Emmanuel Woods, Derek Dirlam, and Tara Lucchino Photo by Josh Cragun

So, yes, I entered the Crane Theatre, Nimbus' homebase in northeast Minneapolis, for Take Two for Christmas, expecting another dose of frothy foolishness disguised as an emotionally wrenching Hallmark Network movie. Well, all I can say is, my froth runneth over. Take Two for Christmas is wonderfully laugh-out loud funny and every bit as smart, and has been given a production that shines like the star atop a Christmas tree. Written and directed by Liz Neerland, co-artistic director of Nimbus, Take Two for Christmas knows what it's about and how to leap adroitly from page to stage. I will be telling everyone I know that if they are in a laughing mood–or not in a laughing mood but wished they were–this is the holiday play to see.

Take Two for Christmas gets its title from the plot device of a major motion picture in production. It's an action movie, being filmed in southern California by big shot director Lillian Wolfe (Jane Hammill), who is bored to tears with the project. Producer Uri Honorman (Jeff Goodson) pays a surprise visit to the set and is not pleased. He decides the movie, which is set in the frozen northland, needs to relocate shooting to an actual frozen lake. It's a week before Christmas, which is the deadline for wrapping up the shoot. Somehow, assistant director Alexis (Tara Lucchino) has to locate a secluded frozen lake with facilities to support a large film crew and still complete the project on schedule. Unlike Lillian, Alexis cares about this movie and believes that it has the potential for greatness, but her ideas fall on her arrogant boss's deaf ears.

We pivot to remote Comet Lake, Wisconsin–a tiny town with a cute-as-a-bug tiny business district and a tree-encircled frozen lake. Its one point of pride is the Gazebo Gazebo, the beloved landmark named for forefather Josiah T. Gazebo. The gazebo, however, is so decrepit that county inspectors will condemn it if the Comet Lake boosters can't come up with $180,000 needed for repairs by Christmas. Seems a harsh date on which to set a deadline, but that's how it is in these Hallmark movies. What could be more natural than for Alexis to learn about Comet Lake and move the movie's production there?

The Slippery Slope, being the town's only eatery, is catering the film shoot, which turns out to be a good thing because its proprietor, Shelly (Christy C. Johnson), is a brilliant, culinary-school trained chef. Another stroke of fate is that the movie's leading man, Wase Chisel (Drew Pannebecker), a tough-guy action hero, has a secret love of literary fiction (kept under wraps to not dispel his macho image) and discovers he can find what he wants–which goes beyond just books–at the Papercut Bookstore, operated by River Wilder (Derek Dirlam). River is oblivious to pop culture and technology, not recognizing Wase as a famous movie star, nor knowing that when a post about the gazebo fundraising campaign goes viral it's a good thing and does not mean it is diseased. Then there is Coach Dibbs (Jeff Goodson, again), the town's football coach and high school English teacher who fancies himself a cultural maven and who leads the charge to save the gazebo. Lilian, the director, shows up as grouchy as a wet cat but is taken by the gazebo's architectural details, revealing her secret passion. The last person you need to know is Darel (Emmanuel Woods), a twelve-year-old, wise-beyond-his-years entrepreneur who runs a meal delivery service out of the Slippery Slope and is always looking for a side hustle.

Take all these cute, albeit stock, characters, their various secret passions and impossible deadlines, with Christmas waiting in the wings, place in Santa's bag and mix together, and you will have yourself an entertainment souffle, light as air and sweet as cherries, well frosted with laughter. In the course of the play's two acts, careers change, couples form, old friends are reunited, money gets raised, gourmet meals are delivered, and a movie gets made. What more could you want in a major motion picture, or in a play?

