"A Life Behind Bars" is actor/bartender/storyteller, Dan Ruth's award-winning solo performance about working, drinking and surviving the dives and seedy haunts of pre-Giuliani Brooklyn and Manhattan. "A Life Behind Bars" is a "tour de force black comedy" and an unapologetic and transcendent tale of what can happen when you move to New York City to reach for the stars but grab for the bottle instead. In Los Angeles, "A Life Behind Bars" won the Producer’s Encore Award at the Hollywood Fringe, and in New York City where Ruth took home a Bistro Award for Outstanding Solo Play, the 2018 Best Spoken Word Artist award from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, and the winner for Best Autobiographical Show at the 2016 United Solo Festival which propelled Ruth into a year-long run at The Laurie Beechman Theatre in 2017. In 2020, Ruth was a recipient of the Jeremy O. Harris Pet Project Grant. "A Life Behind Bars" was recently honored with "Best of Fest 2025" by the Whitefire Theatre's Solofest Solo Theatre Festival, and will be presented as an encore performance on Sunday, May 25th at 7pm.
Whitefire Theatre is at 13500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA, Los Angeles, CA.
A Life Behind Bars (10/10/25-11/13/25)
RIGHT (9/5/25-10/12/25)
FINDING MY LIGHT (4/6/25-4/6/25)
A Life Behind Bars (2/27/25-2/27/25)
Punk Grandpa (2/10/24-2/10/24)
Lemur Mom (1/27/24-1/27/24)
Freud On Cocaine (9/8/23-11/4/23)
Chapatti (4/7/23-4/28/23)
SANTASIA - A Holiday Comedy! (12/12/25-12/27/25)
Videos
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2 Pianos 4 Hands
North Coast Repertory Theatre (12/11 - 12/31) | |
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MILF And Cookies
Dynasty Typewriter (12/16 - 12/16) | |
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Disney's The Little Mermaid
Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center (1/9 - 1/11) BUY NOW & SAVE | |
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The Dignity Circle
Theatre of NOTE (2/14 - 3/22) | |
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The Messenger
Chance Theater (3/27 - 4/19) | |
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Lang Lang Plays Beethoven
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (3/23 - 3/23) | |
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ERNEST SHAKELTON LOVES ME
Coachella Valley Repertory (4/22 - 5/10) | |
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Peter and the Wolf
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (2/28 - 2/28) | |
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A Christmas Carol with Charles Dickens
Independent Shakespeare Co. (12/5 - 12/22) | |
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COOKIN' WITH GAS
The Groundlings (10/2 - 12/18) | ||
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