By Thin Air Theatre Company, opens Friday, runs 7 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Dec. 27, no show Dec. 25, The Butte Theater, 139 E. Bennett Ave., Cripple Creek, $12-$18; 689-3247, buttetheater.com

Leave it to a talking, four-legged creature to find the next Santa Claus.

That’s what happens in “The Christmas Donkey,” an original play by Chris Sorensen, a Cripple Creek playwright who often writes shows for the Thin Air Theatre Company.

The play opens Friday at The Butte Theater.

“It’s a nice story about not overlooking people,” says director and co-producer Chris Armbrister. “It’s about being honest with yourself and caring about other people. At holiday times that is one of the great messages.”

It’s set in Cripple Creek of the 1890s, when millionaires, gold miners and a whole lot of other not so successful and down on their luck characters overtook the town. Among them is Old Bill Otis, a homeless man who happens to run into a prophetic donkey. While the animal believes Otis has a date with destiny in the shape of a giant red and white suit, Otis isn’t quite so keen on the idea.

Thin Air first produced the show in 2011 and found such a warm response they brought it back. The 17-person cast includes six professional actors, including Mel Moser from Cripple Creek, 11 local actors and six kids. That includes one actor playing the all-important talking donkey puppet character.

A holiday olio will follow the show, replete with music, singing and dancing, all to the theme of “The Rescuing of Santa Claus from Darth Vader.”

“It just leaves you with the warmth of kindness that comes with Christmas time,” Armbrister says, “and thinking of others and doing for others and evaluating your own self.”

JENNIFER MULSON, THE GAZETTE, 636-0270, JEN.MULSON@GAZETTE.COM