Review: ARE WE DELICIOUS? Xmas '15

There's a self-sustaining goal that many of us attempt to attain to stay sane during the holiday season. We plan. We plan a grand feast for friends and family, we plan the decorations that will adorn the house when guests arrive, and we even plan how to wrap the gifts under the tree so recipients can't easily figure out what is inside of them.

But a lot of the time, life gets in the way and we're forced to wing it.

With just a week of preparation time - just 'winging it' is a mantra for the members of the Are We Delicious family. This holiday season they're presenting a series of eight holiday shorts to lighten and enlighten the audiences at Broom Street Theater.

AWD covers all of the typical hot button issues of the holiday season: awkward family small talk, bickering over what movie series to watch, and what the true spirit of the season signifies. They also touch upon the more atypical topics as well such as: how to properly run a pharmaceutical mafia based in Oconomowoc, how to win a Christmas pageant if you're a nun, and addressing Jesus' apparently deep rooted Daddy issues.

Previous AWD performances I've seen personally have tended to weigh more heavily on the side of comedy. And while this production has its side splitting moments, it's emotionally heftier this time around.

It might be more emotionally involved because, although it pains the Christmas lover in me to admit this, the holidays are rough. We're reminded of loved ones we've lost, family squabbles can get pretty harsh, and decorating the roof is just dangerous.

The short written by Coleman, for example, takes place in a prison on the other side of the world. Where two men are being held captive for unknown period of time in inhumane conditions. Entitled "Spiny Bone", the short is a lot to take in all at once. There's a bit of humor and a lot of reality. There are prisons like the one depicted in Coleman's piece that are simply not talked about during the holidays - but it doesn't mean they aren't there.

At the same time, there is a short entitled "Xmas with the Knutson's" by Linda Hedenblad which is anything but serious. The Knutson family runs a pharmaceutical business as well as their own mafia. In competition with Walgreens, they have to fight to stay on top of the Oconomowoc drug game. It's completely absurd and hilarious - particularly if you have ever been to Oconomowoc.

This Xmas '15 production by AWD is only their second show to ever run for two weekends. It only runs about 90 minutes, but with all of the different shorts strung together it feels a lot shorter. The show goes by in the blink of an eye.

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