Coming Soon:

You’ll be able to link up with your favorite TBirds on our “Where are they now?” page, watch video clips of productions and download archival copies of programs and reviews. And that’s just for starters…

Thanks for stopping by!

July 8th – 23rd, 2011
Thursdays – Saturdays, 8PM
Sundays, 3PM

The EXIT Theatre
156 Eddy Street, San Francisco

Madcap farce, sledgehammer wit and cheeky behavior rule the day as the wonderfully rude god of the sea Poseidon and his dutiful but inept hotel staff of sea creatures vie to host the first Olympics in a colossal competition of manners and hospitality.

Dimwitted Poseidon, the most underappreciated God of Mount Olympus and proprietor of a 2-star hotel at the bottom of the sea, is hoping for respect and redemption by vying to host the first Olympics. Can he, his venomous wife Medusa and a bumbling staff of sea creatures pass muster? Or will the clever goddess Athena outfox the short-fused Poseidon once again? The guest list includes a litany of insatiable gods behaving badly, a mounted singing toy fish and the optimistic one-hit wonder Bobby McFerrin… It is just another farcical day under the sea at Salty Towers.

Featuring

Poseidon … Stephen Vaught
Medusa … Kirsten Broadbear
Man-O … John Larkin
Dolly … Analisa Svehaug
Zeus … Shay Casey
Athena … Dana Goldberg
Hermes … Neil Higgins
Hestia … Sara Breindel
Dionysus … Brandon Wiley
Prometheus … Jason Pienkowski
Fillet O’Fish … Peter Finch
Octopus … Gilbert Esqueda

Shakespeare, schmakespeare—and don’t even talk to me about Neil Simon. (Seriously, just don’t.) I think we all know by now that what the Bay Area really needs is more plays about Conan the Barbarian.

Fortunately, San Francisco’s parody-prone Thunderbird Theatre Company is all over that action. Thunderbird’s new comedy Agnes the Barbarian catches up with the sullen, shirtless sword-slinger a couple decades after creator Robert E. Howard was done with him. With his bloody rise from Cimmerian mercenary and thief to king of Aquilonia long behind him, Conan has grown fat and balding and bedeviled by bureaucracy. He’s involved in a foreign war without even knowing why, just signing the scrolls his advisors bring him.

What’s worse, his teenage daughter is driving him nuts. Agnes wears modest clothing and spends her time reading or talking about philosophy with her friends—it’s like her parents’ barbarian values are one big joke to her. The only thing to do, his evil advisors tell him, is to send her unarmed on a quest to slay the fearsome Gargranox so that she can learn what it means to be a barbarian.

I’m sorry, did I say evil advisors?  Yeah, there’s that. His grand vizier Gygax and her assistant Arnesen (yep, named after the creators of Dungeons & Dragons) are secretly foreign saboteurs keeping Conan doped up and wrapped up in a needless war as part of their fiendish takeover plot for Aquilonia’s downfall. Agnes’s quest is just their scheme to kill off Conan’s heir.

Agnes the Barbarian is written by Jason Harding, fabled scribe of Thunderbird’s past pirate comedy Lusty Booty and a staple of the acting company who’s played memorable roles such as Citizen Kane in 2007’s Aaah! Rosebud! Harding also plays a forceful Conan, his booming voice grousing of the soft indignities of royal life, usually closing with a petulant “I am Conan!”

It’s one of Thunderbird’s better shows all around, with an awfully funny script and no weak links in the cast. Director Shay Casey keeps the pace hopping, aside from some laborious scene changes. Harding also designed the appropriately spartan set with a large map and hanging banners written in some runic alphabet and a pelt-draped throne. The amusingly impractical barbarian costumes by Sarah Breindel, Annie Kim and Mary Bishop are spot-on genre-appropriate as well.

Jaime Lee Currier makes a marvelously appealing protagonist as Agnes, rolling her eyes at her embarrassing parents and overcoming challenges in distinctly un-barbarianlike ways such as girl talk with a heartbroken evil sorceress. A commandingly self-assured Jennifer Lucas does double duty as the aforementioned witch Ral Partha—a strong woman who’s just going through a rough patch, still getting those manipulative “I miss you” crystal-ball calls from her recent ex, Sauron—and Conan’s lusty barbarian queen Zenobia.

Tavis Kammet is hilarious as the wild-eyed narrator Shitake, with a sonorous oratorical style like something from a samurai movie, who joins Agnes’s quest despite the exposition curse that keeps him talking in third person instead of participating in direct conversation. The way he helps commiserate with Ral Partha despite the gag over his mouth is particularly priceless.  Mary Bishop also tags along as garrulous Mrs. Bastard, a kindly, cockney-accented peasant who helps tutor Agnes in the way of the barbarian—or tries to, anyway. Jeremy Cole provides the voice of the fey, purely decorative magic sword Pointronius.

Dana Goldberg is a fine mix of deferential bureaucrat and cackling villain as Gygax, and Dan Kurtz’s Arnesen has a charming shtick of keeps forgetting he’s supposed to be an unquestioning henchman and not a chummy coworker. Cary Klataske is a sympathetic beast as the Gargranox, and Jason Pienkowski is amusing in the smaller roles of the Pythonesque old dung peddler Mr. Bastard (Filthy to his friends) and Brooklyn-accented assassin Ian da Strange.

