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According to actor and storyteller Kevin Kling, Michael Sommers of the Open Eye Figure Theatre always wanted to be the devil.

Kling, looking gnomish in a green winter coat that seems military surplus, a salt-and-pepper beard, and a fur cap, is talking about The Holiday Pageant, the Open eye's annual Christmas show, in which Sommer's actually plays the devil.

Kling tells of his assistant, who took her child to see the play and was awed by Sommer's appearance as Lucifer, rising up out of a trap door that seems to belch flames. "His life was changed by it," Kling says. "He really wanted to be the devil. He had his mother make a trap door for him at home."

Kling looks across at Michael Sommers, who is wearing a red felt cap that looks like it might belong on a 18th century Russian soldier. Both are seated in front of the stage at the Open Eye. "Mike always wanted to be the devil too," Kling says. "I ran into his mother once and she told me that when he was a boy, everybody wanted to be angels or wise men, but Mike always asked to be Satan."

It's an unusual Christmas show the Open Eye has created, borrowing from Medieval English mystery plays, which nowadays only seem to be read by theater students and theologians. These plays retold Bible stories from the point of view of English peasants and artisans, who created the plays and starred in them, professional theater companies being verboten at the time. The Holiday Pageant was written by Sommers and inspired by The Second Shepherd's Play, in which a sheep thief from the 1500s finds himself at the birth of Jesus. Sommer's version expands on this considerably, drawing in elements from other mystery plays, including a Father Christmas character. But Sommers is quick to point out that the form of the play is instantly recognizable. "It's actually a holiday pageant," he says. "You've seen a million of them."

While Kling and Sommers have been talking, Open Eye cofounder Susan Haas has been popping in and out, often going downstairs to the Open Eye's office to take care of bits of business. She happens to be nearby as Sommers speaks, and she agrees with him. "We've got everything you associate with Christmas. Lights. Music. Hot cider."

"The plays has snow and a manger scene," Kling adds. "How much more Christmas can you get? Come on!"

Sommers has been doing The Holiday Paegent, in one form or another, since the 80s, when he and friends used to perform them in his house as part of a holiday party. "We'd do two shows," Sommers says. "One in the early evening, and one later."

"After a lot of mulled cider," Haas adds, "that version was a lot bawdier."

"That was the one you wanted to see," Kling says, nodding.

In 1993, Sommers expanded upon his holiday skit, turning it into a full-length theatrical production and enlisting the help of composer Victor Zupanc to write a rousing brass score for the play. Sommers also invited Kling to appear as a performer, along with other local actors, including Amy Matthews, Luverne Seifert, and Sarah Agnew; Seifert and Agnew were then with the Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Amazingly, The Holiday Pegeant has managed to keep the same cast intact for every performance, despite the fact that the Open Eye Figure Theatre only performs the play once per year. "Everybody drops everything to do this show," Kling says. "They wouldn't dare do anything else."

"Kevin and I were backstage in the wings a short while ago and we heard one of the pieces that Victor Zupanc wrote for the show," Sommers said, "and we said to each other, isn't this amazing? Six years ago we were standing here listening to the same piece of music."

"In any other play, you wait in the green room for your cue, and then you say, 'oh, time to go up on stage," Kling says, dropping his voice to impersonate the irritated mutter of an unenthusiastic actor. "But with this one, you watch it from the wings. You don't want to miss it. I mean, there was one year when Mike's pants came off. He wanted to do a somersault. He hadn't done one in years. And so he does it, and, instead of it busting him, it busted his pants. He was performing with his underwear hanging out."

"I didn't know it," Sommers said. "Everybody was laughing, and I thought, 'I've finally got them. I'm nailing this."

"You don't want to miss things like that," Kling says. "So you stay in the wings."

The show has a spirit of celebration to it that is unusual for stage plays. "We encourage people to show up right at 7 p.m.," Haas says. "That way, they can eat some cookies, talk with people, listen to music, and watch children dancing in the aisles."

"The thing I hear every year is this: The play finally put me in the Christmas spirit," Kling says. "The closer we are to Christmas, the more relieved people are. They'll say 'Wow, that was a close one.'"

The Holiday Pageant plays Dec 15 at 7:00pm at the Pantages Theater, 710 Hennepin Ave.
Call 612-874-6338 to reserve tickets.