The Elysian Theater

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The Elysian Theater

The Elysian Theater ✨ The Place For Live Comedy in Frogtown, LA✨ The Elysian is an independent comedy theater and 501(c)3 non-profit based in the Elysian Valley of Los Angeles.

At the Elysian, we believe all great work comes out of experimentation and we’re far more interested in the artist’s process than their finished product. Our goal is to foster a supportive space, audience and community that allows artists to enact their unique creative vision. The non-profit was originally founded in 2018 when a group of emerging performers and comedians came together at The Lyric

Hyperion Theater in Silverlake, CA. Informed by the ethos of clown, they embraced an approach of devising new works live in front of audiences, risking vulnerability and failure as a means of discovering gold. The theater became a destination for those seeking innovative, original live comedy that was unexpected, transgressive, participatory and communal. A creative culture grew that offered artists of all disciplines a place to experiment and test boundaries away from the influence of the local entertainment industry and develop shows that would go on to tour the world and win festivals. In 2021, the non-profit established a new home in Frogtown at the historic Elysian Theater - a 135-seat thrust theater built in 1927 - where we continue to cultivate unconventional live comedy. Over fifty percent of Elysian shows are “Work in Progress” - featuring emerging artists developing their voice or established artists developing new shows. In addition to presenting and producing shows, The Elysian also offers year-round workshops and classes in clown, improv and performance art from resident artists, community members, and international award winning performers and teachers. The Elysian believes by nurturing the performing comedy community in this way, artists are able to generate works that inspire, challenge, delight and contribute to the world of comedy at large. MISSION: Our mission is to support innovative artists devising original and unconventional live comedy, by cultivating a diverse and collaborative community that values experimentation as a means of pushing the boundaries of modern comedy. VISION: Our vision is to contribute to the landscape of performing artists, helping them discover and strengthen their voice. We seek to offer a space in Los Angeles that is a respite from the pressures and expectations of the film and television industry. We believe our philosophy of giving artists a space to safely develop works in progress with a supportive audience that embraces original, innovative work, will generate a higher quality of new work that advances the contemporary culture of comedy, both in live theater and beyond. AGE LIMIT: Shows are all ages, but please be aware that some shows incorporate 18+ content and language. Attend shows at your own discretion, and please email [email protected] if you have any questions about a particular show. WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY: The performance room is wheelchair accessible, however The Elysian does not have wheelchair accessible bathrooms at this time. The stage can be made wheelchair accessible with advance notice. STANDBY TICKETS: We’ll begin a standby list 30 minutes prior to showtime for sold out performances. By showtime (or 10-15 after), we’ll inform standby list if we can get them in seated or standing room. Typically everyone gets in! Though there’s no guarantee.

03/17/2025

SHOWS THIS WEEK! Tickets at the link in our bio 🍀

Vault shows

03/12/2025

Don’t forget — submissions for the 2025 SPAGHETTI FESTIVAL are open! ⭐️

Submit your show by June 1st!
And all GRAPHIC DESIGNERS submit your logo by April 1st for the chance to win a festival pass + $300

🍝🍝🍝

03/11/2025

This week, you too can check into Saintly Springs! A retirement community where you can find god before god finds you. Get your tickets to this hilarious staged reading now at our bio or at elysiantheater.com. These sinners will welcome you in with open arms. 🙏🏻

03/10/2025

Shows this week!

Get tickets today at the link in our bio.

03/07/2025

⭐️ Elysian Nights at SXSW ⭐️
We are thrilled to bring the Elysian’s eponymous variety show on the road — Come spend the night with comics and clowns we love!

also catch STAND UP AND CLOWN with Chad Damiani and our 2024 Company-in-Residence FREAK NATURE PUPPETS at SXSW🦨

03/04/2025

Shows shows shows!

