Hunger Artists Theatre Company
Encyclopedia
The Hunger Artists Theatre Company is an alternative theatre company located in a business park in Fullerton, California
. They are known for presenting challenging, thought-provoking plays musicals, world premiere pieces, and re-imaginings of classic plays.
The Hunger Artists Theatre Company founded in 1996 by a group of longtime friends is the first Orange County
-based alternative theater to grow out of Orange Coast College
's Repertory Theater.
Named after a short story by Franz Kafka
, the company received its start with a Halloween
show titled Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre. The show became a Halloween tradition and was presented each Halloween for ten years before retiring in 2005.
Since then, the Hunger Artists have received numerous acclaim and awards for contemporary plays such as "Bash: Latter-Day Plays
", "4.48 Psychosis
" and "The Gog/Magog Project", world premieres such as "The Land Southward", "The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant" and "The Pledge Drive: Ruminations On The Hunger Artist", world premiere adaptations of literary works such as "The Metamorphosis
", "Little Women
" and "Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book
", reworkings of classic plays such as "White Trash Private Lives
", "Re: Woyzeck
" and an all-male "The Importance of Being Earnest
", musicals such as "Sweeney Todd
", "Assassins
" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch
", one-act festivals such as Beyond Convention, 24 Hour Theater and Last Chance Fest, and original late-night entertainment such as the Orange County Underground Burlesque Society and Muddville.
Fullerton, California
Fullerton is a city located in northern Orange County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 135,161.It was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige and named for George H. Fullerton, who secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway...
. They are known for presenting challenging, thought-provoking plays musicals, world premiere pieces, and re-imaginings of classic plays.
The Hunger Artists Theatre Company founded in 1996 by a group of longtime friends is the first Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
-based alternative theater to grow out of Orange Coast College
Orange Coast College
Orange Coast College is a community college in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides two-year associate of art and science degrees, certificates of achievement, and lower-division classes transferable to other colleges...
's Repertory Theater.
Named after a short story by Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, the company received its start with a Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
show titled Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre. The show became a Halloween tradition and was presented each Halloween for ten years before retiring in 2005.
Since then, the Hunger Artists have received numerous acclaim and awards for contemporary plays such as "Bash: Latter-Day Plays
Bash: Latter-Day Plays
bash: latterday plays is a collection of three dark one act plays written by Neil LaBute. Each play is an exploration of the complexities of evil in everyday life, and two of the works, "iphigenia in orem" and "medea redux" have direct Greek influence, specifically that of Euripides...
", "4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis is a play by British playwright Sarah Kane. It was her last work, first staged at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on June 23, 2000, nearly one and a half years after Kane's February 20, 1999 death...
" and "The Gog/Magog Project", world premieres such as "The Land Southward", "The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant" and "The Pledge Drive: Ruminations On The Hunger Artist", world premiere adaptations of literary works such as "The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
", "Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
" and "Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book
The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
", reworkings of classic plays such as "White Trash Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
", "Re: Woyzeck
Re: Woyzeck
"Re: Woyzeck" is a one-act play written by Jeremy Gable. It is a loose adaptation of Georg Buchner's unfinished play Woyzeck.The play centers around Franz Woyzeck, a modern-day soldier, who stands accused of killing his wife Marie. The evidence used against him is a widely-circulated video of him...
" and an all-male "The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
", musicals such as "Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (musical)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....
", "Assassins
Assassins (musical)
Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States...
" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds...
", one-act festivals such as Beyond Convention, 24 Hour Theater and Last Chance Fest, and original late-night entertainment such as the Orange County Underground Burlesque Society and Muddville.
Production history
- The Spirit of Man: A Play in Three Parts (2010)
- Beyond Convention IV (2010)
- A Midsummer Night's ScreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
(2010) - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2010)
- Bat Boy: The MusicalBat Boy: The MusicalBat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
(2010) - The Ballad of Don Q or The High Adventures of "Sixgun" Q (2010)
- Buried ChildBuried ChildBuried Child is a play by Sam Shepard first presented in 1978. It won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and launched Shepard to national fame as a playwright...
(2010) - Oedipus Rex (2010)
- LysistrataLysistrataLysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War...
(2010) - Sans Merci (2010)
- The Lion In WinterThe Lion in Winter-Synopsis:Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England's château in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, the play opens with the arrival of Henry's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173...
