Their friends and family may be out proposing a holiday toast, but Patty, Rachel and Jim have someplace else they need to be.

One by one, they arrive in a small, dark room at the end of a hall. On their way in, some of them stop to grab a cup of piping-hot coffee before taking a seat in a circle of worn blue chairs.

Austere for the holiday season? Maybe, but these folks aren't here to be entertained. They're here for what could be a matter of life and death.

And as they go around the room, sharing excerpts from their life stories, it's not long before a common theme emerges.

The sights and sounds of Christmas may cheer others up, but they make Patty want to go out and get drunk. Meanwhile, Rachel is afraid that injuries from an alcohol-related auto accident are keeping her from getting pregnant. And Jim resents the fact that now that he's finally sober, he's alone because his wife has just died.

Welcome to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on Christmas Eve -- or at least, AA as depicted in the Alley Theater's smart, heartfelt new production of "Blackout," an intense play by Gary Lennon, who also wrote a similar screenplay for the 1990s movie "Drunks."

Painstaking researched and plainly supportive of spiritually based recovery programs, the play attempts to provide an insider's view of AA. With its "one day at a time" vernacular and its generally serious, occasionally hilarious monologues about alcohol, "Blackout" is designed to have the feel of a real 12-step meeting.

Appropriately, director Jim Dougherty's also takes a realistic approach that's full of surprises.

Because theatergoers are invited to sit in the circle, they're right in the middle of the action -- which may be exciting or unnerving, depending on your point of view. Unless you know somebody in the cast, you may have no idea who's about to launch into the next speech. A few blackouts (lights, not drunks) build the excitement.

As Patty, Carrie Schlatter gives a defining speech about how Handel's "Messiah" and "The Bells of St. Mary's" remind her that the holidays are the toughest time of the year to stay sober. James Copeland brings a convincing mix of irritability, confusion and compassion to Jim, an AA veteran struggling with the pain brought on by his wife's death. Nancy Becker takes a down-to-earth approach to Rachel, a high-fashion model whose successful life spins totally out of control.

If "Blackout" has a character defect, it's that most of the 11 characters' speeches are too long. The opening show lasted more than 2 1/2 hours without intermission. Maybe Dougherty will tighten that during the run.