The Santaland Diaries

(No Longer in Production) – check out Waffle Palace Christmas

By David Sedaris

Adapted by Joe Mantello

The outrageous holiday comedy, written by NPR comic genius David Sedaris, stars Crumpet, a rebel without a Clause who recounts the true-life tale of an out-of-work writer’s stint as a Macy’s Department Store elf.

Topher Payne takes over the role of Crumpet in our 19th year of Santaland Diaries! Click here to read the exclusive in the AJC.

Length & Content

The Santaland Diaries runs 90 minutes with no intermission. The play contains mature content and is not recommended for children.

Have you seen The Santaland Diaries at Horizon before?

CLICK HERE to learn about this year’s new twist.

About the Play

Welcome to this wicked wonderland and exposé of all things elfin. Out of work and middle-aged, a writer in need of holiday cash decides to employ his gift for insightful observation in the trade of elfdom at Macy’s Department Store. Besieged by bratty kids with overzealous parents and donning a humiliating costume, he finds that his cynical self and his elfin alter ego, “Crumpet,” are not exactly compatible. His remedy for the saccharine overdose he endures in his never-endingly exuberant job is to tell all – giving us a backstage pass to the secret lives of Santas and elves. Though definitely not your traditional stocking stuffer, this caustic Christmas carol is a laughter-spiked antidote to the holiday blues.

Sardonic, satirical and sarcastic, the merry misanthrope recounts the tale of his stint as a Macy’s Department Store elf named Crumpet. Adapted from David Sedaris’ best-selling book Holidays on Ice, this holiday tale is a modern classic, made famous when it aired on National Public Radio.

About the Playwright

David Sedaris may well be the closest thing the literary world has these days to a rock star. He made his comic debut recounting his strange-but-true experiences of his job as a Macy’s elf clad in green tights, reading his The Santaland Diaries on NPR’s Morning Edition. His sardonic wit and incisive social critique have since made him one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. Sedaris is the author of numerous best-selling collections of stories and personal essays, including Holidays on Ice (from which The Santaland Diaries play was adapted), Barrel Fever, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Sedaris’ original radio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show, This American Life. He was previously named Time Magazine’s “Humorist of the Year” and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His essays appear regularly in Esquire and The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are a total of ten million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages. David Sedaris’ next book will be a collection of his diaries, entitled Theft By Finding (summer 2017).

“Playwright, author, radio star, and retired elf David Sedaris may be the most brilliantly witty New Yorker since Dorothy Parker.” – New York Magazine