquire magazine and his essays have also appeared in The New Yorker, Allure and Travel and Leisure. Sedaris' original radio pieces can often be heard on public radio's This American Life, distributed nationally by WBEZ in Chicago, as well as BBC radio in London. Sedaris currently resides in Paris.

On sale now, tickets are $15 for Pierce County Residents and $34 for non-residents.  Tickets may be purchased at the Broadway Center Box Office located on 9th & Broadway or by calling the Box Office at 253.591.5894. To purchase online at any time or for information about upcoming events visit www.broadwaycenter.org.

Press tickets are available to review the performance on Friday, November 30 at 7:30pm.  To make ticketing arrangements, contact Lacey Leffler at laceyl@broadwaycenter.org or 253.573.2360.

The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the following for support of the 2007-2008 Season: ArtsFund, Ben B. Cheney Foundation, The Boeing Company, City of Tacoma, Forest Foundation, The News Tribune, Pierce County Arts Commission, Sequoia Foundation Pierce County Program, and Washington State Arts Commission.

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