January 15th-30th

An original piece by company member Gregory Crafts, Friends Like These takes a candid and poignant look at the staggering issue of violence in our high schools. Garrett is an outsider who spends most of his troubled existence in a fantasy world called Haven... that is until he meets Nicole, the popular cheerleader with a curious mind. As quickly as things begin looking up for Garrett, they come crashing down, forcing him to face both his past mistakes and his harsh present reality while he struggles for redemption. This gut-wrenching piece unswervingly explores the emotional trauma brought on by social mores during high school, forcing a confrontation with the causes and tragic consequences that left us staggered as a nation during Columbine and other high school shootings.

February 6th

Theatre Unleashed is celebrating Valentine’s Day a bit early with another of its signature 24-hour theatre events… Love, Sex, Beer and Rock ‘n’ Roll: A Day in the Life of Cupid. The evening before the show, writers will be given a specific topic related to love, tons of caffeine and just a single night to write a short play. It will immediately be handed over to a director and a few actors who have only that morning and afternoon to produce their piece. Theatre Unleashed will then showcase the end results that night. As a special treat, we got Cupid to host, sharing stories of his successes and yes, even his failures.

February 19th-March 27th

Theatre Unleashed is bringing back the first full-length production from up-and-coming playwright Andrew Moore (Pin-Up Girls, Tracing Sonny). Torrid Affaire is a frank and naughty exploration of the lies we tell ourselves about friendship, love and sex. Five close friends, each with a secret to tell, gather together for an evening of sexy fun in this hysterical situational comedy. The reason d’etre for the gathering is a “Torrid Affaire” party, wherein the ladies review the scented body oils, lingerie and other…personal accessories…that the Torrid Affaire company has to offer. As the evening progresses, each shares her secret and we learn that there are some problems you can’t run away from, especially when they’re right down the hall.

February 24th

Theatre Unleashed presents Something Worth Seeing, a special Gala Variety Show to introduce the company’s 2010 Main Stage Season lineup. This one-night-only show will offer a healthy sampling of past and present TU fare, including scenes from our Fringe Shows, original content from our sketch comedy troupe Die Grüppe as well as musical acts, dancing, stand-up comedy and more.

April 3rd

Come help Theatre Unleashed celebrate its second birthday with one its popular 24-Hour Theatre Festivals! The evening before the show, writers will be given a specific topic related to love, tons of caffeine and just a single night to write a short play. It will immediately be handed over to a director and a few actors who have only that morning and afternoon to produce their piece. Theatre Unleashed will then showcase the end results that night followed by special birthday party.

a new translation by George Malko
April 9-May 8

Farcical, satirical, absurdist, fantastical, silly, romantic…words we don’t normally equate with Anton Chekhov, rather deeming him as a terminally serious man. Bah, we say…lighten up! In The Unserious Chekhov, the cast and crew of a failing and critically-panned production of The Cherry Orchard hope to exorcise the all-too serious ghost of Stanislavski from their show. Congregating backstage, the players perform a unique cleansing ritual: An evening of Chekhov's most wickedly comedic works and satires, including The Bear, Before the Eclipse, Dirty Tragedians and Leprous Playwrights and two world premieres of the translations for On the Main Road and the unfinished The Night Before the Trial. All these wonderful shorts are given a new translation by Chekhov expert George Malko.

April 17th-May 8th

The rebirth of The Super-Short, Theatre Unleashed will showcase 25 short original plays featuring a handful of the company’s premiere actors playing over 50 characters…in less than an hour. Fusing comedy, drama and everything in between, these amazing pieces are set in a specific order to provide an emotional crux and unique thru-line to create a theatrical journey for you the audience in 60 minutes or less. It’s speed theatre at its best!

June 18-July 31

Music, dancing, courtship, love, hookahs and swordsmanship (though not necessarily in that order) abound in William Shakespeare’s gloriously gender jumbled romantic tale Twelfth Night. Come join the lovers, the fools and the puritans in a madcap trip that ends only with the discovery that there are always greater journeys just around the corner. Director Jeff Soroka draws upon 1,001 inspirations to retell this tale of misinterpreted feelings and mistaken identities that will make you laugh and cry and maybe even cross-dress in a play about the strangest people we've ever known and loved...ourselves.

