HOLIDAY CHEER David Sedaris' play about his time as a not-so-jolly department-store elf, The Santaland Diaries, comes to CenterStage (700 N. Calvert St., [410] 332-0033, centerstage.org) Dec. 8-20. Fells Point Corner Theatre (251 S. Ann St. [410] 276-7837, fpct.org) gets all old-timey with It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play Dec. 10-20.
Maryland Institute College of Art is feeling the holiday spirit with Inspecting Carol Dec. 10-20 at the BBox (1601 W. Mount Royal Ave., [410] 669-9200, mica.edu). Proceeds go to the Maryland Food Bank.
Opera Vivente holds a fundraiser called All I Want for Christmas Is . . . Dec. 11 at the Great Hall of Emmanuel Episcopal Church (811 Cathedral St., [410] 547-7997, operavivente.org) with holiday tunes sung by your favorite Opera Vivente sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones.
Former City Paper columnist and eternal Dreamlander Mink Stole presents Mink Stole's Christmas: Unwrapped and Unplugged Dec. 12 at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (3134 Eastern Ave., [410] 276-1651, creativealliance.org), a night of singing and storytelling.
In Nutcracker news, the Baltimore School for the Arts (712 Cathedral St., [443] 642-5165, bsfa.org) pirouettes one last time Dec. 13. But have no fear, you won't be sugarplum fairy-less, as the Ballet Theatre of Maryland (Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase Street, Annapolis, [410] 280-5640, balletmaryland.org) kicks off its Nutcracker Dec. 12. The show runs through Dec. 20--with a mystery whodunit version Dec. 19.
The Dec. 8-13 production of A Christmas Carol at the Lyric Opera House has been canceled. Refunds are available where you bought your tickets.
LAST CHANCE A bunch of productions are taking their final bow this weekend. Tanya-Tanya at Towson University (Studio Theatre , Osler and Cross Campus drives, Towson, [410] 704-2787, towson.edu/theatre/russia) says do svidaniya Dec. 12. The Exonerated closes at Everyman (1727 N. Charles St., [410] 752-2208, everymantheatre.org) Dec. 14. The Crystal Egg scrambles to a close at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (1000 Hilltop Circle, [410] 455- 2476, umbc.edu/arts) Dec. 13. And [sic] ends its run at the Strand Theater (1823 N. Charles St., [443] 874-4719, strandtheatercompany.org) Dec. 13 as well.