Although it’s clearly rooted in the sword-and-sorcery genre, right down to the bombastic hard rock soundtrack, you don’t need to know King Kull from Old King Cole to appreciate the broad humor and hearty swordfights. It’s a delightful romp that could bring a smile to the lips of the grim god Crom himself, and that’s no Hyborian hyperbole. Well, maybe just a little.

Agnes the Barbarian plays through August 14 at EXIT Theatre, 156 Eddy St., San Francisco. http://thunderbirdtheatre.com

July 30 – Aug 14, 2010
The EXIT Theatre
San Francisco

What could be worse that having an overbearing father who just doesn’t understand you? How about an overbearing father who just doesn’t understand you… and who also happens to be Conan the Barbarian!

Worried that their plain, bookish daughter lacks what it takes to be a true barbarian, Agnes’ parents force her to go on a quest to prove her worth as a warrior. Meanwhile, a treacherous plot is underway to steal Conan’s throne and destroy the kingdom of Aquilonia.

Now in its thirteenth year, The Thunderbird Theatre Company presents “Agnes the Barbarian” written by Jason Harding, author of the pirate comedy “Lusty Booty.” Agnes” is an original play that is part homage/part lampoon of the sword & sorcery genre. A story of comedic high adventure, in the same vein as past productions such as “Aaron Trotter and the incident at Bikini Beach”, “Pride and Succubus” and “Aaah! Rosebud.”

Featuring

Mary Bishop
Jeremy Cole
Jaime Lee Currier
Dana Goldberg
Jason Harding
Tavis Kammet
Cary Klataske
Dan Kurtz
Jennifer Lucas
Jason Pienkowski

Mar 11 – Mar 27, 2010
Thursdays – Saturdays, 8PM
The EXIT Theatre
156 Eddy Street, San Francisco

Since when did dying on stage become a crime? Can a Shakespearean monologue win against a mime pretending he’s trapped in box? Why is the fate of live theater in the hands of a clown? It’s act or die, or die trying?

Now in its twelfth year, The Thunderbird Theatre Company presents “Death Play”. The third installment in the critically acclaimed sketch comedy series, “Serve By Expiration” written by Sang S. Kim. “Death Play” is a full length ninety (90) minute sketch. As a full length sketch, “Death Play” possesses all the wit and satire of sketch comedy reluctantly married to an actual attempt at plot development.

Directed by Thunderbird co-founder, Bryce Allemann, “Death Play” reveals the often rumored but never seen underground world of performance arts competitions to the death. Finally, “Death Play” fulfills the love-hate-confusion relationship for anyone who has experienced independent theater, even accidentally.

Featuring

Sarah Rose Butler
Shay Casey
Jaime Lee Currier
Matt Gunnison
Jacquie Duckworth
Tavis Kammet
Christopher P. Kelly
Annie Kim
Theresa Miller
Randy Nakagawa
Sunil Patel

July 31 – Aug 15, 2009
Thursdays – Mondays, 8PM
The EXIT Theatre
156 Eddy Street, San Francisco

This summer, the Thunderbird is taking you to the beach, where Aaron Trotter, the boy wizard… (uh, SURFER…) will face his greatest challenge and come face-to-face with his destiny!

Dropped into the magical land of California and thrust into the tight-knit world of the Surfer Academy, Aaron must win the respect of his classmates, overcome the trials of adolescence and solve the mystery behind the disappearance of his long-lost parents.

Little does Aaron know that he is walking right into Evil Von Rottenhauser & Wild-eyed Lulu’s really evil plan!

Will Aaron discover the horrible truth and still find a date for Friday’s beach blanket blowout? Will justice and goodness prevail over their polar opposites?

Can the Thunderbird pull off fake tans, surfing scenes and a weenie roast?

August 7th – 23rd, 2008
New Langton Arts
1246 Folsom Street (between 8th and 9th streets)
San Francisco

Life is difficult for Elizabeth Beenthere, who is of marrying age. If only she wasn’t such an inappropriately independent Vampire Hunter.

Things are just as bad for the fiendishly charming but dreadfully arrogant gentleman vampire, Mr. Darcy. He’d rather feed on young women instead of courting them. But love is in the bloody air when their eyes meet across a crowded dance floor.

Should Elizabeth follow her heart or simply drive a stake through Darcy’s? Can Mr. Darcy get over the whole creature of the night business and settle down? Or does Jane Austen herself have something to say about the whole affair?

Now in its tenth year, The Thunderbird Theatre Company presents Pride and Succubus, a new original comedy in the spirit of acclaimed shows Aaah! Rosebud! and Serve By Expiration. Written by Claire Rice and directed by Max Bernstein, Pride and Succubus upholds the finest traditions of a Jane Austen tale—wit, unrequited love, unfortunate misconceptions… and vampires.

February and March, 2008
Exit Stage Left
San Francisco

The next installment of Thunderbird’s sketch comedy series.