BY DOUG MACKEY for WEEKLY VOLCANO 12/12/25 |
1964 saw the release of one of the worst movies ever made. And by worst, I simultaneously mean best, in a “so bad it is good” cult film sort of way. Now a stage adaptation, which was originally produced at the Maverick Theater in Fullerton, California, in 2006, is in the offing this holiday season at the Lakewood Playhouse, December 16–18. At the helm is the original production designer for the Fullerton premiere, theatrical polymath Erik Furuheim.
“Theater has been a part of my life for 30 years in all aspects,” says Furuheim. In those decades, he has written and produced a musical, built three separate theater facilities from the ground up, toured with shows, performed and directed improv, and has most recently focused on set design locally, a skill he employed in that first production of this decidedly silly play almost 20 years ago.
“We had just opened the facility in its permanent location and we were looking for some sort of unique Christmas show,” Furuheim recalls. “We were tired of ‘Christmas Carol’ and ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and all the traditional stuff that everybody does. We were just looking for something different.”
What they found was a show populated by a host of absurd alien characters, a couple of kidnapped Earth children, and, of course, Santa Claus, who thwarts a well-meaning Martian plan to capture him with the goal of bringing Christmas cheer to the children of Mars. But fear not for the extraterrestrial tykes. This is ultimately a feel-good holiday tale.
Though the play has a definite script, Furuheim encourages his actors to improvise, often using contemporary pop culture references, which brings a sense of immediacy to the goings-on and virtually guarantees laughter. Much of the extemporaneous dialogue, and many of the one-liners, are directed at the audience, who in turn feel as if they are in the thick of the wacky action.
“I have seen several productions of this kind online and around,” notes Furuheim. These are more reverential to the script, “whereas ours takes a lot of liberties which makes it a little more intimate with the audience, so to speak, in terms of getting them into the mix. Ours is more of a Saturday Night Live sketch thing. That was just kind of how it morphed when originally produced in California.”
The stage adaptation by Brian Newell and Nick McGee has been performed every year at the Maverick since 2006. “The production sells out in one to two days,” Furuheim adds. “Being 20 years of doing this show, it is a part of people’s family tradition now. Every year they go see ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’ at the Maverick Theater. For a community theater-type show, that is almost unheard of, but that is how much people enjoy it. There are not a lot of shows like this.”
Besides seeking cast members who are funny and can think on their feet, Furuheim looks for something else. “Honestly, theater is what you make of it. A lot of times theater can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be very toxic depending on the chemistry of the cast,” Furuheim warns. “My real thing is I just want to have fun. I want everybody to have fun because when we are having as good a time as a cast it transcends the green room and onto the stage. Ultimately, that is why I think it is successful, as we have put together a group of people that just want to go out and have fun.”
What should folks expect who come to the Lakewood Playhouse production of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”? “They should expect a silly, heartwarming story that does not take itself too seriously,” Furuheim answers. “It gives you that Christmas spirit and hope. It is an overproduced production of one of the worst movies ever made.”
And what does he mean by “overproduced”? “Well,” he adds, “the costumes are over the top and ridiculous and colorful,” (yes, the Martians are green and have antennae on their heads), “and the set itself is versatile but cheesy just like the movie. The radar antenna in the spaceship portion of the set is a toilet plunger in a turkey pan. It gives a 50s space feel.”
The set, which features Santa’s workshop and the aforementioned Martian spaceship bridge, among other scenarios, is hilariously B- or even D-movie-ish. If you have sought out or happened upon the movie, you will recognize the deliberately no-budget look of Furuheim’s production. Props include a turkey baster and a household appliance on one character’s tall staff. One of the characters is listed as “Pssst Door.” (Think of the sound of the automatic doors on the old “Star Trek” series.) Oh, and there is a robot or two.
“We want you to feel like you are a part of this adventure, not just watching it,” Furuheim insists, “and this particular venue allows us to do that to an extent.” And what often makes a production like this really fire on all cylinders is a packed house. Furuheim is on a mission to get the word out.
“It is just so much fun!” he enthuses. “I think the one takeaway I got last year, when he produced the show at the Bainbridge Island Center for the Performing Arts, was people said ‘this is exactly what we needed right now’ because the show is kind and silly, but it has that hope of Christmas and joy and childhood innocence and things of that nature. It is not preachy,” he makes clear. “It is not anything other than fun, but to me it reminds me of how I felt as a child during Christmas.”
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians will be performed at the Lakewood Playhouse December 16–18, 2025. Find tickets at https://www.lakewoodplayhouse.org/visiting-productions.html
