Hollywood has long been a source of fascination, drama, and larger-than-life stories—both on-screen and behind the scenes. And theatre has taken inspiration from Tinseltown for decades, as exemplified by the shows below—works that shine a spotlight on the dreams, scandals, and struggles of an industry filled with intrigue and mystery.

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The Shark Is Broken by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon

The first summer blockbuster movie is being filmed—but no one working on the film would know it. Dive deep into the tumultuous, murky waters of the making of a major motion picture with testy, feuding costars, unpredictable weather, and a shark prop whose constant breakdowns are looking like an omen for the future of the movie. In this comedy co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, the short tempers of Jaws stars Robert Shaw (father of co-writer Ian), Richard Dreyfuss, and Roy Scheider take center stage as they bond, argue, drink, gamble, and pray for an end to the shoot, not knowing it will change their lives forever.

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The Big Knife by Clifford Odets

We witness the last few days of Charlie Castle, a top movie star and an idealist, whose years of compromise with his beliefs for the sake of a Hollywood career have resulted in the slow destruction of his personality. We see his struggles to escape from the net of insincerity and falsehood in which he has trapped himself, and his ultimate defeat.

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Continuity by Bess Wohl

It’s magic hour in the New Mexico desert as an exhausted film crew races against the setting sun to shoot their blockbuster (but artsy) action movie, which takes place on an arctic (Styrofoam) ice floe, and features an ecoterrorist plotting a bombing mission to save all of humankind (supposedly). As the clock ticks and the desert sun beats down on the not-so-frozen landscape, personalities clash, artistic vision meets Hollywood demands, and the gap between fiction and science grows wider than ever. A dark but hilarious “play in six takes,” Continuity interrogates the role of storytelling in a world on the brink of actual environmental crisis.

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Chaplin Music & Lyrics by Christopher Curtis, Book by Christopher Curtis & Thomas Meehan

Chaplin is based on the real-life story of Charlie Chaplin, the iconic film actor, writer, producer and director. The new musical spans the comic’s entire career, from Chaplin’s first performance as a child in 19th-century London to his tearful acceptance of an honorary Academy Award in 1972. The show documents the beloved actor’s rise to fame and the people who shaped his life, including his mother Hannah, his older brother Sydney, his fourth wife Oona O’Neill and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. The musical dramatizes the making of Chaplin’s legendary films, including The Kid, The Circus, Modern Times and The Great Dictator as well as his turbulent childhood, frenzied love life and political beliefs. Featuring an original score by Christopher Curtis, including “Look at All the People,” “Just Another Day in Hollywood” and “This Man,” Chaplin tells the touching story of the man who makes the world laugh as his legendary screen persona, the Tramp, but struggles to find happiness in his own life.

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Epic Proportions by Larry Coen and David Crane

Set in the 1930s, Epic Proportions tells the story of two brothers, Benny and Phil, who go to the Arizona desert to be extras in the huge Biblical epic Exeunt Omnes. Things move very quickly in this riotous comedy and before you know it, Phil is directing the movie, and Benny is starring in it. To complicate matters further they both fall in love with Louise, the assistant director in charge of the extras. Along the way there are gladiator battles, the Ten Plagues and a cast of thousands portrayed by four other actors.

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Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson

1939 Hollywood is abuzz. Legendary producer David O. Selznick has shut down produc-tion of his new epic, Gone with the Wind, a film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel. The screenplay, you see, just doesn’t work. So what’s an all-powerful movie mogul to do? While fending off the film’s stars, gossip columnists and his own father-in-law, Selznick sends a car for famed screenwriter Ben Hecht and pulls formidable director Victor Fleming from the set of The Wizard of Oz. Summoning both to his office, he locks the doors, closes the shades, and on a diet of bananas and peanuts, the three men labor over five days to fashion a screenplay that will become the blueprint for one of the most successful and beloved films of all time.

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The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane

Yes, we love the cinema for its great auteurs, its glorious faces and its daring images. But in this tabloid age where big stars go on Oprah and jump around like heartsick schoolboys, what we really love is all that dish! The players here include a hard-driving Hollywood agent, her budding screen idol client, a sexy young drifter, and the drifter’s naive, needy girlfriend. The Little Dog Laughed follows the adventures of Mitchell Green, a movie star who could hit big if it weren’t for one teensy-weensy problem. His agent, Diane, can’t seem to keep him in the closet. Trying to help him navigate Hollywood’s choppy waters, the devilish Diane is doing all she can to keep Mitchell away from the cute rent boy who’s caught his eye and the rent boy’s girlfriend (wait, the rent boy has a girlfriend?). Will there be a happy ending as the final credits roll?

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Stoneface (The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton) by Vanessa Claire Stewart

In 1929, Buster Keaton was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood; he had a beautiful wife, two young sons, a mansion, and complete creative control over his films. But by the early 1930s, it was nearly all gone: his family, his money, and his career. Stoneface is a play with music that integrates comedy, silent film vignettes, and theatricality to tell the story of Keaton’s rise to fame, his struggles with alcoholism, and his battle to rebuild his life, and his career.