Christmas story takes a dark turn

As its title suggests, “Mary Shelley’s Santa Claus” fuses Shelley’s Gothic horror novel “Frankenstein” with the Santa Claus myth, charting a bleak yet magical course through the hearts and minds of a dreamy girl and her guardian angels during a cold, blustery night in Oklahoma.

Staged by Cornerstone Theater Company at Armory Northwest in Pasadena, this unusual holiday offering is boldly envisioned and vividly performed. The writing, however, presents a challenge. Playwright Erik Ehn works in a heightened, poetic style similar to that of Suzan-Lori Parks or Mac Wellman. Words spill forth in dense, tumbling streams. Plot points are oblique; meanings are allegorical.

Ehn’s protagonist is Kristin (Adina Porter), a lonely, poverty-stricken girl. As Christmas approaches, her thoughts turn to charity and selflessness, qualities too often lacking in her meager life.

Her hopes take the form of a story about another lonely girl, named Shelley (Elisa Bocanegra), who sits in a bubble bath of glowing white twinkle lights, dreaming up a creature. The creature assumes the form of a dark angel, a doll-sized, bunraku-like puppet animated by a pair of operators (Leslie K. Gray and Peter Howard). Shelley teaches the creature the magic of gift giving, but when her delight turns to horror, the shunned creature flees to the North Pole. There, the now-grown creature (played by Howard, in “Edward Scissorhands”-like garb) devotes himself to the making of presents, which he delivers around the world.

As directed by Mark Valdez and given form by Christopher Acebo (sets), Geoff Korf (lights), Garry D. Lennon (costumes), Lynn Jeffries (puppets) and John J. Flynn (video), the show is a fantasy of incandescent moons, icy mountains and a glowing, upside-down Christmas tree. It can be enchanting, but it fully reveals itself only to those who patiently fit together its puzzle pieces.

This is one of Cornerstone’s ensemble shows, performed by its professional company members and guest artists. It’s not one of the community shows, created with local residents.

-- Daryl H. Miller

“Mary Shelley’s Santa Claus,” Armory Northwest, 965 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena. Today, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 and 11:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3 and 8 p.m. Ends Sunday. $15. (213) 613-1700, Ext. 33. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. May not be suitable for children younger than 15.

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Warmth and wit in a holiday quintet

It’s odd how the season of “peace on Earth, goodwill to men” is accompanied by so much stress, triggering bad behavior even as people are trying to be at their best. The naughty and the nice are humorously depicted in “Christmastime Is Queer,” five short plays about the lesbian and gay holiday experience, presented by Playwrights 6 at the Celebration Theatre.

The opener, Larry Dean Harris’ “The Portrait Norman Rockwell Forgot to Paint,” pays a Christmas-morning visit to a lesbian-gay extended parenting unit (Kimberly Elaine Crowe, Jodi Kirkpatrick, Michael Gee and Paul Clausen, with the playwright taking over for Clausen for the rest of the run). Under Sharon Rosen’s warm direction, it’s a celebration of selflessness and commitment, even as gift choices for the 3-year-old son momentarily short-circuit the good cheer and wryly reveal some essential differences between lesbians and gay men.

The closer, G. Bruce Smith’s “Christmas With the Mitchells,” watches what happens when a young man (Mickey Caputo), newly out to his Midwestern parents (Jeri Holst and Larrs Jackson), brings a guest (Cyrus Deboo, alternating with Robert Callow) on a visit home. Mom and Dad prove to be over-earnest in their attempts to make the men feel comfortable (inflated condoms in place of party balloons, for instance), and end up making one too many assumptions. Yet this merely proves the depth of their love, as conveyed through Jonathan Levit’s tender direction and vivid performances all around.

The meltdowns occur mostly in the intervening pieces, as wanderlust or the ghosts of relationships past complicate “The Gift,” by Laura Black, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Breakup,” by Amy Heidish, and “Christmas Past,” by Monica Trasendes. These pieces deliver laughs, but due to pedestrian writing here or slack direction there, they pack less of an emotional wallop.

-- D.H.M.

“Christmastime Is Queer,” Celebration Theatre, 7051-B Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Dec. 29. $20. (323) 860-6625. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.