SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS: A post-show chat with Cathy Street and friends

Cathy Street
Dec 14, 2025
4 min read

"Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" runs December 11–21, 2025, at Thalian Hall’s Ruth & Bucky Stein Theatre. For tickets, visit thalianhall.org. In the spirit of the season, Big Dawg Theatre Company will donate $5 from each ticket sold to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.

Three of us theatre enthusiasts were lucky enough to attend opening night of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” produced by Big Dawg Productions at Thalian Hall’s Stein Theatre. At the table:

Cathy Street: In her over 30 years of professional arts experience, Cathy has worn many hats including director, musical director, producer, actor and teaching artist. She is founder of Street Theatre Company in Nashville, TN where she also served as Artistic Director for 10 years. She works with various local theatre companies here in Wilmington.

Chase Harrison: Writer/Director/Actor/Theater Critic/Former Sideshow Attraction

Maggie Crane: Maggie (pseudonym) has worked onstage and in film since she was young. She was born and raised in North Carolina.

Directed by Devin DiMattia and adapted by Sullivan Hamilton from the cult-classic 1964 sci-fi comedy, this stage production follows Martian leader Kimar as he kidnaps Santa Claus in hopes of bringing joy to his gloomy planet. Chaos, comedy and heartwarming holiday fun ensue as Earth kids, elves and Martians collide. We had a fun, lively discussion about our takes on the show.

Cathy Street (CS): One of the things I like so much about Big Dawg is that they truly do different, new and unique works that you won’t see anywhere else. I think it’s so important for a robust theatre community to have those opportunities. And Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was definitely unique!

Chase Harrison (CH): Agreed. I loved seeing a packed house for an original show!

Maggie Crane (MC): Yes, it was a breath of fresh air to see an original holiday show.

CS: So. What’s something that resonated for you?

CH: First off, the mood was created right from when we entered the theater with the video clips playing, which were of the time period of the film, as well.

CS: Yes! It was so kitschy and nostalgic! Made me remember times that I went to the drive-in movies… “Let’s go out to the lobby, let’s go out to the lobby…”

MC: Sully’s adaptation kept all the “B” movie elements we love from MST3000 [Mystery Science Theatre] antics and the actor’s commitment to the awkward dialogue and silly storytelling totally sold it.

CH: Yeah, the show really grabbed the concept of staging a notoriously bad film.

CS: There was one moment Beau Mumford nailed it in particular, I thought, where he really leaned into the intentional cheesy acting of that old type of movie. It made me laugh out loud.

MC: Oh, I laughed out loud on more than one occasion!

CS: In fact, it felt to me like the actors played maybe a little on the ‘realistic’ side at the beginning (to be fair it was opening night!) but they embraced that camp style more as the show progressed and it paid off with big laughs from the audience. Oh, and when Caroline Balan came out as Torg the Robot, I thought her physicality was incredible. She really did a great job conveying the robot’s emotions even though we couldn’t see her face.

CH: The cast completely owned and understood the assignment. Atwood Pendragon stood out to me as the antagonist against Santa, as well as Kent West as the emperor of Mars, and Beth Corvino is always a delight.

MC: I was particularly impressed with Atwood Pendragon’s Voldar character—always fun to play the bah humbug.

CH: I thought James Bowling embodied the light loving nature that is Santa very well.

MC: And an awesome Anthony Lawson providing all the filmed characters!

CS: Yes, he had such great different looks! In fact, the technical elements of the show really were their own character. The sound effects and video components [designed by Devin DiMattia and Sullivan Hamilton, videography by Jai McQuiston] were so integral to the whole piece working. The technical team in the booth [Zalia Godwin and Tyrell Cox] were on top of their game.

MC: Yes, the sound design was great. I think it was definitely one of the better uses of the Stein space with simple scene changes and use of projection.

CH: The set [designed by Terry Collins] was smooth from how it turned from Santa's shop to the spaceship. And the ship's equipment was detailed.

CS: That toy chute was great! I don’t want to give any spoilers so I’ll just say the baby doll and teddy bear moment was another laugh-out-loud for me. Kudos to the props designer [not listed in the program] for that! I would say that the transitions could have been quicker so keep the pacing of the show tighter. There were a number of times a video was playing where I think the set change could have happened under it versus after it. With comedy, a blackout can be a momentum breaker because we have to reinvest again.

CH: The alien costumes [by Naomi Nason] were a great touch.

CS: Very clever designs!

CH: Yeah, they could have left it at green shirts but they went above and beyond with the pool noodle armor they wore. Also the costuming for the human character did a fine job of showing that it's actually December and it's cold. Some shows forget to play the environment, this really leaned into it. The lighting [by Hannah Funderburke] as well was very descriptive for when the show was more Christmas and when it was more sci-fi.

CS: Final thoughts?

MC: I always love seeing fresh faces on stage.

CS: I definitely left the theatre smiling and for two days now singing that earworm of a song “Hooray for Santa Claus” and curious to watch the original movie.

CH: I dug the show top to bottom, something different for the holiday theater season.