Passport Subscribers! It’s time to RSVP for our December 4 Passport Night at Phoenix Theatre! Watch your email for the link, and be sure to RSVP by November 27.
When the Phoenix Theatre put out a national call for submissions for their annual holiday show, they asked for anything from a sketch or a song to an “arty tone poem” or a “boozy rant,” and the holiday in question might be Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, or Talk Like a Pirate Day. The Phoenix has never been one to toe the line.
It’s tough to describe exactly what to expect from the Phoenix’s much beloved holiday show. This year’s production is irreverently dubbed A Very Phoenix X-mas 8: Angels We Have Heard While High, a title that practically guarantees mirth but leaves a lot to the imagination. It’s not a play…exactly, and it’s not a concert…exactly.
Bryan Fonseca, director and mastermind of the annual production on top of being Producing Director of the Phoenix, says, “It’s exactly a variety show. It’s kind of a new-age type of variety show.” Which means that it’s chock-full of songs and sketches, banter and dance. “It’s non-traditional and yet it’s a tradition for us,” said Fonseca. And you’ll never see the same thing twice.
A Very Phoenix X-mas 8 will include, among other things, six short plays featuring the local acting talents of Scot Greenwell, Paul Hansen, Eric Olson, Ryan O’Shea and Lynn Wilhite as well as an appearance from acclaimed hybrid arts group The Fourth Wall, three performers who manage to combine acting and dance—all while playing instruments. According to Fonseca, this year’s installment into the Phoenix holiday canon has, “a more spacy, trippy feeling to it.” Sort of like the feeling you get when you’ve one glass too many of eggnog.
The Phoenix’s raucous holiday tradition was born out of their yearly dilemma: Do you do a holiday show or don’t you? The Phoenix Theatre’s mission is to present new plays and contemporary theater, so you’re not going to see something like IRT’s A Christmas Carol there. It’s just not their style. When they lit upon the variety show format, they knew it was the perfect solution to their holiday season conundrum. Now in its eighth year, the Phoenix’s holiday show has become an Indianapolis favorite. When asked what part of this particular show he’s most looking forward to, Fonseca hesitates and then says, “One thing I’m really looking forward to is seeing what the audience’s reaction will be. We have some really, really unusual pieces this year.”
Don’t worry: even if you missed out on the wacky holiday stylings of the first seven years (Our Stockings Are Stuffed, Our Goose Is Cooked, Getting Figgy With It, etc.), it’s not too late to make A Very Phoenix X-mas your favorite new tradition that bucks tradition. So don your Santa hat, and maybe an eye patch—just in case they follow through with Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Emily Hinkel, Sky Blue Window
Earlier Shownotes
Indianapolis Opera | A Threepenny Opera
The 2013-2014 IndyHub Passport to the Arts is presented by Lilly. Together, subscribers will experience five of Indy’s professional performance arts organizations, and go behind-the-scenes to hear what makes them tick. And we’re excited too for what our friends at Sky Blue Window are doing for us this season. In advance of each of our five Passport performances, they’ll be researching the piece, talking with the artists, directors and scouring for the fun bits we won’t see on stage! So even if you aren’t a Passport Subscriber this season, we hope you’ll have fun following along with us!
