No matter how much people enjoy Christmas, there are things about it that become predictable. There’s that short list of Christmas "oldies" that gets played to death on the radio, the stress that comes with trying to do everything that must be done during the holiday season amid long lines and gridlocked traffic, and the debate over whether Jesus Christ or a mountain of presents is really the reason for the season. Honolulu Theatre for Youth is offering an escape from the predictable with "Rudolf’s Reindeer Games."

This isn’t only a new show, it’s unlike anything HTY has ever done before. "Rudolf’s Reindeer Games" is improvisational theater in which the audience helps shape the direction of the story and ensures that each performance is unique.

"While the show is a collection of improvised stories that are themed around the holidays — largely around Christmas — we’re hoping that the improv element is going to inspire conversations about the power of imagination," co-director R. Kevin Doyle explained .

"You can do anything you want with an idea or an object. In a way, the sky’s the limit if you use your imagination."

With a little imagination, a stick can be a sword, a rifle or a magic wand, a horse, a witch’s flying broomstick or a monarch’s scepter.

Doyle, co-director Garrick Paikai and the HTY actors — Alvin Chan, Maile Holck, Junior Tesoro and Christina Uyeno — are asking audience members to bring "gifts" that can be used in the show. These items need to be nonperishable (no food, no beverages or other liquids ) and clean. Doyle said that the cast will try to return the items at the end of the show and will do its best not to break anything.

"They might not use it for what it’s intended to be used for — give them a comb and they might use it as a moustache — so they use things in an imaginative way," he said.

The show opens with a brief introduction to the concept of improvisation. The story sketches have established starting points but audience suggestions and the items provided will ensure a different set of stories with each performance.

HTY artistic director Eric Johnson also sees the show as a rare opportunity for young audiences to enjoy improv theater.

Although Doyle and Paikai have many years of experience doing improv theater in Hawaii, the format is something new for young HTY audiences.

‘This is a way to introduce (children) to a new form of theater and is a really fun way of celebrating one of the treasures that we have artistically locally," Johnson said.

"When I starting thinking of it as a Christmas show, I realized that Christmas is a time of traditions, and improv is about being able to make up and change traditions. That’s so much like how families function. There’s the big (Christmas) traditions and then there’s the family traditions, and then there’s the things that change every single year depending on who’s home that year and how things happen."

A free study guide with suggestions for story-related activities is available at htyweb.org.