There’s been much speculation whirling about who we would tap to take on the role of Crumpet the Elf, the central figure in David Sedaris’ screamingly funny send-up of the joys (and horrors) of being a Macy’s holiday elf, The Santaland Diaries. We are delighted to finally be able to put that speculation to rest and let you know that yes, our very own Batboy… the man who was his own wife…. the man who emceed Storm Large’s debut on the Portland Center Stage Main Stage…. yes, its true, Wade McCollum will be donning the pointy green hat and curly toed shoes throughout the month of December in our Studio.

I guess this means you better go ahead and grab your tickets. Its a limited engagement and about 40% of the tickets are already gone. Get yours before the rest go!!

Some intriguing words and their definitions that cropped up while putting together the season (for the word nerds among you).

Ragtime: The term is a contraction for “ragged time,” denoting a style of playing piano or banjo where the melody is “broken up” into short, syncopated rhythms while a steady overall beat is either played (piano) or implied (banjo). Taking a simple, conventional, and unsyncopated melody and breaking up the rhythm was known as “ragging,” therefore, the resulting music was said to be in “ragged time.”

issei: First generation Japanese immigrants. Were legally barred from owning land in the Oregon in 1923. Their children, the nissei, were American born and therefore could own property, so the family holdings in these families were often put into the children’s names. The day after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Treasury Department ordered all Japanese-owned businesses closed and all issei bank accounts frozen. The bank accounts of first generation German and Italian immigrants were not frozen. In Snow Falling on Cedars, a central unresolved grievance is about the a land contract that was broken between a Japanese-American family and a white family on the island.

Tzitzit or tzitzis: “Fringes” or “tassels” worn by observant Jews on the corners of four-cornered garments, including the tallit (prayer shawl). Why? In Numbers 15:38, it says, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, that they shall make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall put on the corner fringe a blue (tekhelet) thread.” The goal is to be reminded of the Exodus. Modern garments do not have four corners, and so are exempt from this requirement. But prayer shawls still contain this ornamentation, and traditional Jewish men wear a small prayer shawl (tallit katan) at all times to keep the commandment. In The Chosen, Danny’s tzitzit is visible under his baseball uniform.

Pastiche: A work of drama, literature or music that imitates the work of a previous artist, often satirically. Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps is a pastiche, as is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and everything Weird Al Yankovic ever wrote.

Crepuscule: The title of the comedy show that inspired The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, crepuscule refers to that part of the day after sunset and before dark. In other words, twilight or gloaming. Gee, I wonder why twilight won out over crepuscule in the competition to become the common term? “Oh, honey…isn’t a walk in the crepuscule romantic?”