A Package Full of Winter ‘Stories’

The Gascon Center Theatre in Culver City sparkles with tiny lights for “Stories of the Season,” an engaging roundelay of winter’s tales inspired by many cultures, presented story-theater style.

The cast of six has a repertoire of 10 stories, each represented by a package. Selected audience members pick five packages to open, resulting in a different quintet of stories at each performance. Cast members also discuss holiday traditions and, as a low-key finale, tell personal seasonal memories.

Last Saturday afternoon, the program began with a lyrical description of the odyssey of the monarch butterflies from northern climes to Mexican mountains for the winter, narrated in Spanish with English titles on a screen, using a brilliantly colorful robe to represent the butterflies.

It continued with a story about two rival brothers who try to cut down an enormous pine for Christmas; a sentimental tale about a woman in a wheelchair and her mother; an irreverent burlesque treatment of “St. George and the Dragon” with contemporary references; and a Cherokee myth about the origin of sunlight.

The stories were created or adapted by director Robert Beuth and Rob Harrison. Created at Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble earlier in the decade, “Stories” returns with a very warm glow.

* “Stories of the Season,” Gascon Center Theatre, Helms Bakery Building, 8735 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 22. $15-$18.50. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.