Probationary Theatre is bringing back its production of “The Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris for a second run.

The comedy is a one-man show presented by a disgruntled Christmas elf at Macy’s Department Store, who decides to cure the audience’s festive fever with a heavy dose of cynicism.

The 60-minute show is based on Serdaris’ experiences as an elf for Macy’s New York, which he noted down in his diary. After reading his diaries on the radio in 1992, he was offered the chance to publish them as an essay, effectively launching his publishing career.

The essay was adapted for the stage and performed in Korea for the first time at White Box Theater last year.

“It was amazing,” director Desiree Munro recalls. “Even with Korean subtitles, the majority of our audience members are expats, most of whom I assumed would be in Thailand or somewhere warm over Christmas. I thought it would be difficult to get an audience but the difficulty ended up being how to accommodate everyone.”

This is the first White Box show to get a rerun, and hints at the start of a potential tradition.

“There are lots of great scripts with Christmas themes, but we felt that spending Christmas abroad makes even the most hardened expats a bit sentimental and in need of some familiarity.

“We all crave the rituals and traditions that come from Christmas. It’s understandable and it’s comforting,” Munro explains. “We had such an overwhelmingly warm response to the show last time, we really wanted to give our fantastic audiences the chance to make the show a part of their Christmas tradition.”

“Santaland Diaries” is accessible to all ages, and will have Korean subtitles, which the theater owners hope to have for every show next year.

The show runs on Dec. 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. and on Dec. 23 at 4 p.m. All tickets are 15,000 won. For bookings and more information, visit www.probationarytheatre.com/bookings2.html.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)