Tickets on sale at the link in our bio 🎟️ Vault shows

03/03/2025

SHOW SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN for the 2025 Spaghetti Fest + our LOGO DESIGN CONTEST 🍝⭐️🍝

The Spaghetti Festival is The Elysian’s annual new works festival showcasing wild new works from emerging talent. We’re looking for your unproduced great idea that you feel can flourish with some encouragement, a scrappy little budget, and a hard deadline. Submissions are open until June 1st!

Shows can incorporate any style or genre that drives you and does not need to be strictly comedy. They may include interactive, solo, or group performances that are driven by an interesting or unique concept or story. We’re particularly interested in ensemble devised work; experimental theater; genre-bending/culture-clashing performances; and work from diverse creators and teams. Selected shows will receive a performance slot, promotional support, free workshops, development assistance from our Artistic Director and staff, & more!

Submit at the link in our bio (elysiantheater.com/spaghetti) ⭐️ Submissions are due by June 1st at 11:59pm PT.

+ CALLING ALL ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS: you have the chance to win $300 and a Spaghetti weekend pass by participating in our festival logo design contest — see full terms on our website!

02/24/2025

Shows this week! including two fundraisers 🦨

Vault shows

Tickets on sale at the link in our bio!

02/19/2025

This Friday in the Skunk Room!

Little Stinkers ft. 🦨

Tickets on sale at the link in our bio ⭐️

02/17/2025

Tickets on sale at the link in our bio 🌠 this week’s Vault shows & mics at

02/12/2025

Gianmarco Soresi is coming to the Elysian for six sold out shows this week - read all about it in ⭐️

02/10/2025

💋 Valentine or not… visit us this week 💋

Vault shows at

Tickets at the link in our bio!

02/04/2025

SHOWS THIS WEEK! Get tickets today ⭐️

+ Standby lines available for all sold out shows

01/29/2025

Introducing our 2025 company-in-residence… CLOWNS OF COLOR 🥁

Clowns of Color are the comedy duo DeShawn Ball and Jamonte Williams:
“We met while working as bartenders in L.A. and formed a bond over our dreams, upbringing, and both having served in the United States military. We would describe our work as an exaggeration of the relatability of the black experience but also the subtleness of the climate we face today. Overall, we are two playful clowns who enjoy having fun and expressing our love of art with our audience. We enjoy using physicality to express ourselves, whether slapstick, performance art, or dancing. Our goal for this residency is to provide an undeniable, prolific, profound show. A show that we can tour the world and amplify our dreams Also, with this residency, we want to amplify our community and show that black men are not a monolith and can provide depth, vulnerability, and love to the community and the stage. And becoming a light to our audience.”

You can catch Clowns of Color as they take over The Elysian Vault! Every month, they’ll be exploring specific characters from their diverse repertoire, building towards an unforgettable variety show that you’ll get first looks at. ⭐️

The Elysian Company-in-Residence program supports and champions early-career collaborators as they create genre-defying performance pieces, devised theater and comedy. We welcome each group to create within, around, and for our space over the course of a year, enlivening and enhancing our environment with their ideas, and we invite audiences to follow along as they build new work. ⭐️

01/28/2025

SHOWS THIS WEEK!

Tickets at the link in our bio 🍌 stand-by lines available at the door for sold out shows!

01/24/2025

⭐️ SHOWS THIS WEEKEND ⭐️

Tickets at the link in our bio!

01/21/2025

NEW CLASSES OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT NOW ✨ elysiantheater.com/classes

All the Hats with

Make Work Shop with Gabe McKinney

Improv: Fast and Loose, Slow and Steady with

Playing Yourself with

AND ENROLLEMENT STILL OPEN FOR BOUFFON 1 ⭐️
MOVEMENT FOR COMEDIANS, CLOWNS & IMPROVISERS⭐️
AND LANGUAGE OF NONSENSE⭐️

01/20/2025

⭐️ Monday-Thursday shows ⭐️

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Address

1944 Riverside Drive
Los Angeles, CA
90039

Website

http://www.elysiantheater.com/

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Videos

CLASS ALERT! Starting next Thursday @jessica_elaina_eason is teaching Improv: Fast and Loose, Slow and Steady at the Elysian ⭐️ an 8-week class that focuses on performing with hyper-presence and easy active listening. Enrollment still open at the link in our bio!

