Greg Alcock

SantaLand Diaries is arguably the defining short story that put the now iconic essayist, NPR regular, and perpetual sardonic wit, David Sedaris on the literary map back in 1992. The story was adapted as a one-man stage production by Joe Mantello (Wicked, Take Me Out, Assassins) in 1996. The tale tells Sedaris' sarcastic story of his holiday season stint as Crumpet, one of Santa's Christmas elves at Macy's flagship New York City store. Mantello's adaptation, like the original, brings us behind the scenes of Macy's famous holiday attraction, counting down the days till Christmas using Sedaris' signature cynical style. The shop talk of a 33-year old, snarky, gay, man-elf includes ridiculous memories of a crew of bitter Santas, exasperated parents, puking children and utterly confused foreign tourists. In the end, Crumpet simultaneously tears down our sugar-coated image of a child's annual visit to see Santa, while leaving us inspired that the Christmas spirit somehow manages to live on in even the most bitter of St. Nick's little helpers.

It's Christmas Eve 1946 in Washington, DC and you've ventured out into the cold with your family to the local radio station to see a live performance of Frank Capra's yet-to-be-classic, It's a Wonderful Life. Taking the stage among dozens of sound effects tools are some of your favorite local radio actors, ready to immerse you in the idealized world of Bedford Falls and the life of the town's hero, George Bailey. As the five actors and one foley artist take you through the sentimental story, they portray dozens of characters and create dozens more sounds as your imagination is left to paint the full picture.

Whitney and Max are participants in a 42-day residential clinical drug trial for a medication treating the symptoms of their Schizoid Personality Disorder. Having spent a majority of their lives living in intense and private worlds created and existing within their own mind, they wait in anxious anticipation of what their lives will become as the medication begins to slowly take effect. Rather than risk entirely losing the memory of their worlds to their treatment, they do what neither has done before and share the contents of their fantasies with one another. As their worlds slowly die, Whitney and Max replace the love and need that they have for their mental creations with real-world feelings for one another.

Tommy is a perpetually down-on-his-luck, 50-something Irishman, who rents a squalid room in his drunkard uncle Maurice's Dublin home. Estranged from his wife and children, he spends his days scraping by with Doc, his quirky best friend, occasional roommate, and fellow business schemer. One night he finds himself turned into a knight in not-so-shining armor when he rescues a prostitute damsel named Aimee after she is beaten on the street. The four misfits settle into a dysfunctional state of co-habitation and co-dependency until Aimee's abusive ex Kenneth tracks her down to begin the group's inevitable--yet miraculously uplifting--downfall.

Agnes is a tough, drug and booze-fueled, down-and-out bartender living in a seedy motel room somewhere in Oklahoma when her lesbian best friend brings a paranoid drifter named Peter over for a night of snorting, smoking and drinking. When Peter's conspiratorial stories begin to infiltrate Agnes's mind and convince her that their room is infested, their horrific love story quickly descends into a downward spiral of co-dependency, blood and bugs.