Behind the Scene’s – Creating “Letters to Santa”

November 20, 2023 janelleranek

One of the things that I love best about the theatre is the element of magic. Every person involved in any aspect of a performance understands the amount of stress and the levels of minuscule adjustments that go into creating a show. When the audience comes and settles in ready to be entertained, that is what they expect, an evening of absolute magic. They don’t care about every ounce of work put in to make that happen, nor should they.

We the creators are the ones who suffer through that hell. But I must tell you, as much as I adore performing and taking an audience on a ride, I absolutely revel in the process, in the grind it takes to get there. I will admit, I rarely handle this behind-the-scenes journey gracefully (ask my wife), typically I quit the theatre entirely at a minimum of three times when creating a show. But when all is said and done, it’s one hell of a fun job to have.

As one of my mentors taught me years ago: “Book the show. Write the show.” When there’s a deadline, you will get it done and it will be funny. By why the hell do I have THREE pairs of glasses. Also, the pork book has nothing to do with the show, so don’t get excited.

For more than two decades I have, with my wife and other co-creators, crafted original comedy performances, with new material every year. And not to toot my own horn…no that’s bullshit, I’m a tootin’, it is hard work. It’s terrifying. What we produce must be FUNNY! But damn it, we’re good at it, we are HILARIOUS! And I tell you, funny is brutally hard to do, ask any comedian. Creating a drama? Making someone ache in their heart? Shit, I could make you cry by telling a story about my latest bout with constipation – wait, that’s kind of funny. My point is, drama easy, funny is tough to create.

Oftentimes when creating, my wife and I (and others involved) step outside ourselves and marvel at what we get to do. Serious conversations, very serious conversations about things such as; is it funnier to have a cat’s face that looks like Oprah on her body or Oprah’s head on a cat-Oprah looking body? While building crafts for Hillderina, a crafter extraordinaire’s scene – a discussion about what could be used as a head on a hotdog reindeer – doughnut hole? Pickled sweet cherry pepper? Ahhh! The agony! What to use?!

*SIDENOTE Whilst shopping at Cub for Hillderina’s ingredients, I saw this ‘cake’. Brenda saw it and asked, “What the hell is that?” Look carefully, it’s supposed to be a turkey. Hillderina is appalled.

Pictured on Left Hillderina. An example of her crafting work – penguin and tree. Medium- Marshmallow, gumdrop, sugar cone and coconut. Take that Cub Foods!

*SIDE NOTE #2 Brenda’s real job is a librarian, she works with college students. The other day, she overheard a conversation students were having about going to some Christmas village thing. “It’ll be fun, they have a maker’s market, food, Santa, reindeer, it’s so cute!” One student was laughing, “Reindeer? How can they have reindeer? Reindeer aren’t real.” …… college students…our educational system is failing. *sigh*

Another example of the behind the scene turmoil that nobody gives a shit about: When writing for the upcoming show, we had a very in-depth discussion about things like is it funnier to have bats removed from someone’s hair or from their head? Or does it go too far to refer to children as mini hookers? Now granted as you read both statements, they seem very un-funny and highly inappropriate, but, in my defense, they are completely out of context. They are funny and they work, I’ll prove it. COME TO THE SHOW AND FIND OUT! Think of it like your own personal little scavenger hunt, look for both references in the show. When you spot them and either laugh or don’t laugh, let us know…. I’m serious.

So, enjoy the show! And don’t worry about behind-the-scenes, leave that to the professionals. “Letters to Santa…Shaken Not Stirred” Opens Saturday Dec 2!