It's time for Santa!

We're a week into rehearsals for Santaland Diaries, an outrageous comedy by David Sedaris. In addition to working for hours every day in rehearsals, I'm building something that will pass (I hope) for the over-the-top world of Macy's "Santaland." First thing was to get some really big lumber . . .

and then get it shaped into something . . .

that will pass for an exaggerated Santa Throne.

Here's Jonathan in rehearsal playing around with the slacker elf in Santaland. This weekend, we're taking time off from rehearsing, Jonathan is playing with friends in Boston and I'm going to get this sucker tricked out in yuletide cheer. Christmas trees, lots of little lights, garlands and artificial snow!

Opening night is December 2nd - it's gonna be fun.

Becky's New Car

We started a new tradition last night - the staged reading. We had a great crowd show up for desserts and the staged reading of Steven Dietz's play, Becky's New Car. Everyone loved the presentation, and people can't wait for the next one. I want to thank all the wonderful actors who took part in this, and I also want to thank all of the people who made the wonderful desserts. It was a great night - it created a lot of excitement about the work that this theatre does.

Jonathan Anderson rolls in from New York on Sunday, and we start rehearsals on Monday for the David Sedaris play, The Santaland Diaries. I think there's general agreement that David Sedaris is one of the funniest people on this planet, and this production is going to be very, very funny. You may remember Jonathan from his amazing performance last season in Fully Committed. This guy is a great comic actor. . . or more accurately - he's a great actor with a great sense for comedy.

I have two days to design and build a Santa throne.