Mark Cofta’s theater picks: December theater isn't just the holidays

Some exciting new work that’s definitely not for kids reaches stages in December. The first weekend of December only, Susanne Collins and Kevin Meehan's Two Walkens (December 1 - 4) premieres in several venues and features the couple as dueling Christopher Walkens. (Catch our Rep Radio podcast with the creators here.) Annie Wilson's At Home With the Humorless Bastard (December 1 - 3) is the new dance-theater work from the creator of the 2014 Fringe hit Lovertits. Curio Theatre Company opens playwright and actress Rachel Gluck's intense Antagonyms (December 3 - 17), in which four 20-somethings explore millennial anxieties, including sexual violence, in a West Philly dive bar.

The Philadelphia Artists' Collective stages Shakespeare’s rarely seen bittersweet comedy All's Well That Ends Well (November 30 - December 17), directed by Dan Hodge. City Theatre Company in Wilmington, DE offers a classic of another sort, the musical La Cage Aux Folles (December 2 - 17) by Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman, based on the film.

Tiny Dynamite's A Play, A Pie, and A Pint returns with five performances of Chris Davis's one-man show Bortle 8 (December 14 - 18), a show he created for a series of performances on South Philly rooftops and took to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014. Instead of pizza, PPP's snack-and-show combo will feature English mince pies and warm mulled wine and hot cider . . .

...because it's still the holidays, after all

A few adults-only holiday traditions continue this year, including Tribe of Fools's 7th annual Holiday Burlesque (December 17), a wild, sexy, and fun event featuring Dirty Santa, Sexually Anxious Rudolph, scantily clothed circus performers, and raffle prizes — plus a preview of the Tribe's 2017 Fringe show. Artistic director Terry Brennan launched the Tribe's holiday show because "the majority of the holiday season is so geared toward kids that sometimes adults feel overwhelmed and left out."

In a similarly not-for-kids vein, The Peek-A-Boo Revue Holiday Spectacular (December 10 - 11) returns with "neo-burlesque" dance, classic striptease, and naughty humor, accompanied by the Striptease Orchestra.

A radical new ‘Black Nativity’

My recent holiday theater preview neglected to mention New Freedom Theatre's fresh production of Black Nativity (November 30 - December 18). Back in the 1990s, New Freedom's annual staging of Black Nativity scored many Barrymore nominations, and Theatre Horizon's revival last year did the same — but this is a radical adaptation by incoming artistic director Rahendra Ramoon Maharaj that sets part of the musical in Darfur today. New Freedom, partnered with Save Darfur and What's Up Africa, will lead post-show discussions and also raise funds for aid to Darfur.

Above: The Tribe of Fools Holiday Burlesque is ready for the season. (Photo courtesy of Tribe of Fools)