TU Brings World Premiere And Fan Favorite To Fringe

Theatre Unleashed is once again looking to make a splash at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, producing two shows with high expectations. The company, which recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, will present the world premiere of Met Again, the comedic and cathartic love story by playwright and Co-Artistic Director Jacob Smith, as well as the wildly popular spoof A Very DIE HARD Christmas, bringing some holiday madness to the summer heat. Both shows open this June at studio/stage in Hollywood.

"Theatre Unleashed has participated in Fringe since year one and we always strive to bring our best work to play in front of a wide audience," said Co-Artistic Director Jenn Scuderi Crafts. "Over the years, Fringe has been integral to our development as a company. I'm looking forward to seeing how these two shows do at Fringe this year."

In A Very DIE HARD Christmas, a team of terrorists has seized a building, taken hostages, and declared war. One man has managed to escape. An off-duty cop hiding somewhere inside. He's alone, tired...and he doesn't like Christmas. Action, humor, Professor Snape taking people hostage, singing, dancing, the guy from Family Matters, guns, puppets, explosions, the EPA guy from Ghostbusters getting punched in the face, Christmas miracles and familiar holiday friends galore. Maybe even an appearance by the legend himself, Santa Claus! This is much more than a stage version of the holiday classic Die Hard, (which celebrates its 30th anniversary this summer), its parody at its best.

"We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the anniversary than a summer re-mount at this year's Fringe," said Gregory Crafts, the show's director and managing director at TU. "Also, we're excited to bring the show to studio/stage, a venue equipped to let us mount even bigger and crazier effects."

Met Again, a moving new play by Smith, takes a look at the entirety of a unique but familiar relationship, from beginning to end, and how those big and small moments, connections, talks, fights, celebrations and experiences all come to mean something more. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes completely heartbreaking, Met Again is like watching a collection of home movies on fast forward...with someone whom you share a special kind of love.

"I was writing one day and it really struck me that life flies by and sometimes just vanishes in what can seem like quick seques, jumping big sections of time but focusing on the more important parts that stand out," Smith said. "But it also struck me how wonderful it was at the same time. My goal was to write a meaningful whole life story that would be under five minutes, which I did and it appeared as part of TU's 25 Plays Per Hour, where it was very well-received. Adapting it to this longer length was honestly a pleasure. I enjoyed taking the time to really push the buttons and explore the world. The writing was quite easy because I had already written the roadmap. I just had to follow it."