Well, there is more because the scenes in which this narrative unspools are interrupted periodically by scenes from the action film being created. The plot of that enterprise is way more convoluted even than the goings on at Comet Lake, but if you pay attention you can piece it together. These take the place of the "commercial breaks" interspersed through Nimbus' past two faux Hallmark Christmas plays. They feel less intrusive, more connected to the main plot line, and on their own terms, quite humorous. They are enacted by the same actors as the main story line, all double or triple cast, with characters and plot devices that represent a bucketful of action movie tropes.

Speaking of tropes, the main narrative of the race to complete the movie and save the gazebo, all by Christmas, is not beyond turning to some of those devices, spectacularly so in a montage beginning around an ice fishing hole and ending up with two people falling in love, each little scene played without words to the accompaniment of folksy love music. It is truly one of the most brilliantly funny and heartwarming pieces I have seen on stage in longer than I can remember.

The entire cast is terrific. Drew Pannebecker is persuasive as Wase Chisel, the action hero afraid to show his true colors. Jeff Goodson masters the art of reaching for the top without going over it as the show-boat Coach Gibbs and as the flamboyant film producer. Jane Hammill conveys the disdain for her success with icy stares, and convincingly transforms into a warm human being under the spell of Comet Lake and its historic gazebo. Derek Dirlam wins us over as the simple but sincere bookseller. Emmanuel Woods has a terrific comic edge, whether as 12-year-old Darel, smarmy celebrity talk show host Trae Bowers ("Goodbye, Last Night," introduced last year in A Very Electric Christmas), or a tough guy in the movie-within-the-play. Tara Lucchino is excellent as put-upon Alexis, and Christy C. Johnson is winning as a gourmet chef tethered to a remote bar and grill, who dreams of what all this can lead to.

Rubble & Ash (otherwise known as Barb Portinga and Andrea M. Gross) designed costumes that range from totally appropriate for everyday small-town life, to the trendy look of Hollywood movie types, to the dystopian garb worn by the characters in the action film. They even rise to the occasion to create suitable red-carpet attire. Ursula K. Bowden's set design provides detailed environments for Comet Lake's two anchors, the café and the bookstore, with a hint of the decaying gazebo off to one side, and a backdrop that can be a cold, clear winter day or a sparkly, starry night sky. Jon Kirchhofer's lighting design, Jacob M. Davis's sound design, and Jenny Moeller's property design are all assets to the production, with Moeller succeeding in lining up the props needed for a believable ice fishing scene, fish and all.

I must make the disclaimer that I have still never seen one of those made-for-the-Hallmark-Channel movies that Nimbus has been parodying for three years, though I came as close as watching trailers of a few titles–for research purposes. Then there are their emotionally wrought commercials–for years Hallmark was a sponsor of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, combining the sentimentality associated with turkeys, Pilgrims, and marching bands with an emotionally manipulative ad campaign, where every family crisis is averted by the receipt of a card bearing the Hallmark crown logo. Even without seeing the movies I feel like I have a rather good sense of their composition, at least enough to know what it is that Take Two for Christmas is lampooning. I am confident you will too.

Take Two for Christmas, presented by Nimbus Theatre, runs through December 18, 2024, at the Crane Theater, 2303 Kennedy Street N.E., Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please visit nimbustheatre.org or call 612-548-1379.

Playwright and Director: Liz Neerland; Set Design: Ursula K. Bowden; Costume Design: Rubble & Ash; Lighting Design: Jon Kirchhofer; Sound Design: Jacob M. Davis; Prop Design: Jennifer Moeller; Stage Manager: Alyssa Thompson.

Cast: Derek Dirlam (River Wilder/Smee/Benny), Mitchell Frazier (voiceover), Jeff Goodson (Coach Dibbs/Uri Honorman), Jane Hammill (Lillian C. Wolfe/Malice Alice), Christy Johnson (Shelly Collins/Mia Vendetta/Margaret), Tara Lucchino (Alexis Hawthorne, Raquel Witchcastle), Drew Pannebecker (Wase Chisel/Vom I. Torium), Manny Woods (Darel Darrel III/Anthony/Diamond Joe/Trae Bowers).