By Eric Bartels
The Portland Tribune
November 21, 2008

Marc Acito’s credentials as a storyteller are pretty well established by now. He dazzled critics and won an Oregon Book Award with his first novel, “How I Paid For College,” in 2004. He released a sequel, “Attack of the Theater People,” this year and has another book in the works.

His friend, the Portland-based writer Cynthia Whitcomb, has been a prolific talent for decades, having put more than two dozen films on television since earning her first credit in 1981.

What neither has done a lot of is playwriting, which is why they collaborated on “Holidazed,” the spirited seasonal comedy that premieres this weekend at Artists Repertory Theatre.

“Holidazed” is based on a novel that Acito had intended as the follow-up to his debut, a story about a suburban soccer mom whose orderly life is disrupted when she takes a free-spirited street kid into her home.

It went nowhere with his editor.

“It didn’t work as a book, period,” Acito says. “He didn’t say revise it. He said, ‘I’m done.’ ”

Happily, Acito had another idea. He would turn the novel, with some modifications, into a Christmas story for the stage. He approached Jon Kretzu, the resident director at Artists Rep, assuring him that he had a winner, and Kretzu agreed.

“Within two or three pages, I knew that this not only would be a lot of fun to do, it’s a wonderful, fun commercial piece,” Kretzu says.

The “commercial” part is no accident. Acito and Whitcomb say there is a shortage of quality holiday fare for theatergoers.

“There aren’t enough Christmas plays,” Whitcomb says. “There’s a market for a good, funny, heartwarming show.”

Mutual benefit

The newly minted playwriting team came together for professional reasons. Acito studied under Whitcomb, who has tutored the likes of Chuck Palahniuk.

“Cynthia is the storytelling master,” Acito says. “She’s the go-to person in Portland for figuring out story issues.”

Yet the mentor-student dynamic changed, both agree, as Acito progressed with his first novel just as Whitcomb undertook one of her own.

“Suddenly, I had something to offer her,” Acito says.

Their evolving relationship of equals soon would pay off. Now the two are seeing what happens when the written word is taken up by theater performers, and they’ve learned as they’ve gone along.

“We’ve changed it quite a bit,” Whitcomb says. “Once you’ve got actors, you don’t need to say as much. I’ve never done straight-out comedy before. Sometimes the laugh comes just being totally honest. Sometimes the truest thing is also the funniest thing.”

It doesn’t hurt that the production features some of the better actors in town, among them Third Rail Rep regular Damon Kupper and ART players Michael Mendelson and Todd Van Voris.

“It’s foolish not to mind that gold,” Whitcomb says.

Laugh and cry

Kupper, like others in the 14-member cast, portrays multiple characters. He’s been challenged by the play’s blend of comedy and drama.

“There’s some stuff that’s truly funny, but also potentially very beautiful and loving and emotional,” he says. “Even some of the farcical elements, like in real life, reflect true anxieties. It’s a different holiday show.”

It is literally different for ART, which for the past two seasons has programmed a seasonal cabaret by song stylist Susannah Mars onto its holiday calendar.

Kretzu says both ART and Mars were contemplating a hiatus when “Holidazed” showed up. As it happened, there was a place in it for Mars.

“We knew it was a perfect role for Susannah,” Acito says. “Susannah is a doctor’s wife in Gresham with two children and, on the other hand, an actress. I knew what she was capable of. She’s hilarious.”

Kretzu says the play succeeds by combining familiar components with both pathos and a zany irreverence that includes cross-gender casting and a drag show.

“I think of it as a subversive holiday fruitcake,” he says. “It takes many of the normal elements of the holiday play – family, getting together – then it undercuts them. What the best ones do is undercut that sugary candy-cane world with some real aspects of social commentary.

“There’s a lot of very hip and edgy humor. It has sober moments, but this is a very funny play.”