[NoHo Arts District, CA] – The Road Theatre Company and BroadStage are thrilled to announce their first collaboration, the world premiere of KAIJU, written by Dan Caffrey and directed by Ken Sawyer, running September 25-November 1.
The Destruction (and Conversation) comes to the Road Theatre in North Hollywood!
About KAIJU
Two gigantic, mythical monsters have just destroyed the city. Amid the chaos and destruction, a debate ensues. A funny and audacious takedown of the sometimes pretentious nature of art and culture, KAIJU also presents a pointed examination of power and artistic responsibility in our current world.
The Cast
The Cast of KAIJU features: Cherish Monique Duke as “Apex/Amelia,” Leandro Cano as “Goliath/Manual,” Gloria Ines as “Lee,” Jon Snow as “Roy,” Billy Baker as “Kyle,” Noa Lev-Ari as “Sondra,” Ann Hearn as “Maggie,” and Sapna Kumar as “Rani.”
The Team
DAN CAFFREY (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and pop culture critic. His play Kaiju was developed through The Road’s Summer Playwrights Festival, as well as The Workshop Theater and ScriptWorks Austin. Other work includes The Amphibians (Weber State Theatre, ThinkTank Theatre, Cypress Productions, Sundown Collaborative Theatre, St. Lawrence University), The Tusk Hunters (The Civilians’ Finding Series, Gloucester Stage’s Water’s Rising Festival, The Workshop Theater’s Lab Series, cell theatre residency), and Matawan (The Ruckus, UT Austin, Atlantic Acting School, Brooklyn College). His audio drama Mortality Rate was commissioned by 20th Century Studios as a tie-in to the 2023 Stephen King film The Boogeyman.
Residencies and development programs include Tofte Lake Center, an MFA Scholarship at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Cry Havoc’s Playlist, UCF Pegasus PlayLab, Kitchen Dog Theater New Works Festival, The Orchard Project, and Hot Playwright Summer. He has been a Princess Grace Finalist, O’Neill Finalist, Next Forever Finalist (Princeton/The Civilians), Jerome Fellowship Semi-Finalist, shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize, and his work has been published/licensed by Methuen Drama, Smith & Kraus, and Gitelman & Good. Additional companies that have produced or developed his plays include Concord Theatricals, American Records, Salvage Vanguard, Northlight Theatre, Mixily Presents, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, Jarrott Productions, Genesis Ensemble, Hot Kitchen Collective, and Tympanic Theatre (RIP). His work has been supported by grants from the Puffin Foundation, NYSCA, and Brooklyn Arts Council, and he has received five B. Iden Payne Awards.
His non-fiction book, Radiohead FAQ, is available from Bloomsbury Publishing, and he co-hosts The Losers’ Club: A Stephen King Podcast and Halloweenies: A Horror Franchise Podcast. MFA: The University of Texas at Austin, BA: Florida State University.
KEN SAWYER (Director) is an award-winning director based in Los Angeles, California. His work has spanned a wide range of venues with projects that include musicals, plays, experimental theatre, concerts and special events. Ken most recently directed Lifeline at The Road Theatre Company, where he was a founding member and former artistic board member.
Other directing projects at The Road include the award-winning The Woman In Black, which had a sold-out three-month run in North Hollywood before moving to the Coronet Theatre.
His collaboration with Jon Imparato and the Los Angeles LGBT Center further built his reputation as a lover of theater that not only entertains and thrills the senses but also tackles challenging and thought-provoking issues. Highlights include The Goat Or Who Is Sylvia, a collaboration with Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner to produce a full cast version of The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life In The Universe, and the immersive Hit The Wall.
Other career highlights include collaborating with Emmy Award winner Paris Barclay on the Vietnam-era musical One Red Flower,…with rock icons Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go’s) and Anna Waronker (That Dog) on Lovelace: The Rock Opera starring Katrina Lenk; with Stephen Schwartz and David Stern on the development of Snapshots; and with Colin Escott on the development of the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet. Ken has guest directed at Carnegie Mellon University, USC, and California State University, Northridge and is an adjunct professor at USC. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
The Design Team for KAIJU is as follows: Scenic Design by Lacey Anzelc; Lighting Design by Derrick McDaniel; Projection Design by Nicholas Santiago; Sound Design by Ryan McRee; Costume Design by Mary Jane Miller; Creature Suit Costume Design by Shealyn Biron and Lee Diemer; Creature Suit Costume Consultant is Cerise Preston; Properties Design by Danna Hyams. The Production Stage Manager is Maurie Gonzalez. KAIJU is produced by Danna Hyams and Taylor Gilbert.
“Southern California World Premiere Play Initiative” (SCWPPI)
In 2025, Victoria Morris introduced playwright Tom Jacobson to Eric Bloom, Associate Artistic Director of The Broad Stage, and Matthew Rimmer, Managing Director of The Broad Stage, to share a vision for a new collaboration between a major theatre and an intimate theatre in Southern California.
BroadStage’s team was intrigued by the idea and requested scripts from local 99-seat theatres that they were committed to producing on their stages in 2026. Eight scripts from five intimate theatres were submitted, and the BroadStage artistic team got excited about KAIJU, which was planned to have its world premiere at The Road Theatre Company in September 2026.
The Road Theatre Company will present KAIJU at their North Hollywood theatre with BroadStage as co-producers and will together support the production with enhanced marketing resources, casting a much wider net than is typical for a 99-seat theatre. BroadStage will leverage its relationships with large theatres throughout the country to secure future productions of KAIJ, giving the play a stronger chance of national exposure for world premiere plays in Los Angeles intimate theatres.
Victoria and Tom’s shared hope is that this pilot collaboration marks the beginning of an enduring model—one that inspires many more partnerships, expands opportunities for new work, and further enriches Southern California’s vibrant theatre community. “We are thrilled to partner with The Road Theatre Company on KAIJU,” said Rob Bailis, Artistic and Executive Director of BroadStage. “This collaboration is about reaching for something out of the ordinary, both artistically and in the way we build community. Together, we are bringing resources to a new creative pipeline and blurring traditional boundaries in the process. And of course, it was hard to resist KAIJU as the place to start.”