June 19

Theatre Unleashed is celebrating the anniversary of the first documented UFO sighting in North America with another of its signature 24-hour theatre events…Boarding the Mothership. The evening before the show, writers will be given a specific topic related to aliens and UFOs, tons of caffeine and just a single night to write a short play. It will immediately be handed over to a director and a few actors who have only that morning and afternoon to produce their piece. Theatre Unleashed will then showcase the end results that night. These have proven to be one of the company’s most popular events. Come, earthlings, see what the buzz is all about!

July 1st-31st

Theatre Unleashed is pleased to bring back sketch comedy with its BRAND SPANKING NEW sketch troupe TU F’n Funny (TUFF). Headed by the sick and twisted minds that brought you Merry Filthy Christmas (God help them!), Patriotism Unleashed! is an adult comedy sketch show that reveals the bawdy side of American patriotism. From the Boston Tea Party to the Tea Party Movement and beyond, TUFF really takes the 2nd Amendment from behind! DISCLAIMER: If you are easily offended, don’t come. If you are only offended sometimes, think twice. If absolutely nothing offends you, see you there. God Bless America!

Part of the Festival of New American Musicals
July 18th-August 15th

Action! Adventure! Romance! Ninja Koalas! Those are just a few of the elements that make up Super Sidekick, the brand new original children’s musical from rising L.A. aywright Gregory Crafts (Friends Like These). This exciting, heart-warming and inspiring play, with original music by Michael Gordon Shapiro, follows this dynamic duo as they track the evil Sorcerer Slurm to the Cave of Doom to rescue the Princess. The modest and hard-working Inky gets his moment to shine when the bumbling Blackjack also gets caught. Now he needs to save them both before they fall prey to Slurm’s Terrible Tickler in this hysterically funny, beautiful story of bravery and friendship.

September 10th-October 2nd

Theatre Unleashed is pleased to present this poignant and off kilter collection of short works from acclaimed L.A. playwright Mark Harvey Levine. Including School of Thought, Ladies of the Evening, Cab Fare for the Common Man, The Rental, Superhero, LA 8AM and The Prodigal Cow, this show takes a satirical look at how we perceive and deal with the different stages, unique moments and common events of this funny little thing called life.

October 29th-31st

Beat the pirates. Find the treasure. Be the hero! Just in time for Halloween, Theatre Unleashed and the Southern California LARP Alliance are teaming up to present a family-friendly, interactive, pirate-themed, outdoor fun house. Kids young and old can actively take part in a LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) adventure that will have them battling pirates, solving puzzles and searching for the gold of one of the most notorious pirates of all time! Prizes, games, treats and more make this a special Halloween weekend event for the entire family. But ye be warned. There be fun to be had in ‘dis here pirate adventure. Savvy?

November 5th-December 4th

The rebirth of the “Super-Short,” Theatre Unleashed will showcase 25 short original plays featuring a handful of the company’s premiere actors playing over 50 characters…in one hour. Fusing comedy, drama and everything in between, these amazing pieces are set in a specific order to provide an emotional crux and unique thru-line to create a theatrical journey for you the audience in 60 minutes or less. It’s speed theatre at its best! Directed by Jacob Smith.

November 12th-December 4th

The holidays most disgustingly and disturbingly awesome show is back in all of its hilarious glory. Merry Filthy Christmas, the popular local cult classic, returns with all new dirty jokes and filthy skits to help audiences forget about the horrible drama that often surrounds that magical time of year we call The Holidays. If you are easily offended, don’t come. If you are offended sometimes, think twice. If you love offensive, potty humor with no respect, care or concern with anything sacred, then this is the show for you!

December 16th

“Look daddy, teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”
One of the most beloved and treasured films of all time, nothing reflects the joy, soul, and celebration of the holiday season more than Frank Capra’s sentimental classic It’s A Wonderful Life. Now, Theatre Unleashed is pleased to bring this heart-warming tale to the stage in a one-night-only production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Set on Christmas Eve, 1946 at a New York radio station, the show offers patrons a behind-the-scenes look at a piece of nostalgia from a simpler time, as the cast, radio manager, secretaries, sound effects technician and assistants from WBFR in Manhattan come together to produce a special radio presentation of this touching holiday masterpiece.