Santa Claus faces tough times in ‘Santanomics’

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — WJFF’s Youth Radio Project (YRP) has created an original radio play, called “Santanomics,” first broadcast on WJFF on Christmas Eve on Radio Revolution, WJFF’s weekly teen radio program. The play can be heard in the archives at wjff radio.org.

Santanomics pits Santa Claus against tough financial times, and the results are hilarious. It starts with laid-off elves and winds up with a government bailout of the North Pole.

Can a broke Santa still save Christmas? Will he be able to defeat leprechauns, yetis and the dreaded phoenix? Will Bob Pole ever win a North Pole election?

“We always pick on Santa,” said Jason Dole, adult co-coordinator of the Youth Radio Project. “We satirize Christmas as a secular holiday, so Santa gets the short end of the deal.”

In their 2006 play, “Judge Frosty,” the YRP put Santa on trial for multiple charges. Last year, the YRP produced “Santa vs. The Media,” in which Santa goes on a reality weight-loss show and a lonely Mrs. Claus responds by starting her own reality dating show.

“Santanomics” is the largest play the YRP has ever produced. At an hour long, the play has 40 characters over the course of 18 scenes. The 80-page script was written by six different authors and contains some 11,000 words. By the time it airs, YRP members from four different school districts will have spent six weeks planning and making the play.