Adam Szymkowicz’s “Clown Bar Christmas” spoofs conventional Christmas stories, shows and songs. Hallmark is among the franchises lampooned, with a clown named Petunia serving as the mistress of mischief on a Christmas tree farm.
“Yes, on the Clown Mark channel.”
So says Shelley Sanders, whose preparation for the character did not include watching Hallmark Christmas movies.
“I have actually never watched a Hallmark movie,” Sanders acknowledged. “I've been exposed peripherally, but I've never sat down and watched one. I've gotten all the jokes people tell all the time because it's kind of a trope, but no, I count myself lucky.”
Hallmark fan or not, Sanders thinks people will appreciate an irreverent, nontraditional show during the holiday season.
“It's a great alternative to the traditional Christmas narrative that has been shaped over the years,” said Sanders. “It invites a bigger demographic to come enjoy Christmas versus just a very narrow definition.”
“Clown Bar Christmas” closes at the Laboratory Theater of Florida on Dec. 21.
This week’s performances are Thursday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.
For tickets, telephone 239-291-2905 or visit https://www.purplepass.com/events/316547-clown-bar-christmas!-dec-5th-2025.
MORE INFORMATION:
“Clown Bar Christmas” is the third of Adam Szymkowicz’s “Clown Bar” noir comedies and is actually the prequel to “Clown Bars” 1 and 2.
Sanders has starred in the role of Petunia in all three.
“Clown Bar 1” and “Clown Bar 2” were produced locally by Bill Taylor and Theatre Conspiracy. “Clown Bar Christmas” is a collaboration between Theatre Conspiracy and the Laboratory Theater of Florida.
In “Clown Bar 1,” Sanders performed the part on roller skates.
“This one takes place before the very first ‘Clown Bar,’ before Petunia takes over,” Sanders noted. “So, in this one, she's still very low on the totem pole and even though she's a woman of the world, she's still relatively innocent. She's a little bit less jaded. It's her age of innocence. Even though she's clearly not an innocent kind of a character, she’s still ideologically an optimist.”
Sanders uses makeup to accentuate Petunia’s innocence, optimism and hopefulness.
"At the beginning of 'Clown Bar Christmas,' she still thinks she’s going to get Happy,”
Sanders noted, referring to her love interest who is interested in the burlesque clown, Blinky, rather than her.
“By ‘Clown Bar 2,’ my mascara runs down from the corners of your eyes like it would if I were crying,” Sanders said. “In this show, my eye makeup is a little less pronounced.”
Although the humor is dark and the environment ominous, Sanders enjoys playing Petunia.
“It's great to be able to put on someone else's face and escape into a character that's so extreme,” Sanders said. “You don't often get to play someone like that.”
In addition to playing Petunia in the “Clown Bar” trilogy, Sanders' stage credits feature both comedic and dramatic roles, including “Sharing the Same Umbrella,” “Eula Mae’s Beauty, Bait & Tackle,” “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche,” Henrietta Leavitt in “The Women Who Mapped the Stars,” John Wesley Powell in “Men in Boats,” Amy Lee in the Alliance for the Arts’ outdoor production of “Laundry and Bourbon,” Brooke in the filmed theatrical production of “Realish Housewives of Fort Myers” for Lab Theater (during COVID pandemic), a variety of roles in Ken Ludwig’s “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” Columbia in “Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show” (New Phoenix Theatre), the lead in “Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood” (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance), Minka Lupino in “Murderers,” Marjorie in “Hand to God” (Lab Theater), Marjorie Pinchwife in “The Country Wife” (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance), Bitsy Mae Harling in “Sordid Lives” (Lab Theater), Miss Georgia, Katherine Chelsea Hartford in “The Taming” (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance), “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Musical” (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance), “39 Steps” (Cultural Park), Lulu in “Cabaret” (Lab Theater), Cassie in “A Chorus Line” (Creative Theater Workshop'), Dinah in “South Pacific” (Cultural Park), Grace Farrell and Lilly St. Regis in “Annie,” Mona in “Chicago” and Fermina in “Man of LaMancha.”
She also reprised the role of Bitsy Mae for SoDis (Lab) Theater’s virtual reading of “Sordid Lives” during the shut-down in May of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and made her Off Broadway Palm debut in “Farce of Nature” and starred with Anna Grilli in Steven Michael Kennedy’s short film, “Enough,” for the 2021 Lab Theater 24-Hour Screenwriting Project.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
