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It's no accident that there's a warmth and sparkle on most community theater stages during the holiday season.

People who plan theater seasons tap into the Christmas spirit by offering shows that highlight giving, togetherness, love of fellow man — the things Christmas is supposed to be about.

"It's a special time," said Henry Avery, who is directing a stage version of the Christmas movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life" for the Albuquerque Little Theater.

"The focus is on family more so than usual. Doing a Christmas show that draws people is important."

Marty Epstein, who is directing the comedy "A Tuna Christmas" at the Vortex, said holiday plays are also a welcome respite from the negative aspects of the season — the stress, crowded malls, snarled traffic, overloaded credit cards.

"Some shows do well at Christmas because people are looking for places to go in the evening to get away from the shopping," Epstein said. "And because kids are off from school."

Becky Mayo is directing a musical version of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," for the Adobe Theater. It's the ultimate tale of love and sacrifice, a good antidote to holiday hype and gimme-gimme greed.

"Christmas is a wonderful season, a state of mind," Mayo said. "These Christmas plays — at least most of them — remind us that it is people, not possessions, that are important."

This is Mayo's second time at the helm of "The Gift of the Magi." She directed it for the Adobe during the 1995 Christmas season.

"The thing I love about it is that it combines what we think of as the true spirit of Christmas — giving from the heart — with a musical that is funny and touching. This is not syrupy, sappy, cloying stuff. This is genuine generosity of spirit."

Peter Ekstrom's musical is a retelling of O. Henry's short story about Jim (played by Kelly O'Keefe on the Adobe stage) and Della (Stephanie Burch), a young, happy but poor couple living in New York City in 1905. Jim and Della sacrifice prized possessions in order to get Christmas gifts for each other.

Songs in the 45-minute show are sometimes moving but often hilarious. They include "Tomorrow Is Christmas," "What Can I Give Him," "If We Had Money" and the very funny "Your Hair Is Gone."

The cast and some other elements — such as John Van Der Meer's lighting design — are new to this year's production, but Mayo said much of the show is very similar to the one she directed in 1995. She doesn't think that will scare off people who saw it a dozen years ago. In fact, she says the opposite is true.

"I think people who come again will feel like they are rereading a book they love," she said.

The storyline of "It's a Wonderful Life" is a familiar one from the popular 1946 movie directed by Frank Capra.

Director Avery is pretty well acquainted with it, too.

Right about this time two years ago, Avery moved to Albuquerque from Baton Rouge, La., where he had worked with the Baton Rouge Little Theater for many years, 16 of them as artistic director.

"It's a Wonderful Life" is the first show he has directed at ALT. It was also the last show he directed for the Baton Rouge Little Theater.

"It was still running in Baton Rouge when I came out here," he said. "So, it was good to come into a new facility with a show I already knew pretty well.

"And because there are about 30 members in the cast, it was also a good way to meet a lot of people in the theater community at one time."

Jimmy Stewart starred in the 1946 film as George Bailey, a man who puts his own dreams on the back burner to make things better in his small town of Bedford Falls. Thinking he has failed, Bailey attempts suicide on Christmas Eve. He is saved by his guardian angel, who proceeds to show him how many lives he has made happy and productive.

"It's a very warm story, full of fun characters, very good for Christmas," Avery said. "I love the character of George Bailey. So many times we forget the gift we have to give is inside of us."

Matthew Connors portrays Bailey in the ALT production. Tania Ensign is Bailey's wife, Mary; Ray Orley is Mr. Potter, the nasty, conniving banker; and Nathan Chavez is Clarence Odbody, the guardian angel.

Avery said the challenge of turning a movie favorite into a stage production is making it a play unto itself, apart from the film.

"Seeing the play should be a whole new experience," he said. "The characters don't look exactly like they did in the movie. Everybody says, 'Oh, Jimmy Stewart.' But a couple of minutes into it, you don't think of that."

"A Tuna Christmas" is probably more uproarious than uplifting. Humor, rather than high ideals, take center stage in Tuna, the third-smallest town in Texas.

The play, which debuted in 1989, is the second in a trilogy of comedies set in Tuna. All three "Tuna" plays are considered to be both affectionate looks at and devastating satires of small-town, Southern life.

Epstein directed the first of the trilogy, "Greater Tuna" at the Vortex in July 2006.

In all three plays, two men make up the entire cast, playing 20 or more off-the-wall characters of all ages and both sexes.

"It's a hard show to put up technically," Epstein said. "There are costume changes that take only four or five seconds. They come off stage throwing off wigs and pulling off shoes. We have a full slate of dressers backstage, two to three for each costume change."

Dean Eldon Squibb and Harry Zimmerman are manning the roles in "A Tuna Christmas." Squibb also appeared in the Vortex production of "Greater Tuna."

Characters they portray include disc jockeys Arles Stuvie and Thurston Wheelis; Didi Snavely, owner of Didi's Used Weapons; Bertha Bumiller, housewife, mom and member of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order; Helen Bedd, a waitress at the Tasty-Creme; Elmer Watkins, victim of a flamethrower incident; and a bunch more.

The plot revolves around a plagued production of "A Christmas Carol," a holiday-display contest haunted by a phantom vandal and dysfunctional family gatherings.

It might not be a wonderful life in Tuna, but it is apparently a pretty funny one.

Which is OK.

Christmas — on the stage and otherwise — is a time for loving and giving. But it's a time for laughing, too.