(Enlarge) Stephanie Ranno and Roger Schulman in "Christmas Belles," now at Vagabond Players in Baltimore.

Stores aren't the only ones to put out the holiday merchandise while autumn leaves are still falling. The Vagabond Players has the holiday-spoofing "Christmas Belles" on its stage. It's an audience-friendly play that hits its obvious comic targets.

Set in and around the Tabernacle of the Lamb Church in Fayro, Texas, the play is fully populated with idiosyncratic small town types applying their meager talent to the church's annual Christmas pageant. There is so much bizarre melodrama in their interlocked lives that the story of the Nativity doesn't seem half as miraculous.

If the setting and the overall comic formula sound familiar, it may be because it and "Tuna Christmas" speak in the same country twang. There is no official creative connection between the "Tuna" franchise and the franchise of which "Christmas Belles" is a part, but there might as well be.

It's certainly a viable comic style -- provided you're in a silly mood and don't ask too much of the thin material.

"Christmas Belles" is the second installment in the so-called Futrelle Family Texas trilogy co-authored by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. It's telling that the playbill biographies establish their extensive credentials writing television sitcoms, because the play is broken up into numerous short scenes that practically call out for commercials in between them. There are many funny one-liners, but there also is a written-by-committee feeling to the generic script.

Although the play's crazy quilt-evocative assemblage of eccentric characters sometimes threatens to degenerate into random sketches, the three playwrights have the smarts to give "Christmas Belles" some focus via the argumentative relationships between three middle-aged sisters.

Honey Raye Futrelle (Maribeth Vogel Eckenrode) has had such an active dating life that she's gotten a frankly trashy reputation. Honey Raye is trying to redeem her name by taking over the direction of the Christmas pageant.

The second sister, Frankie Futrelle (Stephanie Ranno), is happily married and has a young adult daughter, but now finds herself pregnant. And the third sister, Twink Futrelle (Laura Gifford), had such an acrimonious split with her last boyfriend that she was convicted of arson and now wears the orange uniform of a prisoner.

Among the many additional characters are Frankie's husband and daughter, a florist, a sheriff, a minister, and others either helping with the pageant or attempting to administratively take it over.

Enthusiastically bringing these caricatures to life are Tom Burns, Natalia Chavez Leimkuhler, Ryan Patrick, Joan Crooks, Karin Crighton, Trish Bentz, Patrick Martyn and Roger Schulman.

Director John W. Ford keeps the frantic action moving between domestic quarters, backstage rooms at the church, and glimpses of the humorously inept on-stage pageant.

Although several scenes would be enhanced by speeding up the pace of the banter, the actors are all having a good time inhabiting these goofy roles. Eckenrode is especially lively as her character desperately tries to make the pageant less incompetent.

The Vagabond cast remains energetic throughout the evening, but the play itself moves past a thematically appropriate place to end and then belabors its holiday spirit in additional scenes. Even though you'll still be smiling, you also may wonder if even Texas is big enough to accomodate such a generous serving of Christmas cheer.

"Christmas Belles" runs through Nov. 22 at Vagabond Players, at 806 S. Broadway, in Fells Point. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, with discounts for seniors and students. Call 410-563-9135 or go to www.vagabondplayers.org.

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