Theater Wit presents: The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris adapted by Joe Mantello directed by Jeremy Wechsler thru January 2nd ( ticket info ) Reviewed by Aggie Hewitt Who doesn’t love holiday traditions? Especially if one of your traditions is listening to David Sedaris ’ reading of his radio essay “ SantaLand Diaries .” When this piece first aired on NPR in 1992, it struck a nerve hard enough to propel Sedaris into a public radio superstar. It’s a true story about the underemployed writer living in New York taking a job as an Elf at Macy’s one Christmas season. Perhaps it’s the medium ...
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We had the opportunity to attend a David Sedaris book signing the other night. Mr. Sedaris was promoting his sixth book, “ When you Are Engulfed In Flames ” at Third Place Books near Seattle, Washington. I had read a few Sedaris books and had listened to him on NPR but seeing him live and then meeting him upped my admiration for this very funny and generous writer. David read two autobiographical short stories taking full advantage of his sarcastic deadpan humor, expert comedic timing and unmistakable high voice. At the conclusion of his reading and Q&A session, I better understood why the author ...
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Pick up David Sedaris’ new book and you’re staring at death. If the van Gogh painting of a skeleton gracing the cover doesn’t say it clearly enough, the fact that the skull is smoking a cigarette should. The image, from a postcard Sedaris picked up in a museum store, hints at the themes that set this sixth collection of essays apart from previous Sedaris books. This is an older, more thoughtful writer who, after years of proffering stinging barbs, cigarette perpetually in hand, realizes he’s not immortal. So he quits smoking. Eases up on the sarcasm. Considers the hard knocks dealt to some of ...
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David Sedaris’s beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy’s elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris’s tales of tardy trick-or-treaters (”Us and Them”); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French (”Jesus Shaves”); what to do when you’ve been locked out in a snowstorm (”Let It Snow”); the puzzling Christmas traditions of other nations (”Six to Eight Black Men”); what Halloween at the medical examiner’s looks like (”The Monster Mash”); and a barnyard secret Santa scheme gone awry (”Cow ...
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“After a job was finished, we’d stand on the street drinking beer or foul-tasting Gatorade. The tip would be discussed, as would the disadvantages of living in this particular neighborhood. It was generally agreed that a coffin-size studio on Avenue D was preferable to living in one of the boroughs. Moving from one Brooklyn or Staten Island neighborhood to another was fine, but unless you had children to think about, even the homeless saw it as a step down to leave Manhattan. Customers quitting the island for Astoria or Cobble Hill would claim to welcome the change of pace, saying it would be nice ...
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