Considering what a topsy-turvy year 2008 has been for so many, it only seems appropriate to say good-bye to this year in the same fashion.

For anyone looking for a silly and fun way to celebrate New Year's Eve, David Cerda, a 1979 graduate of Hammond High School, who now lives in Chicago, has an invitation that's a unique opportunity for a good cause and a guaranteed good time.

Cerda is the man behind all of those clever play parodies in the Windy City which has developed such a huge fan-base and cult-following, including the holiday favorite "Rudolph, The Red-Hosed Reindeer,"

Cerda, son of Bob and Bea Cerda of Hammond, also wrote such stage spoofs as "Joan Crawford Goes to Hell," "Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls," "Poseidon: An Upside Down Musical," "Touched by Jayne Mansfield" and "sCarrie! the Musical." He is the artistic director and a founder of Hell In A Handbag Productions, which backs all these interesting and entertaining endeavors.

While at Cerda's annual holiday party on Sunday, he had a few surprises in store for me, one of which is the New Year's invite I'm about to share with readers.

But first, the other surprise.

One of the fun guests at his holiday bash was the one and only Nora Dunn, the funny and talented actress from NBC's "Saturday Night Live" during the late 1980s, joining the show in 1985 hired by producer Lorne Michaels and leaving in 1990. She was a part of so many side-splitting and clever skits with fellow cast members the late Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon and Dennis Miller. Dunn, who originally hails from Chicago, moved back here last year and still stays busy commuting to both coasts for work and projects.

Dunn is probably best known for her reoccurring "SNL" skit with her playing one-half of a cheesy sibling lounge act with Hooks called The Sweeney Sisters. (One "SNL" episode even included that weekend's show host Mary Tyler Moore as the third "long-lost" Sweeney Sister.)

But I always think of Dunn for her celebrity impersonations, such as playing an imprisoned "tough-as-nails" hotel maven Leona Helmsley helping fellow jailbirds Zsa Zsa Gabor and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker break out of the "big house."

Some of her other "on the money" impersonations include Ann Landers, Imelda Marcos, Liza Minnelli, tennis tough gal Martina Navratilova (being competitive and tormenting show host Chris Everet in a skit), Cokie Roberts, astrologer Jeane Dixon, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Joan Baez, Brigette Nielsen, Donna Rice, Cindy Adams, Peggy Lee, Mary Hart and Marilyn Quayle.

As for Cerda's New Year's Eve party fun, he's joined forces with The Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, personality Dick O'Day and his Hell in a Handbag Productions staff to host a showcase screening of one of the most beloved disaster flicks in cinematic maritime history: the stupendous 1972 semi-camp/semi-serious classic "The Poseidon Adventure," in which a tottering ocean liner flips over one fateful New Year's Eve.

The film stars Ernest Borgnine, who turns 92 on Jan. 24, Stella Stevens, Gene Hackman, Pamela Sue Martin and late greats Red Buttons, Shelley Winters and Jack Albertson.

Passengers are invited to embark at 11p.m. for yet another installment in this signature Camp Midnight camptacular pre-show featuring special entertainment, prizes and more hosted by "Captain" O'Day and staffed by the hearty crew of Hell in a Handbag. The screening of "The Poseidon Adventure" (complete with audience interactive guide) will be timed so that theater patrons and their celluloid counterparts will both celebrate midnight at the EXACT SAME TIME. Tickets (which include a complimentary champagne toast and party favors) are $20 in advance through ticketweb.com or $25 day-of at the box office. A portion of the proceeds will help fund the forthcoming revival of Hell in a Handbag's hit musical "Poseidon!" FYI: handbagproductions.org.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

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