About Elegant Monsters

Written and performed by Todd Waring, ELEGANT MONSTERS (formerly Five Uneasy Pieces) plunges audiences into a series of exotic personalities (plus a bonus sketch) that delight audiences with dark humor, disturbing plot twists, and satisfying ambivalence.

Meet "Aunt Ruth," a quaint old Southern lady who spins a tale of love, rhubarb pie and men with tattoos on their d****. "My Mate Roger,"an Australian art teacher who needs more than a beer to face the canvas of his real life. "Cyril," a faded theater critic-turned-babysitter can't help imparting inappropriate bedtime stories to his innocent charge. "Boney" is a gangsta whose good thing goes bad. In "Start Prayin," the leader of a special ops unit in Afghanistan gets more than what he prays for. And in a sixth “bonus” sketch "Mr. French," a Jacques Brel knock-off, charms and astounds audiences with his sincere lack of talent.

As Waring gracefully moves in and out of character, the audience is drawn into a reality-suspending trance beyond typical constraints of age, gender, race, sexual preference, and nationality. Under the direction of DON McMANUS, the show is visually stark and minimalist, but soothed by the moody upright bass accompaniment of LYMAN MEDEIROS.

Todd Waring created his motley crew of characters in a workshop, started by actor Jeffrey Tambor at the Santa Monica Playhouse. After an outstanding first run in that same venue and then the Hollywood Fringe Festival under the title "Five Uneasy Pieces, ELEGANT MONSTERS is planning a New York run. Watch this site for updates!

Click HERE for tickets to the show.