Local producer/playwright and Swamp Radio founder Ian Mairs has announced that benefit performances of the nationally acclaimed comedy The Santaland Diaries will be held on Friday, December 20 and Saturday, December 21 at 8:00 p.m. Both performances will be held in Riverside House at 2165 Park Street. Individual tickets are $20 and can be purchased at SwampRadioJax.com.
The Swamp Radio project, a cultural variety show celebrating life in northeast Florida, received startup funding via a Spark Grant from the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, a nonprofit arts organization working to increase economic vitality in downtown Jacksonville by creating an identifiable arts quarter called the Spark District.
For the first episode, which was presented in November, tickets sold out within minutes of being offered. Given the immense popularity and growing interest, Mairs hopes to extend the program beyond the four episodes initially planned, with the possibility of making Swamp Radio a Jacksonville mainstay. Proceeds from the upcoming show will be dedicated toward that effort.
In The Santaland Diaries, Mairs will be featured as the main character in the hit one-man show chronicling the autobiographical experiences of writer David Sedaris, who spent a portion of his early years as one of Santa’s elves in the holiday display at the Macys department store in New York City. Sedaris’ 1992 essay was adapted for the stage by playwright Joe Mantello.
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