Alley Theatre's THE SANTALAND DIARIES Begins Performances Tonight

The Alley Theatre will present David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries on the Neuhaus Stage. This is the last holiday season that the Alley Theatre will produce this show, directed by David Cromer, who won the MacArthur Genius Award and Obie Award for Best Director. Cromer’s critically acclaimed production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town ran for over a year on Broadway. Most recently, he directed Sweet Bird of Youth, now running at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. This past summer, David Cromer appeared in the premiere episode of Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom on HBO. Alley Artist Todd Waite reprises his role as "Crumpet the Elf" in the outlandish--and true--chronicles of David Sedaris' experience as a worker in Macy's SantaLand display.

A compact, one-character comedy, The Santaland Diaries is a hilarious cult classic featuring comic encounters during the height of the holiday crunch. NPR humorist and best-selling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris has become one of America's pre-eminent humor writers. The show is recommended for mature audiences due to language and subject matter.

The design team of The Santaland Diaries includes scenic design by Karin Rabe (Alley Theatre Properties Master) and costume design by Blair Gulledge (Alley’s November, Intelligence-Slave, Mrs. Mannerly). Lighting design is by Kevin Rigdon (Alley’s November, What We’re Up Against, The Seagull) with sound design by Pierre Dupree (Alley’s November, August: Osage County, A Behanding in Spokane).

The Santaland Diaries, by David Sedaris and adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello begins previews tonight, November 24, opens Thursday, November 29 and runs through Sunday, December 30 on the Neuhaus Stage. There will be a captioned performance on Sunday, December 2 at 2:30PM.

Tickets start at $29. Performances of The Santaland Diaries are on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30 PM, Friday evenings at 6 PM and 9 PM and Saturday and Sunday Matinees at 2:30 PM. Tickets to The Santaland Diaries are available for purchase at www.alleytheatre.org, at the Alley Theatre Box Office, 615 Texas Avenue, or by calling 713-220-5700. Groups of 10 or more can receive special concierge services and select discounts by calling 713-220-5700 and asking for the group sales department.