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Portland Center Stage presentsan interpreted performance of
Santaland Diaries
"Based on the outlandish and true chronicles of David Sedaris’ experience as Crumpet the Elf in Macy’s Santaland display, this hilarious cult classic features comic encounters during the height of the holiday crunch. Portland favorite Darius Pierce returns this season as Crumpet! "
Date & Time: Thursday, Dec. 19 at 7:30 pm
Location: PCS at The Armory, on the Ellen Bye Stage (lower level)
128 NW Eleventh Ave, Portland, OR
Tickets: Call the box office at 503-445-3700 or online with promo code SIGN (note: tickets are general seating; but there will be a reserved section for viewing the interpreter)
Interpreter: Jayodin Thompson
Sign Coach: James Rae
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Anne Adams | Oregon Arts Watch [Review 03 Dec 2012]
Review from the 2012 production of The Santaland Diaries starring Darius Pierce:
“David Sedaris’s “Santaland Diaries” (both the play and the essay) are surely best recognized as a cynic’s take on Christmas tradition. A thirtysomething man with dashed entertainment-industry dreams, Sedaris uses his day job as a Macy’s Christmas elf to launch a grand expansion both of his career and of the “there is no Santa Claus” revelation: Not only is there no Santa Claus, but there are no elves. Yes, Virginia, “elves” are actually seasonal day-laborers consigned to clean up child vomit, withstand humiliating training regimens, and perpetuate the lie for not one but several idiosyncratic fake Santas. Merry Humbug. Ho ho ho.
“Mercifully, though, there are a few more facets to this story: It’s also the tale of an intelligent person humbled by a brutal job market. It’s an unmasking of retail disingenuousness. It’s a kinky cosplay sexualization of erstwhile-presumed-asexual creatures (elves, Santa, customer servants). And—if you want it to be—it’s a reluctant admission that wonder, beauty and optimism repeatedly (if briefly) overturn our more jaded presumptions.
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