{"id":421709,"date":"2025-12-03T11:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T11:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/421709\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T11:41:12","slug":"chicago-theaters-are-all-in-on-comedies-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/421709\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago theaters are all-in on comedies for the holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

The air is cold and Chicago is on its second snow. With winter comes a holiday season with a full slate of festive theater. But, let\u2019s face it: This year feels different. Despite the merriment of the season, societal issues \u2014 war, immigration, hunger \u2014 are all seeping into what makes it on stage.<\/p>\n

All of this is to say: We need a laugh.<\/p>\n

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This is a perfect year for a Holiday season pick-me-up, and Chicago theaters offer plenty of festive comedies that will generate tears of joy, and, perhaps even side-splitting laughter.<\/p>\n

One of the best places to start is with a franchise that has been in the pop culture ethos for decades. We\u2019re all familiar with at least a few iterations of the \u201cReal Housewives,\u201d but this year a local theater company is putting a fresh and festive spin on the diva-dominated reality series.<\/p>\n

Hell in a Handbag Productions\u2019s world premiere play, \u201cThe Real Housewives of the North Pole<\/a>,\u201d just opened at The Clutch in North Center.<\/p>\n

David Cerda, founding artistic director of Hell in a Handbag, wrote and stars in the \u201cReal Housewives\u201d show, which started as part of a different production. \u201cLast year, we did a show called \u2018Rudolph the Red Hosed Reindeer,\u2019 which is our classic show,\u201d said Cerda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a segment in it showing what a mess Mrs. Claus was because she had an addiction problem, and she was a guest on \u2018The Real Housewives of the North Pole.\u2019 It was just a seven minute segment, but it went over so well,\u201d Cerda said. \u201cAnd I listen to my audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReal Housewives\u201d stars the queens of the winter wonderland, Ruth Claus, Mrs. Samantha Frosty, Suzy Snowflake, Mrs. Gladys Dasher (Cerda) and Clarice, who is the long suffering wife of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.<\/p>\n

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\""The<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a rough year for the arts,\u201d said David Cerda (center). \u201cIt is healing, and it is bringing people together, especially us \u2014 we call ourselves a queer theater company. There\u2019s a big LGBTQ-plus audience, but we get a lot of allies who want to laugh with us too. They want to be together with us. And we love our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Rick Aguilar Studios<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun because I did my research,\u201d said Cerda. \u201cI watched \u2018Real Housewives of Atlanta\u2019 because I love NeNe Leakes, just because she\u2019s the loudest and most opinionated. But, I had my friends recommend certain housewives, and the top ones were Salt Lake City, New York and Beverly Hills. So I binged a bunch of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parody provides plenty of laughs, but Cerda is aware of the larger context. In a year that has brought federal cuts to arts funding,<\/a> as well as federal executive orders<\/a> aimed at censuring \u201cgender ideology,\u201d this comedy has a deeper meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a rough year for me,\u201d Cerda said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a rough year for the arts. It is healing, and it is bringing people together, especially us \u2014 we call ourselves a queer theater company. There\u2019s a big LGBTQ-plus audience, but we get a lot of allies who want to laugh with us too. They want to be together with us. And we love our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building community through laughs is also the aim of Theater Wit in Lake View, which is staging its fifth year of \u201cWho\u2019s Holiday<\/a>.\u201d Veronica Garza portrays the adult version of Cindy Lou Who.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are familiar with Cindy Lou Who; she was the child in \u2018How the Grinch Stole Christmas,\u2019\u201d said Garza. \u201cNow we\u2019re seeing Cindy Lou Who, decades later, she lives in a trailer, and she\u2019s drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, and she\u2019s had a tough life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one-person-show is an 80-minute sprint, with Garza telling jokes, singing songs, throwing a party and inviting a few lucky audience members to become part of the show. Garza describes the production as a Christmas tale with a twist.<\/p>\n

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\"Theater<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has been so overwhelming,\u201d Veronica Garza, star of \u201cWho\u2019s Holiday,\u201d said. \u201cWe need each other so bad, and we need our funny friend to tell jokes to us, so we can maybe kind of just forget for a little bit how hard this year has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtsey of Charles Osgood Photography<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of turns Christmas on its head, because we see a lot of very sweet, heartfelt, lovely Christmas stories,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd this is sweet and heartfelt, but it comes with curse words and marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garza said the show is a little different every year, but this year it feels especially right to bring people together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has been so overwhelming,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need each other so bad, and we need our funny friend to tell jokes to us, so we can maybe kind of just forget for a little bit how hard this year has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Second City, Chicago\u2019s hub for improv in Old Town, \u201cRudolph Runs Wild<\/a>\u201d gives kids a space to laugh at the holidays and at their favorite adults. The production is an offshoot of a former show called \u201cNo Grownups Allowed,\u201d said Jen Ellison, the company\u2019s artistic director.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal was for us to create a show that could be enjoyed by adults, but really was for the kids,\u201d she said. \u201cNo grown up is allowed to offer a suggestion. If we hear a grown up offer a suggestion, they get called out and then brought up onto the stage, and they have to perform some sort of a task. It\u2019s very safe, but the kids go bananas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families can also laugh together at the stage version of the modern-day Christmas classic \u201cElf<\/a>,\u201d which runs through December 14 at The Auditorium. It\u2019s based on the film version starring comedian Will Ferrell. The story centers around Buddy, an elf who learns he\u2019s human and heads to New York to find his real father. Jack Ducat plays Buddy. He said stepping into the role formerly played by Ferrell is a big deal for him.<\/p>\n

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\"Elf<\/p>\n

\u201cElf the Musical,\u201d which runs through December 14 at The Auditorium, is based on the classic Will Ferrell film. <\/p>\n

Courtesy of Matt Crockett<\/p>\n

\u201cThe movie came out in 2003 which is when I was born,\u201d he said. \u201cSo from birth, I have seen this movie every single year, and am obsessed with it. For me, the greatest challenge of the show, and the most fun part of the show, is that I get to step into the shoes that Will Ferrell wore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ducat said the musical has a lot of surprises for fans, a lot of dance numbers and a few nods to the film that will spark some nostalgia, like the scene where Buddy discovers a revolving door for the first time.<\/p>\n

During performances, Ducat said he\u2019s noticed whole families at the show, some even dressed as elves.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing a show that just has absolute, unencumbered joy to it is what so many people need,\u201d Ducat said. \u201cAnd to get the opportunity to be one of the people that gets to spread so much joy and cheer this year is the greatest Christmas gift I could have ever asked for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Davis is a theater reporter who covers stages across Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The air is cold and Chicago is on its second snow. With winter comes a holiday season with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":421710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-421709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115655455366601898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}