The Holiday Pageant

As anyone who's ever waded through the scorched thicket of Paradise Lost knows all too well, the Devil always gets the best lines. And so it goes in Open Eye Figure Theatre's Holiday Pageant, which tells the warm and fuzzy story of the Nativity from the perspective of Satan, odd man out in the whole redemption-of-humanity sweepstakes. Michael Sommers penned this funny, subversive story in rhyming couplets, and the returning cast includes such luminaries as Kevin Kling, Sara Agnew, and Luverne Seifert. The show is a warm, sprawling thing, with music and low-tech handmade effects. This is also your last shot to see it in its current form, because after this Yuletide season, Open Eye plans to reconfigure the Pageant for its intimate home venue. If you're looking for an antidote to holiday schmaltz that also rises above reactionary cynicism (we're all searching for some beauty, after all, we just might prefer it not be made of plastic), put this one on your calendar.
Mondays, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Dec. 15. Continues through Dec. 15, 2008