Santa Claus Is Coming Out at Celebration Theatre

Nov 16, 2011
Santa Claus Is Coming Out

Celebration Theatre is thrilled to announce the return of acclaimed solo performer JEFFREY SOLOMON in his Off-Broadway smash hit, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING OUT and to be produced for Celebration Theatre by Artistic Director John Michael Beck. SANTA CLAUS IS COMING OUT will be presented on Monday, December 12, Tuesday, December 13 and Wednesday, December 14 all at 8pm at Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.
JEFFREY SOLOMON's acclaimed one-man mock-u-mentary explores the secret romantic life of the great holiday icon and the controversy that engulfs the world when the truth is revealed. When a little boy's gender atypical gift request to the North Pole is denied, a series of heart-felt letters from the child nudge Santa Claus out of the closet and into the culture wars. A theatrical documentarian in the mold of Anna Deveare Smith and the Laramie Project, Mr. Solomon purports to have interviewed, and portrays, all of the key players in the scandal that has come to be known as 'Santa-Gate'.

These include little gay Gary, his confused mom and angry dad, Santa's fake-actress wife, his Agent, his longtime companion and Mary Ellen Banfield, a conservative activist who is fighting to institute a Santa NO FLY ZONE. The play was inspired by the debate on providing gay role models to children, and the "parents' rights" movement to keep gay issues out of the classroom. The subject matter is especially timely given the recent efforts of some activists and educators to speak to children more openly about LGBT issues in the wake of gay teen suicides, and the accusations from social conservatives that these are just thinly veiled attempts to promote the gay lifestyle to children.

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING OUT ran Off Broadway on Theatre Row at the Kirk Theatre in 2009 in a production Neil Genzlinger for the NY Times called "a delightful surprise" and added, "This isn't a clumsy parody, but a sensitive, imaginative tale that really is about a boy's realization that he is different. Mr. Solomon portrays an amazing range of characters, all of them beautifully." This production was originally produced in New York by Diverse City Theater, Penguin Rep and Shotgun Productions. Directed by Joe Brancato, Sound design by Jill Du Boff, original music by Andrew Ingkavet and Jason Webb, Projections designed by David Derr.