In the midst of sentimental Hallmark Christmas movies and those beloved holiday classics that come around every year, “Christmastime: A Holiday Noir” is a delightful and unexpected surprise, especially for those seeking a different story but one still focused on Christmas.  

Written by Seattle playwright Wayne Rawling and directed by Adams State University Theatre Professor Jenna Neilsen, the play is set in Christmastown, “a city where it is always Christmas Eve and never Christmas Day; where the citizens are perpetually preparing for a day that never comes,” writes Neilsen. But from the moment the audience takes their seats, it’s clear there won’t be any angels singing “hark” or rosy cheeked cherubs in this play. 

With a stark set that suggests city lights at night coming through the slats of venetian blinds and music that sounds straight out of the 1940s, Christmastown is full on “noir”.  

Nick Holiday, a disillusioned and cynical hero with a heart of gold, is wooed by femme fatale, Holly Wonderland, into going on a search for Santa Claus. Wonderland, who is not quite what she seems, has incriminating pictures of Big Red himself and she’s convinced Holiday to find out if the photos are real.  

In an intricate plot that takes Holiday through twists and turns, we meet Tiny, who has to lean on a crutch to walk;  Rudy, the eager and excitable cab driver who has only one big red light on his cab, and Virginia, the reporter looking for the truth, as Holiday discovers his search may uncover a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of the very tallest Christmas tree. 

The script is smart, funny and fast paced and, under Nielsen’s direction, the actors are more than up to the job. Five of the seven actors play at least two roles, which means not just a change of costume but a complete change in character and each one of the actors pulls it off without a hitch. 

Ashton Fox is as hilarious as Jangle Elf as she is as Crusher. And when playing Lillian Nice and Naughty, Ashton transforms from sweet and submissive to threatening and tough multiple times within the same scene, eliciting laughs from the audience in both roles. 

April Winters is just as believable as antler-swinging, tough-guy Jingle Elf as she is the bespectacled, truth-seeking reporter named Victoria, who provides one of the serious moments in the play.  

In a testament to his talent, Javier Rodriguez is as convincing as the slightly menacing Mrs. Claus in her iconic red and white fur trimmed dress as he is as three -piece suited, greedy, conniving businessman E.B. Wonderland.  

Jocelyn McMullen, who plays Doug Noble, also plays Rudy, the appealing, contagiously optimistic, enthusiastic and energetic cab driver who takes Holiday around town and bounds around stage like a…well, like a reindeer.   

But Francisco Jimenez, who plays the whimsical Tiny leaning on a crutch to stand, has a great comedic presence as he delights the audience with his Drunk Santa. The role is one of the most physical in the play and this drunken Santa throws himself against jail bars and falls on a bench in a drunken stupor, all the while yelling out one of the best monologues of the play with lines that, while funny, get right to the heart of what it means to give unconditionally with no expectation of receiving anything in return. “We’re the real Santa!” he yells at one point, and the audience can’t help but agree. 

From the moment she steps on stage, Mollie Hostetter as Holly Wonderland embodies the seductive young woman in need of help, a strong and effective contrast to the scheming manipulator later on in the play. And both of those are entirely different characters than who she reveals herself to be at the end. 

But the main character, the one who is onstage for the entirety of the 90 minutes and takes the audience on his madcap journey, introducing all the characters while voicing his thoughts out loud, is Nick Holiday played by Chaz Childress.  

Childress was simply excellent in the role. His physical presence on stage captures the noir persona with a strong Christmas flair. While he wears the fedora and trench coat as if he’s worn them for years, he’s also a master at taking out a cigarette case, flipping it open and taking out a candy cane to “smoke”.   And when he speaks, he does so in the hard-boiled, clipped and cynical manner that is the trademark of the noir genre.  

But where it might be easy to slip from hard-boiled to bored, Childress also has good comedic timing, delivering the Christmas tropes that are woven so skillfully through the dialogue that the audience can’t help but laugh.  

There are many notable things about the production of “Christmastown: A Holiday Noir”, but one thing that stands out the most is just how much fun the actors – and, as a result, the audience – seem to be having. They’re energetic, prepared, comfortable on stage and comfortable in their roles, which allows the audience to just sit back and have a good time. 

The set is minimal yet enough for the audience to imagine the setting and the stage crew deserves kudos for the efficiency they had in changing out furniture and props without slowing down the flow of the play. 

“At the heart of the play is a sweet story about what it means to believe in something you can’t see and that reminds us that the true gift of the holiday season is the hope that the lights in the dark of winter bring,” Nielsen writes in her director’s notes. “For as Rudy reminds us, ‘People gotta have something to look forward to, don’t they?” 

“Christmastown: A Holiday Noir” is on stage at the SLV Federal Bank Main Stage on the ASU campus. There are two more performances scheduled for Dec. 13 and 14. Tickets can be purchased by going to www.adams.edu/academics/undergraduate/theatre/box-office/.