Theatre Unleashed offers Late Night Mini Musicals

Acclaimed playwright Michael Gordon Shapiro figured out something vital to his career when he was in his twenties: Writing musicals is hard. "I decided that the way to get good at it was to write a number of short shows in varied dramatic and musical styles," he said. "Eventually I realized that I had written enough to get a free, full-length musical by glomming them all together."

The result is the critically acclaimed A Feast of Snacks, which makes its West Coast premiere as part of the Theatre Unleashed Late Night Series, running Fridays and Saturdays at 10 p.m. from Oct. 23 to Nov. 21 at The Belfry in NoHo.

A Feast of Snacks is an anthology of four bite-sized comedic musicals, spanning a number of different styles, working together to create an hour of both laughter and sing-out-loud theatre. In The Alleged Adventures of Blenderman, an ambitious young psychiatrist tries to convince a hospital review board that his patient is fit for release. His work is complicated by his patient's insistence that he's a superhero named Blenderman who fights to save the world from poor nutritional habits. In The Charmed Life (Co-written with Mark Harvey Levine), Margie has experienced unnaturally good luck her entire life. One afternoon she discovers the source of her good luck: a secret admirer, who for years has been covertly making her life better. In Climb the Smallest Mountain, miniature golf legend Darius "Duke" McGovern seems poised to win his seventh world championship until a competitor finds a loophole in the rules that allows him to disrupt Duke's game. In HMS Headwind , the merry crewmembers of an 18th century British frigate have one problem: their failure to capture a single enemy vessel.

"A Feast of Snacks is pure fun: There is a heartfelt, uplifting core to each of the stories, wrapped in the pageantry of musical theater," said director Julia Plostnieks. "Considering that is my directorial debut, I wanted to work on a show that didn't take itself too seriously - as this matches my own personality quite well - and that would leave the audience smiling and humming their way home." The show is the latest in a series of Theatre Unleashed musicals that have proved popular with patrons and critics alike, including POPE! An Epic Musical, The Spidey Project and the aforementioned Super Sidekick.

"Our company members have been wanting to do another musical since last season," said Jenn Scuderi Crafts, the company's artistic director. "A Feast of Snacks is the perfect blend of quirky, fun scripts and clever music that our company does very well." A Feast of Snacks follows the TU Main Stage world premiere show Cake by Wendy Gough Soroka, an ensemble comedy that follows the interwoven tales of family, friends and lovers trying to survive the absurdities and indignities of academia, art and adulthood through banter and baked goods. Also, continuing the company's tradition, TU is partnering with a local charity, this time with Camp Del Corazon, an organization that provides a summer camp for children with heart diseases. The company hopes to raise $1,300 in proceeds, the cost of sending a child to camp.

A Feast of Snacks Music, book and lyrics by Michael Gordon Shapiro Directed byJulia Plostnieks Produced by Theatre Unleashed SYNOPSIS: A Feast of Snacks is an anthology of four bite-sized comedic musicals, spanning a number of different styles, working together to create an hour of both laughter and sing-out-loud theatre. In The Alleged Adventures of Blenderman, an ambitious young psychiatrist tries to convince a hospital review board that his patient is fit for release. His work is complicated by his patient's insistence that he's a superhero named Blenderman who fights to save the world from poor nutritional habits. In The Charmed Life (Co-written with Mark Harvey Levine), Margie has experienced unnaturally good luck her entire life. One afternoon she discovers the source of her good luck: a secret admirer, who for years has been covertly making her life better. In Climb the Smallest Mountain , miniature golf legend Darius "Duke" McGovern seems poised to win his seventh world championship until a competitor finds a loophole in the rules that allows him to disrupt Duke's game. In HMS Headwind , the merry crewmembers of an 18th century British frigate have one problem: their failure to capture a single enemy vessel.

DATES AND TIMES: October 23-November 21 Friday, Saturday - 10 p.m. *No show on Oct. 31 *Special Sunday Matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1 LOCATION: The Belfry Stage Upstairs at the Crown 11031 Camarillo St. North Hollywood, CA 91602 TICKET PRICES: General Admission: $10 *PWYW if you donate $5 at the box office for Camp Del Corazon MORE INFORMATION: For further information, please call: (818) 849-4039 Or check out our website at: www.theatreunleashed.org

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