'Plan 9 From Outer Space' at Maverick Theater Keeps Getting Funnier - Review
'Plan 9 From Outer Space' the annual tradition at Maverick Theater keeps getting funnier, year after year.
Seeing “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” at Maverick Theater for the first time is a treat. The second time is an experience. By the third, it has become my annual tradition. At this point, I have seen Maverick’s totally bonkers stage adaptation almost as many times as I have seen Ed Wood’s film itself and, naturally, I am already looking forward to seeing it again next year.
This year’s cast of “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” blasted off with even more camp, chaos and cosmic nonsense than anticipated Somehow, the returning cast and new faces managed to top last year’s intergalactic insanity, turning Ed Wood’s cinematic disaster into a live action masterpiece, flying saucers, zombies and actors delivering the dumbest lines imaginable with the absolute seriousness of Chaucer.
This is Maverick Theater, after all, a totally fun, completely authentic, little bunker of creativity in Fullerton, CA, where no piece of cardboard is too humble, no special effect too ridiculous and no Ed Wood line too dangerously stupid to receive the full theatrical treatment.
At the center of this beautifully deranged operation is Brian Newell, who once again serves as producer, director, writer, lighting tech, sound designer, video wizard, miniature model maker and presumably the person who locks the doors so no one can leave. His Staged Cinema Scope remains one of the show’s greatest pleasures, blending live performance with projected miniature sets into something I’ve repeatedly called a blend of “The Twilight Zone,” wandered into “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” after several questionable cocktails.
The returning team of Special Jackson Newell and Effects Kairi Sanders of Maverick Light & Magic deserves its own ovation. Their miniature sets and projected effects turn tombstones, flying saucers and alien mayhem into wonderfully cheap looking cinematic magic that looks exactly the amount of spending the elder Newell allowed for the budget. It is part fever dream, part Saturday morning cartoons and a third 1950s educational film that has completely lost adult supervision.
The cast embraces every ounce of the madness as we take Jax DiBenedetto for example. She doubles as Tanna and Edith, who is somehow the straightman in all of this. Her Tanna is a more a glitching assistant than the robotic menace of Joanna Lee’s original while while keeping the absurdity together via her microfacial expressions. Her one F-Bomb directed at Jeff Trent for ruining the scene landed like a samurai sword slicing through a bamboo tree.
Jaycob Hunter returns as Criswell and goes even more bonkers than previous years. He turns every ridiculous pronouncement into gospel, delivering gibberish with the conviction of a diabetic let loose in the M&M’s factory.
Hailey Tweter is back as Paula Trent and still make it funnier with her deadpan delivery. Lines such as “Oh, and it won’t be an accident” and “No, not again Jeff!” land beautifully, especially when playing off of Sean Coutu’s Jeff Trent. Their recreating these characters night after night, year after year, feels like they are a creepy married couple hiding their domestic problems with bottles of gin.
Rob Downs once again tackles both the alien Ruler and the U.S. General with a speech impediment, playing each with total commitment as if he was born to play both. His side quest is to break his fellow actors and he succeeds every year.
On the heels of his performance as Bob at No Square’s “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” Mark Marmont returns as Lieutenant Harper, going from stoic to dimwitted this go around, his blank stares his the characters confusion with silence.
Jeremy Krasovic returns as Colonel Edwards, providing the necessary straight faced backbone while the universe collapses around him. Krasovic’s Edwards needs to be studied. He barely smirks at Downs’ behavior and believes he’s doing his duties for God and Country.
How Nathan Makaryk as Patrolman Larry and Danny contains the absurdity with earnestness is beyond me, but he still has me laughing out loud. John Castro remains a dependable Captain Clay amid the chaos while Roxy Payne’s Vampira glides across the stage like a gothic fever dream.
And then there is Bela Lugosi, or rather Bela Lugosi on screen, making his familiar appearances through the magic of stock footage. Seeing him woven into this stage production is one of the show’s most wonderfully bizarre touches and a reminder that Ed Wood’s particular brand of cinematic madness remains nearly impossible to improve upon.
Newell continues to joke that the show “doesn’t have a second act because no one would stay for it.” Again, I call absolute phooey as I keep coming back.
At this point, “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” at Maverick Theater is no longer a show I just see. It is an annual pilgrimage into lampooning glorious theatrical trash, where flying saucers wobble, zombies rise, actors commit completely to the ridiculous and every piece of cardboard is treated like Broadway scenery.
“Plan 9 From Outer Space,” at Maverick Theater running now through August 29, 2026.
The Maverick Theater is located across from the Amtrak station at:
110 E. Walnut Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92832
5 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️