(2009) - Beyond Convention III (2009)
- Frankenstein In Love (2009)
- One Flea SpareOne Flea SpareOne Flea Spare, by Naomi Wallace, is an award-winning play set in plague-ravaged 17th Century London.Play synopsis from Eclipse Theater:A wealthy couple is preparing to flee their home when a mysterious sailor and a young girl appear sneaking into their boarded up house. Now, quarantined together...
(2009) - The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
(2009) - The Last Five YearsThe Last Five YearsThe Last Five Years is a one-act musical written by Jason Robert Brown. It premiered in Chicago in 2001 and was then produced off-Broadway in March 2002. Since then it has had numerous productions both in the United States and internationally....
(2009) - Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia WoolfWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick. It was directed by Alan Schneider...
(2009) - The Shape of ThingsThe Shape of ThingsThe Shape of Things is a 2001 play by American author and film director Neil LaBute and a 2003 American romantic comedy-drama film. It premièred at the Almeida Theatre, London in 2001 with Paul Rudd as Adam, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, Gretchen Mol as Jenny, and Fred Weller as Phillip. The play was...
(2009) - 'night, Mother'night, Mother'Night, Mother is a 1983 play by Marsha Norman about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma . The play opens with Jessie calmly telling Mama that by morning she will be dead, as she plans to commit suicide that very evening...
(2009) - Flying Spaghetti Monster: The Holy Mug Of Grog (World Premiere; 2008)
- Beyond Convention II (2008)
- BugBug (play)Bug is a play by American playwright Tracy Letts. It was adapted into a film in 2006.- Synopsis :Most of the play takes place in a seedy motel room. Lonely cocktail waitress Agnes lives there, hiding from her violent ex-con ex-husband Jerry Goss. One night, her lesbian biker friend R.C. introduces...
(Orange County premiere; 2008) - Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle BookThe Jungle BookThe Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
(World Premiere adaptation; 2008) - CabaretCabaret (musical)Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
(2008) - Top GirlsTop GirlsTop Girls is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It is about a woman named Marlene, a career-driven woman who is employed at the 'Top Girls' employment agency. The play examines issues of gender discrimination present in the Thatcherite society that it is set in...
(2008) - CompanyCompany (musical)Company is a musical with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six....
(2008) - The Marijuanalogues (Orange County premiere; 2008)
- The Vagina MonologuesThe Vagina MonologuesThe Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
(2008) - Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(2008) - Brighton Beach MemoirsBrighton Beach MemoirsBrighton Beach Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.-Characters:*Eugene Morris Jerome, almost 15...
(2007) - Dead Letter Office II (2007)
- Attack of the Giant Nuts (World Premiere; 2007)
- Beyond Convention (World Premiere; 2007)
- The Full MontyThe Full Monty (musical)The Full Monty is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek.In this Americanized musical stage version adapted from the 1997 British film of the same name, six unemployed Buffalo steelworkers, low on both cash and prospects, decide to present a strip act at a local club...
(2007) - Re: WoyzeckRe: Woyzeck"Re: Woyzeck" is a one-act play written by Jeremy Gable. It is a loose adaptation of Georg Buchner's unfinished play Woyzeck.The play centers around Franz Woyzeck, a modern-day soldier, who stands accused of killing his wife Marie. The evidence used against him is a widely-circulated video of him...
(World Premiere adaptation; 2007) - FrozenFrozen (play)Frozen is a play by Bryony Lavery that tells the story of the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl, Rhona. The play follows Rhona's mother and killer over the years that follow. They are linked by a doctor who is studying what causes men to commit such crimes...
(Orange County Premiere; 2007) - A Doll's HouseA Doll's HouseA Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
(2007) - CloserCloser (play)Closer is the third play written by English playwright Patrick Marber. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London in 1997, and made its North American debut at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on 25 January 1999....
(Orange County Premiere; 2007) - Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
(2007) - The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant (World Premiere; 2006)
- Hardcore: Women's Reflections On Iraq (World Premiere; 2006)
- The Woman in BlackThe Woman in BlackThe Woman in Black is a 1983 thriller fiction novel by Susan Hill about a menacing spectre that haunts a small English town.It was adapted into a stage play by Stephen Mallatratt...
(2006) - The Threepenny OperaThe Threepenny OperaThe Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
(2006) - Careless Love (West Coast Premiere; 2006)
- The Pledge Drive: Ruminations On The Hunger Artist (World Premiere; 2006)
- The Insanity of Mary Girard (2006)
- 4.48 Psychosis4.48 Psychosis4.48 Psychosis is a play by British playwright Sarah Kane. It was her last work, first staged at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on June 23, 2000, nearly one and a half years after Kane's February 20, 1999 death...
