Another Night Before Christmas, by lyricist-librettist Sean Grennan and composer Leah Okimoto, will bow Nov. 2 at American Heartland Theatre in Kansas City, MO. AHT is the same Equity company that premiered the writers' A Dog's Life and Married Alive!, which were embraced there.

In recent weeks Grennan and Okimoto were in residence in Chicago for the area debut of their marriage-minded, four-actor musical comedy Married Alive!, produced by Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL (it began June 27 and plays there to Aug. 30). Still a young show, it has also already had productions in Nebraska and Virginia.

Another Night Before Christmas — for two actors on one set — will be directed by American Heartland Theatre artistic director Paul Hough, who helmed the pair's other musicals.

"It's a riff on the classic poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas,' widely known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas,' by Clement Clarke Moore," Grennan told Playbill.com. "The show takes place in real time all in the apartment of a disillusioned social worker who feels cut off from the rest of the world and the feeling of the holidays, as so many do that time of year. She meets a homeless man on her way home. He follows her and breaks in, claiming to be Santa Claus. They get locked in together and are forced to hash out what's either her problem or his."

The end of the play happens as the clock is striking 12, heralding Christmas Day. Grennan added, "The music is 'contemporary musical theatre,' and it's another of our comedies with a heart."

Another Night Before Christmas is scheduled to play American Heartland Theatre Nov. 2-Dec. 30.

For more information about the AHT season, visit www.ahtkc.com. For more information about Grennan/Okimoto properties, visit www.marriedalive.net.