Flashpoint Theatre Company presents David Sedaris’s The Santaland Diaries, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello, December 3 – December 20, 2009. All performances will be held at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, in Philadelphia. Ticket prices range from $12 to $18 (depending on the performance). To order tickets or for more information, please call 215-665-9720 or visit Flashpoint’s website at www.flashpointtheatre.org.

A disgruntled store elf goes postal on a crowd full of children ... or maybe he just gripes about it for an hour and drinks a lot of scotch. Flashpoint is excited to present this holiday favorite for the sixth season in a row.

David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, each of which became a bestseller. There are a total of seven million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages. He was the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. Sedaris’s pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. David Sedaris’s original radio pieces can often be heard on This American Life, distributed nationally by Public Radio International and produced by WBEZ. David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His most recent live album is David Sedaris: Live For Your Listening Pleasure (November 2009).

Flashpoint founder Derick Loafmann is back for the fifth season in as row as Crumpet the Elf. Loafmann was last seen on the Flashpoint stage inboom, The House of Yes, and Schoolgirl Figure. Loafmann has also been seen in Twelfth Night (Delaware Shakespeare Festival), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Little Fish Theatre Company), and Last Night of Ballyhoo (Montgomery Theater).

Director and founder Meghann Williams has previously directed The Little Dog Laughed, The Faculty Room, The House of Yes, The Santaland Diaries, and Season’s Greetings to Our Friends and Family, as well as a benefit production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues for Flashpoint. She is also the co-creator and co-star (with fellow Flashpoint founder Gigi Naglak) of Chlamydia dell’Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque. Meghann has worked with several other companies around Philadelphia, including Brat Productions, Philadelphia Theatre Workshop, and Theatre Exile (assistant director of Blackbird).

This season Flashpoint will be offering a special audience participation performance on Saturday, December 5th at 10:30pm. Audience members will receive a bag of props and instructions on how to participate (in the vein of Rocky Horror Picture Show). Veteran audience members are encouraged to attend this performance.

Flashpoint Theatre Company is dedicated to promoting cultural arts awareness in the Greater Philadelphia area through the production of socially provocative and emotionally resonant works of theatre, through the development of educational programming within the community, and through collaboration with new and emerging artists from all artistic disciplines. Founded in 2003 by five graduates of Drew University, Flashpoint’s first five seasons have included thirteen Philadelphia premieres and one world premiere, several readings of new plays as part of the High Voltage Workshop Series, and numerous outreach events including artist talkbacks, benefit performances of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, and special matinees for local high school students.

JUST THE FACTS

WHAT: The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris
adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello

WHEN: Thursday, December 3 – 8pm
Friday, December 4 – 8pm
Saturday, December 5 – 8pm and 10:30pm
Thursday, December 10 – 8pm
Friday, December 11 – 8pm
Saturday, December 12 – 8pm
Sunday, December 13 – 2:30pm
Thursday, December 17 – 8pm
Friday, December 18 – 8pm
Saturday, December 19 – 2:30pm and 8pm
Sunday, December 20 – 2:30pm

WHERE: 2nd Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St, Philadelphia, PA

TICKETS: $18 (Adults), $15 (Students/Seniors) – Fridays and Saturdays
$15 (Adults), $12 (Students/Seniors) – Weekdays and Sundays

PHONE: 215-665-9720

WEBSITE: www.flashpointtheatre.org

PRODUCTION STAFF & CAST:
Director - Meghann Williams
Set - W.D. Forte
Costumes - Gigi Naglak
Crumpet - Derick Loafmann

Photos available upon request – sara@flashpointtheatre.org, 215-370-2557