(Orange County Premiere; 2006) - Twelfth Night (2006)
- Little WomenLittle WomenLittle Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
(World Premiere Adaptation; 2005) - Guignol X (World Premiere; 2005)
- Dead Letter Office (World Premiere; 2005)
- Hedwig and the Angry InchHedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds...
(Orange County premiere; 2005) - Marat.SadeMarat/SadeThe Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
(World Premiere adaptation; 2005) - The Land Southward (World Premiere; 2005)
- The Mercy SeatThe Mercy Seat (play)The Mercy Seat is a 2002 play by Neil LaBute that was among the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns Ben, a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack, with his mistress, Abby, who is also...
(Southern California premiere; 2005) - OthelloOthelloThe Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
(2005) - Searching For Americana (World Premiere; 2004)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Hellhouse (World Premiere; 2004)
- The Gog/Magog Project (West Coast Premiere; 2004)
- AssassinsAssassins (musical)Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States...
(2004) - The Medea Project (World Premiere Adaptation; 2004)
- Catholic School Girls (2004)
- How I Learned To DriveHow I Learned To DriveHow I Learned to Drive is a play written by American playwright Paula Vogel. The play premiered on March 16, 1997 off-broadway at the Vineyard Theatre...
(2004) - The Attorney General (World Premiere adaptation; 2004)
- The Lutz Radio Show (2003)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Once Upon A Time (World Premiere; 2003)
- CraveCrave (play)Crave is a one-act play by British playwright Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1998 by the theatre company Paines Plough, with which Kane was writer-in-residence for the year, at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh...
(Orange County premiere; 2003) - Sweeney ToddSweeney Todd (musical)Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....
(2003) - The Houseguests (Orange County premiere; 2003)
- MacbethMacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(2003) - B.A.F.O. (2003)
- The Lutz Radio Show (2002)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Funhouse (World Premiere; 2002)
- Cockfighters (World Premiere; 2002)
- HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(2002) - Couch Potato Comedy Festival (2002)
- Bash: Latter-Day PlaysBash: Latter-Day Playsbash: latterday plays is a collection of three dark one act plays written by Neil LaBute. Each play is an exploration of the complexities of evil in everyday life, and two of the works, "iphigenia in orem" and "medea redux" have direct Greek influence, specifically that of Euripides...
(Orange County premiere; 2002) - The Lutz Radio Show (World Premiere; 2001)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Seven Deadly Sins (World Premiere; 2001)
- Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (2001)
- VoyeurRear WindowRear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
(World Premiere adaptation; 2001) - The Big Table (World Premiere; 2001)
- Fool For LoveFool for Love (play)Fool for Love is a play written by American playwright/actor Sam Shepard.-Plot:The "fools" in the play are battling lovers at a Mojave Desert motel. May is hiding out at said motel when an old childhood friend and old flame, Eddie. Eddie tries to convince May to come back home with him and live in...
(2001) - Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Cabaret Of Death (World Premiere; 2000)
- One Act Festival (2000)
- Rocket to the Moon (2000)
- Death and the MaidenDeath and the Maiden (play)Death and the Maiden is a 1990 play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. The world premiere was staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 9 July 1991, directed by Lindsay Posner...
(2000) - Of Mice and Women (World Premiere adaptation; 2000)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: In The House Of Madame Guignol (World Premiere; 1999)
- Coke Stories (1999)
- Christopher Durang Festival (1999)
- The Seagull (1999)
- In the Penal ColonyIn the Penal Colony"In the Penal Colony" is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919....
& Red PeterA Report to an AcademyA Report to an Academy" is a short story by Franz Kafka, written and published in 1917. In the story, an ape named Red Peter, who has learned to behave like a human, presents to an academy the story of how he effected his transformation...
(World Premiere adaptations; 1999) - White Trash Private LivesPrivate LivesPrivate Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
(World Premiere adaptation; 1999) - Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Carnival Of The Damned (World Premiere; 1998)
- The Unknown (World Premiere; 1998)
- Seduction, Monkeys & Coffee (1998)
- The MetamorphosisThe MetamorphosisThe Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
(World Premiere Adaptation; 1998) - The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
(1998) - Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: The Funeral Of Dr. Boufant (World Premiere; 1997)
- Madame Guignol: A Play In Five Unspeakable Acts (World Premiere; 1996)