Our Story
1999 - Wasted Wishes kicks off a full season of original works by local playwrights.
2000 - The Chance receives national attention for its daring world premiere of Robert Preston Jones' The Stroop Report - the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II. Audience members flew in from around the country to see this exciting new production, directed by Oanh Nguyen.
2001 - The Chance participates in the Los Angeles Edge of the World Theater Festival with its production of Amanda DeMaio's Unrelenting Relaxation, named one of the best shows of 2001 by the Orange County Register and receives a "Best Ensemble" Theater Award from the OC Weekly.
2002 - The Chance produces two world premieres; receives Best of 2002 recognition from the OC Register for the performances in our first mounting of an American musical, Nine.
2003 - The Chance is commissioned by The Getty Museum to produce the world premiere of Antony Penrose's Lee Miller: The Angel and The Fiend, performed at The Getty and in Orange County; The Chance ended the year by moving into its new space, almost doubling the square footage.
2004 - The Chance wins multiple OC Weekly Theater Awards including "Best Ensemble-Oriented Theatre Troupe" and becomes one of the flagship Orange County theatres to join the Los Angeles Stage Alliance (LASA). The first annual fundraiser - A Class Act - is held at the historic Old Yorba Estate, home of Anaheim City Council Member Harry Sidhu.
2005 - The Chance wins an Arts Orange County Award for "Outstanding Arts Organization" and produces a world premiere adaptation of The Rover which is filmed as part of the KOCE television program "Storefront Theatre Live" leading to our production being listed as a historical new adaptation in the revised foreword to the 2006 publication of the play. Four Chance productions are named in the "The Year's Best Productions" by the Orange County Register including Chay Yew's Porcelain which was named as a 2005 GLAAD Media Award Outstanding Los Angeles Theater Nominee; numerous "Critic's Pick" designations by the Los Angeles Times and others.
2006 - The Chance receives a Los Angeles Times Critic's Choice for the national premiere of the docudrama of with their eyes: September 11th - The View from a High School at Ground Zero; produces our first annual Speak Up - Take a 'Chance' Youth Educational Program; serves as the sole Orange County participant in the national 365 Days/365 Plays project; wins numerous awards including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Polly Warfield Award for Excellence and 11 Honorable Mentions for the Back Stage West Garland Awards.
2007 - The Chance creates Sustaining Membership program; is voted by the readers of the Orange County Register as the #2 Live-Theater Group in Orange County; Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen is named Outstanding Individual Artist by Arts Orange County.
2008 - The Chance is one of only two participating OC theaters in the first annual Festival of New American Musicals (along with SCR) with our production of The Brain From Planet X; produces the OC premiere of 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winner Rabbit Hole; named “Best Small Theater” by Orange Coast Magazine, and #2 Live-Theater Group by OC Register; California State Assembly officially recognizes Chance Theater as an integral art institution; City of Anaheim awards the Chance a Certificate of Recognition in honor of its 10 year anniversary.
2009 - The Chance opens its season with the West Coast Premiere of Jesus Hates Me; presents the professional premiere of Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist Mark Hollmann’s The Girl, The Grouch, and The Goat as part of the Festival of New American Musicals; our popular revival of HAIR receives six LADCC Award and five Ovation Award nominations; the Chance is also nominated for the Ovation Award for “Best Season”; for the second time, Arts Orange County presents the Chance with its “Outstanding Arts Organization” award.
2010 - South Coast Repertory hosts the Chance’s remount of Jesus Hates Me; presents the Southern California Premiere of Julie Marie Myatt’s Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, which is Ovation Recommended by LA Stage Alliance, and offers free admission to all active duty military, veterans and reservists; presents a staged singing of the new musical The Boy in the Bathroom as part of the Festival of New American Musicals; our Back Stage Critic’s Pick and Ovation Recommended revival of The Who’s Tommy completes its sold out run with a special announcement from the Orange County Performing Arts Center that they will host a remount with the same cast and crew in February 2011; the Chance presents an LA Times Critic's Choice OC Premiere of Edward Albee’s multiple award-winning tragicomedy The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?; Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen receives a TCG grant to work as a Producing Associate at South Coast Repertory.
