The cozy-looking Christmas set for the Blackbird Theater’s production “If Only in My Dreams” features a bar decked out with liquor bottles and glasses - a clear and haunting reminder of the demons that plagued three of the four writers featured in the show.

For “Dreams” consists of four Christmas/winter-themed monologues by Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Roch Carrier and Dylan Thomas - a roster full of troubled alcoholics (with the exception of Carrier) who, as portrayed by Will Myers and Barton Bund, actually pour and consume drinks while spinning their tales.

This upfront acknowledgment gives “Dreams” a dark undertone, of course; but because the holidays are always heavily steeped in saccharine, earnest sentimentality, a Christmas show with adult sophistication and bite feels refreshing.

Bund’s Kerouac monologue comes first, drawn from the novel “Visions of Gerard,” which focuses on the death of Kerouac’s 7-year-old brother when the author was only 3. For me, much of Kerouac’s prose has a performative element to it, in that hearing it aloud is a better, more meaningful experience than just reading it on the page. And Bund indeed makes the most of Kerouac’s propensity to play with sound, repetition and the inherent musicality of words; yes, this comes at the expense of some clarity regarding the central story, but the images are often striking, and the muscular energy of the prose shines through Bund’s solid delivery.

Next is Myers’ performance of Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” the linchpin of “Dreams.” For not only is the story the most involving of the four - telling of young Truman’s childhood friendship with an elderly cousin who baked fruitcakes for strangers at Christmas - but Myers is positively marvelous as Capote (and I didn’t think of Phillip Seymour Hoffman once, by the way). He expertly captures the writer’s distinctive voice and movements, and as the story progressed, I had that wonderful, addicting sensation of getting lost in it - as if my next breath depended on hearing the next sentence.

Myers also does good work telling the tale that follows, Roch Carrier’s “The Hockey Sweater.” The story recalls Carrier’s childhood horror when, while growing up in Montreal, he finds himself forced to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey instead of a Canadiens sweater. The story is the show’s simplest and shortest, and Myers tells it with charm.

Bund wraps up the nearly two-hour show with Thomas’ “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” which, like the Kerouac excerpt, is a collection of memory-fueled impressions more than it is a single, linear story. For this reason, it’s difficult to get wholly absorbed in “Wales,” but Bund offers a compelling physical performance, in a style that honors the playfulness and descriptive power of Thomas’ voice.

Director Michael Williams does fine work with pacing and movement, providing both actors with blocking that feels organic, not self-conscious, so that we have something to watch as well as listen to. And Gayle Martin, despite a few lyric mishaps (“Let the Yuletide gay”?), provided pleasant musical interludes between monologues.

More than anything, though, “Dreams” reminds us of the power of storytelling, perhaps conveyed best by Capote’s cousin when explaining why she wouldn’t accompany him to the movies: “I’d rather hear you tell the story, Buddy. That way I can imagine it more.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.