THE SIMPLE CLOWN led by Zachary Steel still open for enrollement on our website 🤡 Go deep into the world of the Simple Clown with Zachary Steel, USC professor and Director of Comedy, who performs monthly on the Elysian stage with Cruel Babes. The simple clown is simply you without all the know-how and wherewithal, left only with hope and an unrelenting pursuit of fun amidst the unknowns of the audience, and the world around you. We will explore this version of us, vulnerable to even the slightest shifts, stripped of all the cleverness and the wit. We will progress to create, stumble through, and happen upon wild, physical, nonsensical comedic material, a celebration of our own personal ridiculousness. CLASS IN THE SKUNK ROOM: FRIDAY 12/13 from 1-5PM | SATURDAY 12/14 FROM 1-5PM | SUNDAY 12/15 FROM 1-5PM 🤡🤡🤡 enroll today 🤡🤡🤡

The Elysian presents the Edinburgh Percolator Saturday July 20th $10 tix all the live-long day 10:30AM Doors Open 11am-12pm Amando Houser-DeliaDelia! The Flat-Chested Witch 12:15-1:15pm Elizabeth Aziz-Live From the Brickyard Mall 1:30-2:30pm-Alex Kern Thank You So Much For Coming 2:45-3:45pm Madeleine Woolner-Jury Duty 4-5pm Griffin Kelly-Ladies Ladies Lotion Time 5:15-6:15pm Fielding Edlow-Gaslighting Is My Love Language 6:30-7:30pm Kelly Reilly-The Dolphin I Loved 7:45-8:45pm Chris Grace-Sardines (a comedy about death) 9-11pm Edinburgh Anonymous AFTERPARTY IN THE SKUNK ROOM *lineup subject to change

PITCHES ARE OPEN for the Elysian’s third annual Spaghetti Festival! Our annual new works festival showcasing wild new works of daring and uncategorizable shows from emerging talent. We’re looking for your💡unproduced great idea💡to bring to life for the first time on the Elysian stage! Selected shows will receive a performance slot, artistic development resources, promotional support, and more. Submit thru link in bio!

The Elysian’s Edinburgh Percolator starts this Saturday! Join us starting at 1pm in the theater as we spotlight Work in Process performances gearing up to travel to the biggest arts/culture festival on the planet, the Edinburgh Fringe. FIRST UP: Serenity Garcia (@serenityhasquestions) “The Little things” THEN: Amadeo Fusca (@amadeo_fusca) The Conductor AND: Natasha Mercado (@champagnetashi) #1 Son Catch Natasha at work in all four Percolators, as we feature the development of her show as we head into this year’s Fringe! $10 for the whole day! Link on our website 5-7pm EDINBURGH ANONYMOUS Are you going to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Thinking about it? Maybe next year? Undecided? Come one come all for our FREE community sessions after every Percolator showcase. We’re hosting various Q+As, workshops, and providing resources from our partners at @edfringe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿✨🍻✨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #edinburghfringe #elysiantheater #fringefestival

April 21! Hang up and call us now. Get ready for a time-bending, heart-melting cosmic circus. Your transcendent variety show from the celestial ether is taking The Elysian stage. Enjoy a bizarre evening of magic, drag, characters on characters, clown, art, and time-traveling friendship that leaves you wondering if you just fell in love. (You did.) Hosted by beautiful cosmic freaks Emily Maverick & Geri Courtney-Austein.

We will be doing DNA analysis and gonna come for ya monsters. Update: house left far worse than house right. Interesting. THANK YOU @tessthemessjackson ! 🫡🫧❌

If you are not yet familiar with the brilliance of Joseph Keckler join us Thursday night at 7:30 🙌🙌🙌

Huge shoutout to @officialsunco for donating our new green room lights!! Our non-profit depends on donations to literally keep the lights on. 💡

Happy New Yearrrr keep making all the weird things🥂 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚🦨