Hunger Artists Theatre Company
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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.[1]
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.[2]
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.[3]
Daniel Wozniak Murders
On May 28th, 2010, part-time actor and Hunger Artists cast member Daniel Wozniak was charged with the murders of his neighbor, Samuel Herr, and Herr's friend, Juri Kibuishi in Costa Mesa, California.[4] At the time of the murders, Wozniak was starring in the lead role as Guido Contini in the musical "Nine" at the Hunger Artists Theater Company in Fullerton, California.[5] Hunger Artists' "Nine" ended on May 23, 2010, the day after Juri Kibuishi's body was found. Wozniak was scheduled to be married to fellow "Nine" co-star Rachel Buffet the same day Wozniak was charged with double homicide.
According to police, Wozniak shot Samuel Herr, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, for financial gain after learning that Herr had recently come into a large sum of money. Wozniak's finances were in distress, with added strain from a DUI arrest a week earlier.
After killing Herr and dismembering his corpse, Wozniak then summoned Kibuishi via a text message on Herr's phone, police say. When Kibuishi arrived, Wozniak allegedly killed Kibuishi, then stripped her clothes from her body to make the murders appear to be a sexual assault. After the murders, police say Wozniak then hired an unnamed 17-year old boy to withdraw nearly $2,000 from Herr's bank account, money the boy said was for Wozniak.[6]
After his arrest, Wozniak confessed to the murders and led police to El Dorado Wilderness Park in Long Beach, CA, where Wozniak allegedly discarded the body parts of Herr, including his head, arms, and torso, where police eventually located the human remains. Shortly afterwards, Wozniak attempted suicide while in jail and is currently being held at a medical facility following the alleged suicide attempt.[7]
Production History
- The Spirit of Man: A Play in Three Parts (2010)
- Beyond Convention IV (2010)
- A Midsummer Night's Scream (2010)
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2010)
- Bat Boy: The Musical (2010)
- The Ballad of Don Q or The High Adventures of "Sixgun" Q (2010)
- Buried Child (2010)
- Oedipus Rex (2010)
- Lysistrata (2010)
- Sans Merci (2010)
- The Lion In Winter (2009)
- Beyond Convention III (2009)
- Frankenstein In Love (2009)
- One Flea Spare (2009)
- The Taming of the Shrew (2009)
- The Last Five Years (2009)
- Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2009)
- The Shape of Things (2009)
- 'night, Mother (2009)
- Flying Spaghetti Monster: The Holy Mug Of Grog (World Premiere; 2008)
- Beyond Convention II (2008)
- Bug (Orange County premiere; 2008)
- Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (World Premiere adaptation; 2008)
- Cabaret (2008)
- Top Girls (2008)
- Company (2008)
- The Marijuanalogues (Orange County premiere; 2008)
- The Vagina Monologues (2008)
- Romeo and Juliet (2008)
- Brighton Beach Memoirs (2007)
- Dead Letter Office II (2007)
- Attack of the Giant Nuts (World Premiere; 2007)
- Beyond Convention (World Premiere; 2007)
- The Full Monty (2007)
- Re: Woyzeck (World Premiere adaptation; 2007)
- Frozen (Orange County Premiere; 2007)
- A Doll's House (2007)
- Closer (Orange County Premiere; 2007)
- Much Ado About Nothing (2007)
- The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant (World Premiere; 2006)
- Hardcore: Women's Reflections On Iraq (World Premiere; 2006)
- The Woman in Black (2006)
- The Threepenny Opera (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 Psychosis (Orange County Premiere; 2006)
- Twelfth Night (2006)
- Little Women (World Premiere Adaptation; 2005)
- Guignol X (World Premiere; 2005)
- Dead Letter Office (World Premiere; 2005)
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Orange County premiere; 2005)
- Marat.Sade (World Premiere adaptation; 2005)
- The Land Southward (World Premiere; 2005)
- The Mercy Seat (Southern California premiere; 2005)
- Othello (2005)
- Searching For Americana (World Premiere; 2004)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Hellhouse (World Premiere; 2004)
- The Gog/Magog Project (West Coast Premiere; 2004)
- Assassins (2004)
- The Medea Project (World Premiere Adaptation; 2004)
- Catholic School Girls (2004)
- How I Learned To Drive (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)
- Crave (Orange County premiere; 2003)
- Sweeney Todd (2003)
- The Houseguests (Orange County premiere; 2003)
- Macbeth (2003)
- B.A.F.O. (2003)
- The Lutz Radio Show (2002)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Funhouse (World Premiere; 2002)
- Cockfighters (World Premiere; 2002)
- Hamlet (2002)
- Couch Potato Comedy Festival (2002)
- Bash: Latter-Day Plays (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)
- Voyeur (World Premiere adaptation; 2001)
- The Big Table (World Premiere; 2001)
- Fool For Love (2001)
- Madame Guignol's Macabre Theatre: Cabaret Of Death (World Premiere; 2000)
- One Act Festival (2000)
- Rocket to the Moon (2000)
- Death and the Maiden (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 Colony & Red Peter (World Premiere adaptations; 1999)
- White Trash Private Lives (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 Metamorphosis (World Premiere Adaptation; 1998)
- The Importance of Being Earnest (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)