First Look: THE MONSTERS at La Jolla Playhouse

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Ngozi Anyanwu and Sullivan Jones star in the sibling drama exploring forgiveness through mixed martial arts.

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La Jolla Playhouse has shared a new clip from its current world premiere production of THE MONSTERS, offering a closer look at the sibling drama that opened earlier this month at the Mandell Weiss Forum in La Jolla, California.

THE MONSTERS centers on two estranged siblings, BIG and LIL, whose lives have diverged sharply since BIG's unexplained departure years ago. BIG has built a reputation as an aging but formidable presence in the local mixed martial arts circuit, while LIL has quietly tracked his career from a distance. When she appears on his doorstep, the two are forced into a reckoning that has less to do with fighting and more to do with forgiveness. Award-winning playwright Ngozi Anyanwu , who also wrote the piece, stars alongside Sullivan Jones , known for his work on HBO's THE GILDED AGE. The San Francisco Chronicle described the production as something that "hits hard and hugs harder."

The production is directed by Tamilla Woodard and choreographed by Adesola Osakalumi . A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, THE MONSTERS runs through June 28 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum.

BroadwayWorld has followed the production closely since its announcement. Our review praised the play's emotional depth , noting that its greatest strength lies in the family story at its center, and a trailer released last week offered audiences an earlier preview of the production.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Video-THE-MONSTERS-at-La-Jolla-Playhouse-First-Look-20260608)._