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The History of Nearly Naked
"this might take a while... why don’t you make yourself… more comfortable"

Nearly Naked Theatre was founded by Artistic Director Damon Dering in 1999-2000. Dering, working as an actor all over town, had grown tired of performing in the same plays over and over at different theaters... all of them very safe, very boring plays again and again. Interested in producing work that was thought-provoking and challenging, not just to the audience but to the artists creating it, he founded Nearly Naked with two of his college theatre friends, using his 1999 tax return to produce n2t's first play. The response to Nearly Naked was immediate. Audiences looking for a change from the mainstream and for theatre that wasn't so "safe" and "family friendly" began to find us, and talk about us, and recommend us.

Nomads for our first three seasons, n2t produced at any available space in central Phoenix, hopping from theater to theater, often having problems with censorship over our content and themes. Two theaters eventually allowed Nearly Naked to produce uncensored: Black Theatre Troupe. In the middle of our third season we became resident at The Little Theatre at Phoenix Theatre. Having already gained the confidence of the media with our provocative and honest theatrical style, and with a permanent theater to call "home," our production values and our audiences began to grow... and we are now the flagship of alternative theater in the Valley. Some of the best actors and directors in town come to work with us because they will not get to do such challenging pieces anywhere else. Over the past few seasons we have been named Best Theatre (or Best Small Theatre) by every one of the Valley's major periodicals; The Arizona Republic (twice), The East Valley Tribune, and The Phoenix New Times (three times). We were also voted best theatre company by Echo Magazines Readers’ Poll.

Noted for NOT doing the same kind of theater as every other company in the Valley, n2t has brought Phoenix the Arizona premieres of Lilies, Salome's Last Dance, The King of Infinite Space, The Shape of Things, Valparaiso, Shakespeare's R&J, Gilgamesh, Sordid Lives, Paul Rudnick's Valhalla, Take Me Out, Bat Boy: The Musical, Reefer Madness and Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses... as well as the first local production of The Who's Tommy and the World Première of E2: a heretical adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward the Second. This trend continues for Season Ten, which will include the Arizona premieres of Times Square Angel, Killer Joe, and the musical Blood Brothers.

THE SEASONS

Season 1
Lilies or The Revival of a Romantic Drama
by Michel Marc Bouchard
Arizona Premiere

Season 2
'night, Mother
by Marsha Norman

Salome's Last Dance
by Ken Russell
Arizona Premiere

Sexual Perversity in Chicago
by David Mamet

Season 3
The Torch Song Trilogy
by Harvey Fierstein

The King of Infinite Space
by Andrew C. Ordover
Arizona Premiere

The HotHouse
by Harold Pinter

Season 4
The Shape of Things
by Neil Labute
Arizona Premiere

Equus
by Peter Shaffer

Baylin's Monster
by Michael Grady

Valparaiso
by Don DeLillo
Arizona Premiere

Season 5
Shakespeare's R&J
by Joe Calarco
Arizona Premiere

The House of Yes
by Wendy MacLeod

Gilgamesh
by Andrew C. Ordover
West Coast/Arizona Premiere

Season 6
The Rocky Horror Show
by Richard O'Brien

Hurlyburly
by David Rabe

Les Liaisons Dangereuses
by Christopher Hampton

Sexual Perversity in Chicago ('05)
by David Mamet

E2: a heretical adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward the Second
by Damon Dering
World Premiere

Season 7
Marvin’s Room
by Scott McPherson

Valhalla
by Paul Rudnick
Arizona Premiere

Sordid Lives
by Del Shores
Arizona Premiere

The Who’s TOMMY
by Pete Townshend & Des McAnuff

Season 8
Take Me Out
by Richard Greenberg
Arizona Premiere

The Night of the Iguana
by Tennessee Williams

Betty's Summer Vacation
by Christopher Durang
Arizona Premiere

Bat Boy: The Musical
by O’Keefe, Farley & Flemming
Arizona Premiere

Season 9
Snake in Fridge
by Brad Fraser
Arizona Premiere

Metamorphoses
by Mary Zimmerman
Arizona Premiere

As Bees In Honey Drown
by Douglas Carter Beane
Arizona Premiere

Reefer Madness
by Dan Studney & Kevin Murphy
Arizona Premiere


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