*GILDA SHEDSTECKER PRESENTS! * *“HELL WITH THE HOLIDAYS” * *DECEMBER 16-17* Tickets are available for the second weekend remaining, December 16 and 17 at the Kathleen Howland Theatre in downtown Canton at 324 Cleveland Ave NW 44702. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance or at the door, online at http://squareup.com/store/avenue, or by calling (234) 410-3475. The holidays are personified in this production, children of Father Time (Horatio, played by *Manuel Halkias*) and Mother Nature (Jocasta, played by *Haggy Hageman*), who have gathered for an impromptu reunion on behalf of discouraged brother Chris (Father Christmas, played by *Ron Boyd*), who is having a hard time sustaining seasonal merriment over the five months that the retail industry has required the Christmas season to cover. Many a winter family gathering is fraught with internal politics, especially when the family is large and its members have been used to wielding a lot of power for a long time, and so it is when the holidays gather for the holidays. Old wounds add intrigue, as when the youngest daughter, Georgie (Earth Day, played by *Grace Worley*) schemes to take her momentum gained by having vanquished Arbor Day and parlay it into hostile takeovers of the domains of her older and more venerable siblings. Meanwhile, Mother Nature can’t see past her passion to see the deeper emotional needs of her children, as when Jack (Frost, played by *James Dreussi*) is torn by the dubious task of adding warmth to the winter months, and Delphine (Halloween, played by *Patrice Rittenhous*e) laments the loss of her holiness as the Church relegates her celebrations to the domain of darkness. She can’t see that Father Christmas has been set about a well-nigh impossible task. Can the sanity and the sanctity of the holidays be saved? Other siblings include the gender-bending strumpet Mariette (Mardi Gras, played by *Roman Feemster Marshall*), the promiscuous Valentino (St. Valentine’s Day, played by *Michael Burkhardt*), and the innocent Ostara (Easter, played by *Ellen Fox*). This play is a *very* different and clever offering for a holiday show, fraught with cultural references and laughs galore. Not recommended for young children. *Doug Tennant* *Founder/Artistic Director,* * Gilda Shedstecker Presents!* www.gildashedstecker.com