A realer reality, live onstage from Action/Adventure

It seems there's nowhere reality television hasn't gone, from the insanely dirty interiors of Hoarders, to the dirty interior of Phil Varone on Sex Rehab, who apparently lost the battle of Man vs. Wild. Now taking it to space (and stage!): Captured by Aliens.

From the crew behind Action/Adventure, whose Southeast Portland roomie dramedy Fall of the House was an underground hit amongst people who love short pants and bad haircuts, Aliens showcases the company's signature unscripted shenanigans in a deeply weird episodic mashup of reality TV and sci-fi set adrift in space, kinda like Marcus Trufant since getting "healthy". The plot (unfolding over a four-weekend run) involves a group of twentysomethings repping reality mainstays like "the bitch", "the big breasted airhead", and "the over-sexed broham", who believe they're competing in a show called The Best Human Ever, before discovering they've actually been captured by an evil alien overlord seeking to reveal human idiocy to his race and prompt the destruction of the earth, though our own Amazing Race is doing a solid job of that already. You'll of course get a non-stop barrage of pop-culture reality TV references (sex! chick fights!), televised video confessionals ("I'm not here to make friends!"), celebrity judges, live on-stage music/sound effects, and freaky extraterrestrial puppets, who've been known to ask the puppeteers "hey, how'd you like my hand up Uranus?"

Each weekend reveals a new plot twist to entice return visits, and they're offering a discounted full four-week pass, or $2 off admission for every previous episode you've seen if you happen to be afraid of commitment and feverishly collect ticket stubs, in which case a call to Dr. Drew might be in hoarder.Photo by Gary Norman