‘Universally human’ show focuses on the holidays
The stage lights turn on to a family awaiting the arrival of their daughter for Christmas dinner. She’s brought a guest to help her deal with her sister, mother and grandmother. On both ends of the theater, groups go over conversation topics that should be avoided in order to keep the peace and not fight.
No Donald Trump, no Russia, no North Korea or talk of potential nuclear war. No Harvey Weinstein, no sports and no talk of Jesus — even though it is Christmas.
The scene showcasing the holiday “buffer guest,” someone who gets an invite as a way to make an entire family be on their best behavior during the holidays, is one of nearly 30 vignettes in the Santa Fe Playhouse’s “Seasoned Greetings.” With varying genres and performance types, the show highlights the best — and worst — things about the holidays. Shows began yesterday and run until Christmas Eve.
“We have stories from across the gamut, folks where this is the most wonderful time of the year to people who feel really isolated and alone. I wanted to be able to tell everyone’s story,” said director Vaughn Irving, who said he wanted to explore people’s “complicated” relationships with the season.
The five cast members, all of whom are women who double as the writers, were chosen from auditions in which they were asked to perform something original that related to the holiday season. Some of those audition pieces were used, other vignettes were written later individually. A series within the show, which follows one family over several years, evolved out of improv sessions the cast did together — this includes the “buffer guest” scene, as it’s described by one of the show’s writers, Marguerite Louise Scott.
The performances range not only from theater to songand-dance acts, but also from comedy to drama. One scene can depict a department store manager giving a “Braveheart” like speech to her employees as they prepare for Black Friday or lampooning the oversharing Christmas card letter, while another is a letter written by a cast member to her late mother performed as a monologue or a dance that symbolizes holiday loneliness. “I like theater that can make you laugh while it’s making you cry,” said Irving.
And it’s common to have feelings on both sides of that spectrum, said writer and performer Mairi Chanel, who said the conflicting emotions the show highlights and that are represented in each writer’s work are “universally human.”
“Everyone around the holidays goes through this gamut of emotions of really, really happy to really despairing — sometimes in one day. I think all of us brought our personal experiences with that range of emotion.”
The cast also features Becca Jimenez, Kachina Walker, Deborah Dennard and Rose Provan. Shows are Thursday-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.