Recommended - DRINKING & WRITING VOLUME IV: THE 12 STEPS OF CHRISTMAS

Steve Mosqueda and Sean Benjamin's celebration of literature and inebriation defies categorization. They don't really play characters. And it's not a staged reading, though they do deliver selections from the works of great alcoholic writers. It's kind of performance but without the arty baggage or the art crowd. It's almost a party but a very structured one, where the hosts dominate an evening that's relaxed, entertaining, and unpretentious. Mosqueda and Benjamin give out gifts, read aloud, and tell some funny/horrifying stories from their own pasts about drinking at the holidays. Terrific hosts, they keep things light and seem to genuinely enjoy themselves. And they don't flinch when audience members walk by to get a refill. --Jack Helbig Through 12/21: Fri 10:30 PM, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, lobby bar, 2433 N. Lincoln, 773-871-3000, $15.