Point Break Live!

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2003 reality play inspired & parody of 1991 film

title: "Point Break Live!" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2003-plays", "2000s-debut-plays", "american-comedy-plays", "parodies", "plays-based-on-films", "off-broadway-plays"] description: "2003 reality play inspired & parody of 1991 film" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Break_Live!" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 2003 reality play inspired & parody of 1991 film ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox play"]

FieldValue
namePoint Break Live!
writerJaime Keeling
charactersJohnny Utah
Bodhi
Pappas
Tyler
premiere2003
placeLittle Theatre, Northwest Film Forum
Seattle, Washington
orig_langEnglish
subjectPoint Break
genreComedy, parody
::

| name = Point Break Live! | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | writer = Jaime Keeling | chorus = | characters = Johnny Utah Bodhi Pappas Tyler | mute = | setting = | premiere = 2003 | place = Little Theatre, Northwest Film Forum Seattle, Washington | orig_lang = English | series = | subject = Point Break | genre = Comedy, parody | web = Point Break Live! is a parody by Jaime Keeling of the 1991 Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze action crime movie Point Break.

Sometimes credited as the first-ever "reality-play", each performance features a new, unrehearsed actor in the protagonist role of Johnny Utah, reading their lines from cue-cards delivered by a production assistant.

How it works

At the start of the show, audience members who wish to play Johnny Utah are called on stage and put through a quick faux-audition. The winner is then selected by audience Applause-o-meter. A cue card assistant (cast member) leads Utah around the stage throughout the play and shows him or her the lines on laminated cards. Some have said that the winner is frequently a "ringer," because the person chosen is often a good actor and always fits into the wetsuit. The play is an over-the-top, action-packed comedy.

History

The play premiered in a sold-out 2-month run co-directed by Jaime Keeling and Jamie Hook at Seattle's Northwest Film Forum and has since toured throughout the country, including extended runs at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis and Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York.

The show played at the La Tea Theater in Manhattan. It previously played at Charlie O's Lounge in the Hotel Alexandria in downtown Los Angeles, where much of the movie took place, and premiered on October 1, 2008, at the V Theater at the Miracle Mile Shops in Las Vegas.

Producer-Director Eve Hars brought the show to Chicago's New Rock Theater, where it ran from March to October 2010, and reopened for a short spring run in 2011. The show's longest run to date is in LA/Hollywood, where it opened in 2007 and closed June 25, 2016. Hars stopped paying Keeling while she continued to produce the show, on the grounds that Keeling created the show without permission from the creators of the original film so the play was not entitled to copyright protection. Keeling sued Hars, and in 2015 the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Keeling, finding sufficient originality in Keeling's play for it to be transformative use and entitled to copyright protection.

Productions

Point Break Live! was performed at:

The San Francisco production ran sequentially across 4 venues between April 11, 2008, and June 3, 2016. All but 2 of its performances sold out. During this period, the show closed out its first venue (The Xenodrome) and third venue (The Metreon) due to impending reconstruction projects. The final night was almost cancelled due to a bomb threat at the theater.

Cast

  • Notable figures who have played Johnny Utah in the production include Lori Petty (who played Utah's girlfriend Tyler Endicott in the movie), Justin Pierre from the band Motion City Soundtrack, Juli Crockett, Andre Ethier (outfielder for the LA Dodgers), and stand-up comedian Jake Weisman.
  • Gary Busey made a special appearance on stage at the Dragonfly production.
  • Patrick O'Sullivan from the ABC sitcom "The Neighbors" played Angelo Pappas/Gary Busey in the show from 2011 to 2013.
  • Other celebrity attendees include Kirsten Dunst and Justin Long, writer Peter Iliff, and director Kathryn Bigelow.

Awards

  • Mayor Gavin Newsom declared April 11, 2008 "Point Break Live! Day" in San Francisco.
  • Point Break Live! hit the #1 spot on E! Daily 10 in 2008.
  • ABC News Nightline aired a segment about Point Break Live! in 2009.
  • WGN aired a segment of Chicago's Best with Brittney Payton, daughter of Walter Payton interviewing the cast

References

References

  1. Klasfield, Adam. "Writer Can Copyright 'Point Break' Parody". Courthouse News Service.
  2. Martín Lazzarini. "To The Point of Being Ridiculed: The First Ever 'Reality-Play', as another L.A. phenomenon". Latino Weekly Review.
  3. Jeff Connell. (15 September 2009). "Remembering Bodhi". face2face film.
  4. "History: A Cinematheque". Northwest Film Forum.
  5. "Bryant Lake Bowl schedule for 2005-01-20".
  6. "Galapagos art space events Feb 13-19".
  7. "The Guide: Point Break Live! at Charlie O's Cocktail Lounge".
  8. GroovesGirlVegas. "Point Break Live! in Las Vegas…". What's Happening, Vegas?.
  9. BWW News Desk. "POINT BREAK LIVE! Begins Open-Ended Chicago Run 3/19". Chicago Broadway World.
  10. Erin Broadley. "LA People 2009: Point Break Live!'s Punk Theater Impresario — Thomas Blake". LAWeekly.
  11. (14 April 2016). "'Point Break Live' is saying 'vaya con Dios' after nearly a decade in LA". Time Out Los Angeles.
  12. Neumeister, Larry. (October 30, 2015). "Appeals court rules in favor of 'Point Break' parody creator". AP News.
  13. Nichols, David C.. "Point Break Live! (Critic's Choice)". Los Angeles Times: Entertainment Section.
  14. "Point Break Live! info & tickets". TheaterMania.
  15. "Point Break Live! Panama info & tickets". The Theatre Guild Ancon.
  16. "'Casting' en vivo y el público elige". PanamaAmerica.
  17. "Point Break Live! info & tickets". TheaterMania.
  18. Morse, Jack. (June 3, 2016). "[Update] Bomb Threat at DNA Lounge Turns Out to be Hoax".
  19. Mancini, Vince. (November 2013). "INTERVIEW: 16 Questions with Point Break Live! Director/Producer Thomas Blake".
  20. Brown, David. (May 19, 2014). "Andre Ethier stars as Keanu Reeves' Johnny Utah in 'Point Break LIVE'". Yahoo Sports.
  21. Erin Broadley. "Utah, Get Me Two! Gary Busey Joins Point Break Live! at the Dragonfly". LAWeekly.
  22. "Kirsten Dunst visits Point Break Live!". pointbreaklive blog & photos.
  23. Christopher Buttner. "Can You Keanu?". PRThatRocks.
  24. "The writer of "Point Break" is a fan!!". pointbreaklive blog & photos.
  25. "Kathryn Bigelow, the director…". pointbreaklive blog & photos.
  26. Christopher Buttner. "Mayor Gavin Newsom Proclaims April 11, 2008, Point Break Live! Day". PRThatRocks.
  27. Christopher Buttner. "Point Break Live, E! Daily 10". E! Daily 10.
  28. Brian Rooney. "Vaya Con Dios". ABC News Nightline.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

2003-plays2000s-debut-playsamerican-comedy-playsparodiesplays-based-on-filmsoff-broadway-plays