Creators Jeff and Steve have had a full month, to say the least.

Our latest live show sold out the first four weeks, our short film hit the festival circuit, and our pilot episode is ready to pitch!

Actors-writers-directors Jeff Querin and Stephen Wayne — but why are their glasses empty??

March started with a bang (more like an explosion!) as their latest live comedy ADDICTED TO LOVE opened to riotous applause and reviews. “34 West is so on fire with Addicted” says Susan Van Bavel.

Querin and Wayne star in the fast-paced comedy along with veteran actor Becca Anderson, who recently took on a larger role at 34 West as Head of Casting and Social. Rounding out the cast is Rebecca René Kelley, who was last featured in the popular summer sellout STAYIN’ ALIVE.

“We’ve certainly found our lane,” states Querin, who co-wrote the production with Wayne. “Audiences are desperate for feel-good, underdog stories these days. This current ‘episode’ of our Arden High series is a delight.”

In the middle of tech rehearsals and opening night, our Creative Team was also submitting to dozens of short film festivals around the globe.

Based off our 2017 sellout production, LOVE POTION chronicles a zombie outbreak in a quaint 1950’s diner. Think Pleasantville meets Shaun of the Dead!

The short is already gaining the attention of a few industry execs, and more importantly, we’re accomplishing our goal of developing a “Films + TV” arm of 34 West.

Creative Team members Kristine Kuhlman, Ian Maddox, Becca Anderson, Jeff Querin and Stephen Wayne

Our Creative Team is hard at work writing the pilot episode of LOVE POTION which will be pitched as a 10 episode series based off the 15-minute short film.

“There’s so much fun and backstory to these rich characters that we weren’t able to get into before,” says Querin. “It’s been a blast fleshing out these quirky, subversive personalities.”

34 West’s goal is to develop our live shows (and their follow-up “episodes”) into several different series for the screen.

Why?

Because the characters in each story are lovable outcasts. Unlikely heroes. They beat the odds. They find hope. They makes audiences feel-good and your mouth will hurt from smiling so long!

If you haven’t seen a live show, make you’re decisions soon. We tend to sellout sooner than later. Tickets are here.

If you want to follow our progress through the film festivals this year, you can follow us here on Twitter.

March was a crazy month. Can you imagine what April will be like???

Moments after an intense weekend of writing the latest show.

Everything we create is handcrafted for you… even the lettering!

The concept was two actors telling the whole story, so **Menges Design** put the whole story into the look!

Columbus-based artist Dylan Menges is a wunderkind of sorts.

He creates the brand design for each show. He’s refreshed our logo. Polished the website. All of it with care and precision.

And all of it — by hand.

**Menges Design** goofing for **Nick Fancher** as he sets lights for our photo shoot.

Before Jeff and Steve write a script, they have a concept. We’ll schedule a photo shoot and fly Dylan down to Charleston for a few days.

Then we’ll play.

Our actors will improvise. Dylan and Nick will throw out ideas. The theater turns into this affirming-collaborative-brainstorming-creative incubator.

**Menges Design** was given the concept of “Friends meets Seinfeld” for our upcoming show. Result!

Once we have the images, Dylan will invest time with several zooms, chats, and texts— discussing the story of the show and the vibe we want to portray.

A big component of our productions is the genre. Sometimes we throwback to the 1970’s or 1990’s, like the image above.

We’re always afraid that our materials will look “outdated” because the setting is 20-40 years old.

How do you convince people to buy tickets for a show about a washed-up soap opera star without it looking like a washed-up soap opera???

We asked **Menges Design** to make a 70’s logo that didn’t look cheesy or antiquated. Result!

By hiring someone who takes the time to listen and understand… and who’s capable of hand-drawing what you need.

All of our shows are handcrafted to give a mood without having to be completely literal. Too literal and there’s nothing left to the imagination.

For example, Stephen Wayne’s suit (above) is not from the 70’s. No bellbottoms. It’s actually very modern.

But pair the suit with a disco ball, “electric” lettering, neon pink show quotes, and you instantly get feelings of dance, good times and hopefully some fun humor— all in the blink of an eye.