About the Theatre

About the Theatre

Mission Statement:

The mission of Alive Theatre is to establish theatre as an exciting and essential form of expression and entertainment for a new generation not yet aware of the power of experiencing living art.

Knowing that not all who wander are lost, this band of nomadic artists traverses the city of Long Beach in its quest for a more enlightened populace.
By incorporating all art forms into the theatrical experience, Alive Theatre strives to strengthen the bonds among artists in the community of Long Beach and to act as a gateway through which audiences will explore the creative movement taking place in their very own neighborhoods.

We at Alive Theatre seek to create an audience that connects to
new discoveries. So we set ourselves to this mission in
hopes of keeping curiosity Alive.

Resident Company:

EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
*Scott Lennard, Artistic Director
*Danielle Dauphinee, Producing Director (Co-Founder)
*Jeremy Aluma, Associate Director (Co-Founder)
*Sunita Townsen, Production Manager
*Chris Batstone, Technical Director
*Andrew Eiden, Alive Theatrevolution Co-Director
*Jasper Oliver, Public Relations
*Joe Howells, Financial Director
*Aaron Van Geem, Director of New Works

COMPANY MEMBERS
*Thomas Amerman, Associate Technical Director
*Ryan Brodkin, Director of Web Marketing
*Steve Sornbutnark
*Sayaka Miyatani
*Victoria Wells
Eddie Chamberlin

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
*Jillian Taylor, East Coast Representative, Muse
*Stevie Taken
*Anthony Cretara
Jonathan Lewis
Mike Dias
Ryan McClary
Calli Dunaway
Xiomara Cornejo
Roland Cruces
Ashley Allen
Kelby LeNorman
Robert Edward

Hallie King, Web Master

* Founding Member

Our Story:

    Alive Theatre was founded in January 2008 by CSULB theatre grads Jeremy Aluma and Danielle Dauphinee, with considerable help from their peers. Its inaugural production, the Cherry Poppin’ Play Festival, was mounted at The Garage Theatre, a venue graciously provided by another Long Beach company founded by CSULB alumni. The festival consisted each night of two different one-act plays, seven original plays in all, and a rockin’ musical interlude. A collection of over 70 artists were involved in creating the festival, all able to experience the birth of Alive Theatre. The raw energy of the productions prompted one local critic to write, “Judging by the chemistry of this galvanized group, along with their professionalism and talent, I predict a rash of breakout stars … as well as a thriving future for the company" (Marchelle Hammack, Beachcomber Newspaper).
    Alive's second production, Cabaret: Rock the Boat 2008 took place on Duke’s Riverboat, a true sternwheeler moored at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach. The show gave audiences a chance to take a short cruise while enjoying satirical sketch comedy and an eclectic musical program. The group's production led James Scarborough to write, “This charismatic company continues to mature. Venue-less like Wandering Dutchmen (adrift, metaphorically and, aboard here, literally) they’re branding themselves as a must-see experience of what live theatre in a cabaret setting can do: entertain you in umpteen iterations as they continue to reinvent themselves in new, startling, and delightful ways.”
    This spirit of reinvention fueled the search for yet another venue, which led to the historic Lafayette Ballroom in downtown Long Beach. The 'dome room', built in 1928, proved to be the ideal setting for American playwright Don Nigro's Lucia Mad, a sensuous comic drama about James Joyce’s daughter, her obsession with Samuel Beckett, and the sometimes tragic consequences of artistic genius. The peripatetic company by now had caught the attention of David C. Nichols of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: “Literary history swarms with accounts of fragile psyches undone by love, and Lucia Mad undoes with the best of them … Lucia Mad announces a company well worth watching.”
    Koos Art Center was the site for Alive's fourth offering, 28 Plays Later, a rapid-fire revue of 28 short original plays crammed together into a single bill. This artistic experiment was ‘filled with vibrant explosions of uncensored thought and noise, exploiting the X-generation's proclivity for escapist indulgence while satirizing ourselves and everyone else, holus-bolus.' “What Alive Theatre is doing is simple: it’s vaudeville for the 21st century… there can be no doubt that Alive sells every moment, expending enough energy to qualify as a workout.” (Greggory Moore, The District Weekly)
    In the fall of 2008, Alive began looking beyond Generation-X to the future theatergoers of the world. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, an interactive retelling of four lesser-known tales from the Brothers Grimm, premiered at the auditorium of the Long Beach Main Public Library, and then toured to local schools. The library’s main branch recently had been in the news due to a suggested (then retracted) threat of closure by the economically-strapped municipal government. That Alive chose this venue to kick off its educational mission resonated with at least one local critic. “In itself an itinerant theatre company doing outreach is delicious. Doing it in a saved-in-the-nick-of-time library is downright spectacular.”
    But that wasn't enough for the company's first full year, so an experimental branch, Alive Theatrevolution, was established to test the boundaries of audience expectation. City streets, nightclubs, public libraries, Alive's projects were everywhere.
    For the company's second season they reprised the frenetic event that started it all. The 2nd annual Cherry Poppin’ Play Festival was housed in the often overlooked gem that is the Royal Theatre aboard the Queen Mary, testing their luck on the water yet again! Alive Theatre packed the Queen Mary’s theatre almost every night of its 9-night run with its 6 world premieres. Nine different local Long Beach bands opened each night, five local visual artists showcased their work in the ship’s lobby and the festival was chosen to be part of Long Beach’s Visions~Voices (Smithsonian Week Affiliate). The multitude of collaborations and partnerships forged with 2009’s festival aided significantly in furthering Alive Theatre’s mission to outreach and to strengthen the bonds amongst artists in the Long Beach community.
    References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot by José Rivera at the internationally renowned Museum of Latin American Art brought with it another original. It was MOLAA’s first ever theatrical production and collaboration. Playwright José Rivera was present at its closing and received MOLAA’s prestigious ‘Black Sun’ award in honor of his contributions to Latin American culture. “I was very moved by the generosity of the award and by the excellent performance of my play…I see a lot of my work produced and you have no idea how refreshing it is to honestly tell you that was great!” (Academy Award nominated screenwriter, José Rivera).
    Alive Theatre looked, yet again, to the future theatre-goers of the world, with its most recent children’s summer camp. The company was honored to be invited to join CSULB’s ‘Young Artist Camp’ for the camp’s first offering of theatre classes and performances leading one parent to write: “The week before (the camp) James didn’t want to go- he thought it was gonna be stupid and un-cool. From the 1st day forward he came home raving about how great it was every day.”
    And as for the future… we leave you with this,

“The Alive Theatre finds these sites (band shells, riverboats, hotel ballrooms)
and animates them, alive and kicking. They create the same anticipation
that Apple creates just before a new product release. They make us wonder,
what will they do next?” James Scarborough, Grunion Gazette