The Two Roads Theater is a 60-seat black box theatre, with an elevated stage, located in Studio City, California, United States at 4348 Tujunga Ave in the Little Tujunga Village neighborhood. Originally built in 1986, and housed in a building constructed in 1946, the intimate theater was remodeled and refurbished in 2003 shortly after it was purchased by Rick and Shari Shaw from Edmund Gaynes, currently operator of the St Luke's Theater in New York City. The Two Roads Theater is a member of the NoHo Arts District, in North Hollywood, the Valley Theater League and the Tujunga Village Merchants’ Association.
The Two Roads was named “LA's Most Charming Small Theatre” by the Studio City Sun in 2008 and is home to original stage comedies and musicals, live comedy, improv and music shows, film screenings, seminars, acting classes, workshops and the Valley Film Festival. Located within the Two Roads Theater is the Two Roads Gallery - a hybrid gallery of contemporary art.
In June 2011, The Two Roads presented the world premiere of "Kowalski", a new play by Gregg Ostrin.
Notable Productions
Notable past productions include:
2023 - The How and the Why by Sarah Treem, starring Samantha Gregory
2008-2010 - It’s Just Sex
2009, 2010 - The Vagina Monologues; The Angry Man In The Pink Hat; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Savages; Spike Heels; Mr. Marmalade; It Could Have Been A Wonderful Life
2009 - The Shape of Things
2008 - Fighting For The Title, Freak, Dupe, Savage in Limbo, Sex, Drugs and Minivans
2007, 2008, 2009 - The Resurrection of Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks for Literacy Tour
2007 - Lucy & the Wolf, Doubting Thomason; Here's The Thing May 11 - 12, 2007
2006 - The Portrait Of A Life... A Story About A Guy; Loveswell Oct 21 - Nov 27
2005 - Drama Kings, Weeping for J.F.K.; Diary of a Madman
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis. They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise." In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its current location on Melrose Avenue.
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion, and cultural trends.
The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, Ali Farahnakian and Rich Fulcher.
North Hollywood is a Los Angeles, California neighborhood, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North Hollywood Metro Rail station is one of the few subway-accessible Metro Rail stations in Los Angeles.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is an American improvisational and sketch comedy training center and theatre originally founded by Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
The NoHo Arts District is a community in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that is home to contemporary theaters, art galleries, cafes, and shops. The community is generally bounded by Hatteras Street to the north, Cahuenga Blvd to the east, Tujunga Ave to the west, and Camarillo Street to the south. The area features more than twenty professional theaters, producing new work and classics, diverse art galleries, public art, and professional dance studios. The district also features the largest concentration of music recording venues west of the Mississippi. A Metro Rail station is located here, the North Hollywood station of the B Line and serves as the terminus of the Metro G Line busway.
The culture of San Francisco is major and diverse in terms of arts, music, cuisine, festivals, museums, and architecture but also is influenced heavily by Mexican culture due to its large Hispanic population, and its history as part of Spanish America and Mexico. San Francisco's diversity of cultures along with its eccentricities are so great that they have greatly influenced the country and the world at large over the years. In 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek voted San Francisco as America's Best City.
The iO West was the Los Angeles branch of the iO in Chicago. The theater was located at 6366 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California. In addition to presenting improv and sketch comedy shows every night, the iO West had improv training classes and was the home for the Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival. On February 24, 2018, iO West permanently ceased operations.
Oui Be Negroes is an African-American improvisational sketch comedy ensemble, founded by Artistic Director Shaun Landry and Director Hans Summers. They worked together for many years in Chicago with the Underground Theatre Conspiracy, and had thrown around the idea of an African-American-driven sketch and improvisational comedy troupe, which would be geared specifically toward social and political humor.
Philly Improv Theater, or PHIT, is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania comedy theater which formerly presented shows at The Adrienne Theatre in Center City Philadelphia. The theater currently operates a training center with programs in improv comedy, sketch comedy and stand-up comedy. PHIT's most notable alumnus is stand-up comedian Kent Haines, who was the 2008 winner of the Philly's Phunniest contest at Helium Comedy Club and has appeared on public radio show The Sound of Young America and Season 4 of Comedy Central's program Live at Gotham. In addition to Haines, other comedians from Philadelphia who appeared on stage at PHIT have gone on to perform at major comedy venues in cities like New York and Los Angeles, founded their own theatre companies, and appeared in touring productions for The Second City.
The ACME Comedy Theatre is an American sketch comedy and improvisational theater located near Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on La Brea near Wilshire's "Miracle Mile".
Mara Marini is a Canadian actress best known for her reoccurring role as Brandi Maxxxx in the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation. She has performed in several independent films and plays in the Los Angeles theater scene, as well as making other television appearances.
The Hayworth Theatre is a theater and performing arts venue at 2511 Wilshire Boulevard located in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Dad's Garage Theatre Company, located at 569 Ezzard St. in the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1995 by Chris Blair, Marc Cram, Sean Daniels, George Faughnan, John Gregorio, David Keeton, Joseph Limbaugh, Matt Stanton, and Matt Young. A second wave of people in the founding summer soon followed, and the theatre company spent the next five years establishing itself in the Atlanta improv and theatre communities. The small theater company has since achieved international recognition for original stage productions and Improvisational comedy. Former Second City company member, Tim Stoltenberg is the current Artistic Director. Stacey Sharer is the current managing director.
Conejo Players Theatre is a performing arts theater in Thousand Oaks, California. Established in 1958, it is the oldest theater in the city -- as well as one of the oldest in Southern California. It hosts a full season of Mainstage shows each year, including musicals and plays -- plus special events, workshops, improv comedy performances, holiday shows, and a long-running children's theatre program taught by theater professionals. The theater was housed in an old barn building for several years, but constructed a new theater after donations from Janss Corporation in 1963. The 185-seat theater is located on S. Moorpark Road.
The Pack Theater is a theatre based in Los Angeles, California, specializing in improv and sketch comedy. In addition, the theatre operates a school for developing improv and comedy talent.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
