Big Death & Little Death

“Should I go to college out of state or destroy the Universe?”

The critically-acclaimed Road Theatre Company continues it’s 16th season with the Southern California Premiere of Big Death & Little Death, by Mickey Birnbaum.

Inspired by the true story of parents who took the heavy metal band, Judas Priest, to trial in Arizona, claiming that the band’s lyrics led to the double suicide of their teenage boys, Big Death & Little Death has been called “…a jarring, funny, and poignant portrait of contemporary America…” by the Washington Theatre Review and “…a playfully analytical bit of artillery aimed squarely at the way we live now…” by the Washington City Paper. The San Francisco Weekly wrote it’s “…reminiscent of Bogosian’s SubUrbia and the brooding doomsday flavor of Donny Darko. It’s a sharp satire that in its final moments turns into an apocalyptic fairy tale.”

Big Death & Little Death is the story of one family’s struggle with a mother’s death, a father’s post-traumatic stress disorder, a daughter’s anorexia, a guidance counselor’s wildly inappropriate guidance, and a boy’s attempt to make meaning out of extreme music and pit bull puppies. Originally conceived to tour with Death Metal bands and accompanied by the strains of live Death Metal music, Big Death & Little Death’s dark humor will make you squirm in your seat, yet feel surprisingly hopeful as new creation is born out of destruction.

Live band, CONDEMPTION, plays June 15, 22, 23 and July 13, 14, 20 and 21.