Creole Culture, Italian Farce Take the Stage

Although December traditionally has few theater openings, the month gets a boost at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica with a monthlong celebration of black culture. The series, called “Black December,” includes performance work, music, dance, video, visual art, storytelling and discussion.

Beginning Thursday, actor Roger Guenveur Smith will present “Inside the Creole Mafia,” an examination of Creole culture.

“I don’t consider myself Creole, although I grew up close to that culture,” said the actor, who co-wrote and performs the piece with his childhood friend Mark Broyard. “Mark and I went to Catholic grammar school in Los Angeles, and I remember heated discussion at lunch--people trying to figure out who was Negro, who was Creole. It goes way back to social clubs based on skin color and hair texture, all these divisions determined by personal appearance.”

Such distinctions spring from the early settlers of Louisiana, a mix of French, Spanish and African influences. “The so-called white Creoles of Louisiana do not acknowledge the existence of the Creoles of color,” Smith said. “In the late ‘50s to early ‘60s, there was a large migration from there: People were frustrated with the lack of progress in Louisiana, and California was seen as the land of opportunity. They brought their customs, culture and cuisine--almost intact.”

Much of that is celebrated in this show, which promises traditional Creole music. “What’s important about this group of people is their extreme resilience and continuity,” said Smith, who played the stuttering Smiley in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and will appear in Lee’s upcoming film on Malcolm X. “The show is about intra-racial conflict, survival, the madness of Mardi Gras . . . and the proper way to make cafe au lait. “

Also opening this month:

Wednesday: “The Sicilian Bachelor,” a new comedy by Lou Cutell, Tino Trischitta and Norma Helms, adapted from Martoglio’s classic Italian farce, “L’Aire Del Continente,” premieres at the Tiffany Theatre in West Hollywood.

Thursday: Vae’s “Somewhere” and Terrylene’s “Unveiling the Rock,” two solo works in progress written and performed by deaf women, are presented under the umbrella title “Snapshots” at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood.

Thursday: The Venice-based Pacific Theatre Ensemble returns with its annual holiday engagement of Thornton Wilder’s through-the-generations story, “The Long Christmas Dinner.”

Thursday: The 25th-anniversary production of Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion’s Tony-Award-winning musical “Man of La Mancha” gallops into Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre, starring Raul Julia and Sheena Easton.

Friday: Jason Lesner’s “Threesome and Some,” on a trio of young adults struggling to survive on the fringes of Hollywood, opens at Burbank’s Third Stage theater.

Friday: “Remember,” a montage of musical numbers from past shows at East West Players, opens at the Hollywood theater. The show includes selections from “Pacific Overtures,” “Canton Jazz Club,” “Christmas in Camp” and “ A Chorus Line”.

Dec. 8: The two-character “We Got Today,” a new gay musical from the producer of last season’s “Ten Percent Revue,” opens at the Rose Cabaret in West Hollywood.

Dec. 14: “Cantorial,” a new comedy-mystery by Ira Levin about a couple whose Manhattan brownstone--formerly a synagogue--is being haunted by the former cantor, opens at the University of Judaism’s Gindi Auditorium. (In January, the production moves to Actors Alley in North Hollywood.)

Dec. 17: Joan Collins arrives at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills in the touring production of Noel Coward’s comedy of bad manners, “Private Lives.”

Dec. 26: Alyssa Milano (Sam on TV’s “Who’s the Boss?”) and David Arquette co-star in a revival of Leonard Gershe’s romantic comedy “Butterflies Are Free” at the Court Theatre in West Hollywood.