‘The Eight Reindeer Monologues’ sure to please this holiday season

When I heard that there was dirt being dished over at The Edge Theatre I knew that you, dear reader, would want to be the first to know.
I immediately contacted director Angela Astle for a phoner to communicate the nature of her very naughty and oh so funny holiday production The Eight Reindeer Monologues.

The play, written by Jeff Goode, is not your traditional holiday dreck, but rather a production which when one scratches its surface he finds a polemic of striking contemporary timeliness relating to sexual harassment.

Thus began my investigation of the “hoof in red-nosed snout” business up at the North Pole. It seems the reindeer are going on strike because Vixen has ratted out Santa for being a sex offender.

(In other words those were not just traditional “reindeer games on that foggy Christmas night” nor were they the traditional brand of “toys”).

This is a problem because if the reindeer go on strike then the elves will follow suit and Christmas won’t happen. Astle says she has even gone so far as to enlist some local playwrights to create media sound bytes to act as transitions between the scenes.

The four local writers who are creating the bridges between the monologues are concentrating on the media’s influence on the commercialism of Christmas. The reason they’re using this concept of the sound byte is to send up the commercialization of Christmas.

So just as the reindeer are standing up for their rights regarding sex abuse at the North Pole the local writers are pointing up and poking fun at how the greedy large corporations have abused and distorted this otherwise very fun time of year.

So the warm fuzzy traditional themes that are usually rampant at this time of year embodied in Christmas cards, presents and stockings ‘hung by the chimney with care’ will not be here. This story line is more about angst.

After Vixen’s accusation of the Jolly Old Elf of course the media descend on the North Pole immediately. The deer’s confessions soon unleash (unharness?) a huge scandal that uncovers a rotten awful tale of sin and corruption. Some of the reindeer are straight like Vixen.

Some, like Cupid, are gay.

One supposes that in that frozen wasteland of the North there may also be some who are bi-Polar. Sorry!

Astle and her cast have studied deer movement and developed a whole new deer vocabulary. They’ve created phrases such as the ‘half deer turn’ and the ‘look listen.’ These terms correspond to a sort of deer body language.

Reagan Fair is doing the costumes. Her task is to create apparel and fashion that will be enhanced by antlers and hooves. This show has a sort of black humor to it that should be a breath of fresh smog amidst all the “Nutcrackers” and “Christmas Carols” and so on.

The underbelly of this piece is really a call to arms against sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence and the like. Astle said this production is unique because of what a theatrical performance allows. “Theatre is a great way to have a conversation about topics that don’t get much play at holiday dinners,” she said.

Don’t be the theatergoer who misses out on this naughty bawdy treat. Otherwise – it has been hinted – one could find coal in his or her stocking on Christmas morning.

‘The Eight Reindeer Monologues’ plays through Dec. 31 at the Edge Theater, 9797 W. Colfax Ave. On the Web at http://TheEdgeTheatre.com