Photo Flash: Horizon Theatre's SANTALAND DIARIES Opens Tonight

This holiday season Horizon Theatre Company turns "ho ho ho" into "ha ha ha" as it reprises its popular production of The Santaland Diaries by award-winning satirist David Sedaris. The perfect laughter-spiked antidote to the holiday blues, Creative Loafing calls this non-traditional adult-only Christmas comedy "a fiendishly exhilarating, politically incorrect send-up of the holidays." BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the show below!

Sardonic, satirical, and sarcastic, our merry misanthrope, played for the 15th year by Harold M. Leaver, recounts the tale of his stint as a Macy's Department Store elf named Crumpet. Adapted from David Sedaris' best-selling book Holidays on Ice, this holiday tale is a modern classic made famous when it aired on National Public Radio. Joining Leaver this year as Crumpet's sidekicks are Enoch King, returning for his eighth stint in Santaland after appearing in Horizon's productions The Waffle Palace and every tongue confess earlier this season, and for her second year, LaLa Cochran, most recently seen in the original cast of The Waffle Palace at Horizon, Walter Cronkite is Dead at Aurora Theatre, and Good People at the ALLIANCE THEATRE.

David Sedaris may well be the closest thing the literary world has these days to a rock star. He made his comic debut recounting his strange-but-true experiences of his job as a Macy's elf clad in green tights, reading his Santaland Diaries on NPR's Morning Edition. His sardonic wit and incisive social critique have since made him one of America's pre-eminent humor writers. Sedaris is the author of the bestsellers Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Naked, and Me Talk Pretty One Day. His essays appear regularly in Esquire and The New Yorker.

Sedaris' original radio pieces can often be heard on This American Life, distributed nationally by Public Radio International. He was named by Time magazine as "Humorist of the Year" in 2001. His book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim was published in June 2004, and an anthology of stories, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories was published in April 2005. In 2005, Sedaris was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Album ("Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim") and Best Comedy Album ("David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall").

The Santaland Diaries runs tonight, November 22 - December 31, 2013. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 8:30 PM, and Sunday at 6 PM. There will be a performance on Christmas Eve. Tickets are $25-$40. Upgrade to the VIP experience for $15 which includes reserved seating and a complimentary holiday beverage. Tickets and information are available at horizontheatre.com or 404.584.7450.

Photo Credit: Greg Mooney

Enoch King, Harold M. Leaver, LaLa Cochran

Harold M. Leaver

Harold M. Leaver

Harold M. Leaver and Company

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