Maverick Theater

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The Maverick Theater is a storefront theater based in Orange County, California. The theater was founded in 2002 by Artistic Director Brian Newell. Needing a venue to run his highly popular Elvis Presley musical "The King", Newell rented a space at The Block at Orange, formerly occupied by Mars Music. Finding a large "M" cemented into the floor, Newell arrived at Maverick as the name of the theater.^[1]

"The King" proved to be popular at the space, running from September 6, 2002 through December 22, 2002.^[2] The theatre also staged successful productions of "Amadeus" and "The Rocky Horror Show". However, The Block at Orange proved a difficult host for the theatre, forcing them to move to a different location to make room for a bowling alley, then downsizing their square footage by half, placing a candy store next to the space. Finally, in June 2004, the Maverick Theater was forced to leave and was replaced with a pet store.^[3]

Newell relocated to Fullerton, employing famous theatre designer Joseph Musil to give the theater a new look. The new venue boasted two stages - a cabaret stage for larger-scale plays and musicals, and a black box stage for a more intimate setting - and an art deco look.^[4]

The new space opened in June, 2005 with a revival of the popular production of "The Rocky Horror Show". Since then, The Maverick has earned a reputation for its Staged Cinema Productions, in which they stage adaptations of popular and lesser-known films, including Night of the Living Dead, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Stalag 17. The Maverick also produces Shakespearean plays such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, musicals such as Cabaret and Urinetown and new works such as Giant Green Lizard! The Musical and American Way.