(Minneapolis/St. Paul) — The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, artistic director) announced that it will once again present Kevin Kling’s Tales From the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log on Monday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m. on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. After the performance, Kling will sign books and CDs on Level One. This holiday event is recommended for ages 8 and up. Single tickets are $28 and on sale now through the Box Office at 612.377.2224, 1.877.44.STAGE (toll-free) or online at guthrietheater.org.

Best known for his popular commentaries on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and his storytelling stage shows, Kling delivers hilarious, often tender stories that have delighted audiences around the country. With Yule Log, Kling spins hilarious yarns of family traditions and holiday merriment. Wry tales of Midwestern Americana, both old and new, take surprising turns from the bizarre to the insightful. Yule Log will also feature The Brass Messengers, Simone Perrin and Dan Chouinard.

Kling’s plays and adaptations have been performed around the world. As a playwright, he has penned 21A, Home and Away, Fear and Loving in Minneapolis, The Ice Fishing Play and Lloyd's Prayer in addition to his co-adaptations of Carlo Goldoni's The Venetian Twins and The Canterbury Tales for the Guthrie. In 2005, the Guthrie launched an eight-week regional tour of Kling's Freezing Paradise: An Evening With Kevin Kling, which visited more than 20 Minnesota communities and performed in Iowa, Michigan and North and South Dakota.

Kling’s first book, The Dog Says How, brought readers into his world of the skewed and significantly mundane. The following Kevin Kling’s Holiday Inn was a romp through a year of holidays and a lifetime of gathering material. Kling has written two children’s books, Big Little Brother and Big Little Mother, and his latest book, On Stage With Kevin Kling, contains the full texts from three of his popular stage pieces.

Kling grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis and graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1979 with a B.A. in Theatre. His storytelling started when a friend from the now-defunct Brass Tacks Theatre asked him to perform his stories. Since then, he has been awarded numerous arts grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, McKnight Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Bush Foundation, Jerome Foundation and others.