Garage Theater Provides Refreshing Alternative To Conventional Stage

We've all heard of garage bands, but to most of us the term garage theater is a new one. That is the name of the theater company formed by CSULB alumni and playwright Jamie Sweet in 1996. The first show was, you guessed it, in a garage. A garage in Costa Mesa, to be exact. His first official play, "Egg Man," became very popular for the short two nights it ran, and marked the beginning of Sweet's career as a playwright.
Sweet learned everything he knows about the theater and the stage during his academic career at Orange Coast College. The drama department there was student-run, and thus allowed him a hands-on approach to acting, directing, and writing.
Sweet met up with other, like minded people at Orange Coast College, and that group transfered from there to Cal State University, Long Beach.
The Garage Theater Company was born out of this group of playwrights who wanted to produce and perform "art that spoke to them, whether it sold tickets or not" according to an article in the Press-Telegram.
The Garage is now located at 7th street in Long Beach, and has been releasing roughly two original plays per season since 2005, many of them penned by Sweet and fellow playwright/actor Amy-Louise Sebellius.