As audience members walked into SoundBite Studios in downtown Los Angeles, the room felt like taking a time machine back to the ’90s. From a Sandra Bullock poster to a Radiohead record, the memorabilia added coziness that wrapped the audience with nostalgia, setting the stage for “Unbearable Hotness.”

As an independent production, “Unbearable Hotness” found many obstacles in pre-production, but the producers’ need to tell the story persevered above all. 

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The story features three boys who are obsessed with their friend Marisa’s (Jax Fajarillo) beauty, but she is hiding a secret: she likes girls. The plot unravels when Brandon (Caleb Kocsis) pushes Chuck (Max Kranzler) off the roof, bringing to light that everyone has a crush on Marisa. However, when Marisa comes out, they realize they have nothing to obsess over.

Director Scott Brian, a junior majoring in theatre, assembled a hardworking group of students to make the production possible. From producers to sound designers, every member of the team pulled their weight, helping each other out outside of their respective jobs.

The collaborative effort behind the resulting performance of Gabriel Benjamin Davis’ 2014 comedy was clear, and the audience could see the amount of care put in by everyone onstage and behind the scenes. 

“When everybody’s working towards that same goal of trying to make everyone else look good, then the whole show just really feels special,” Brian said. “There’s a really beautiful relationship between all the people onstage and all the people behind the scenes that put it together.”

The project was completely independent — Brian and JP Sanchez, a senior majoring in theatre with an emphasis in acting who served as a co-producer and cast member, both had to manage every aspect of production. They booked locations and casted actors, trying to maintain their vision. Eventually, after finding all parties to make everything flow well, all of the people working on “Unbearable Hotness” bonded over figuring out how they would make the play work.

“It was meeting up and just putting in the work, putting in the elbow grease — and all the actors helped out with the set, which you don’t have doing in a lot of theater companies,” Sanchez said. “Everyone was very hands-on with the project.”

While “Unbearable Hotness” was originally set in the mid-2000s, Brian challenged himself by changing the production design from the 2000s to the 1990s.

To make the script feel more authentic, Brian decided to watch classic ’90s sitcoms with the cast so they could understand their character dynamics. 

“We spent a whole week watching sitcoms and talking about characters that are inspirations from our play,” said Caleb Kocsis, a junior majoring in acting for the stage, screen and new media who portrayed Brandon.

“Unbearable Hotness” manages to bring realistic scenarios and approach them in an absurdist way, making them feel unreal. When Marisa — the love interest everyone is fighting for — walks onto the stage, the central lights turn off and a single spotlight focuses on her slow-motion walk as she graces the other characters with her presence. The unrealistic lighting adds to the comedic effect of the scene.

“Looking at [sitcoms] like ‘Friends’ that are really successful with our generation, we were able to find a way for [the actors] all to complement each other,” Brian said. “Then, bring that talk about what are the ways they’re telling jokes in those sitcoms, and get inspiration for the way that we were playing this production.”

Every actor had great comedic timing, but Max Kranzler, a junior majoring in psychology, stood out, giving his all into this stereotypical character. During his monologues, he gets on his knees and starts praying to God for Marisa to notice him. He sells his desperation as his own, especially the way he pleads.

“In comes Max Kranzler into the audition room. He’s like, ‘Hey, guys, what’s up? I heard I have to get on my knees. I brought some knee pads,’ because he didn’t want to hurt his knees, but obviously, you don’t hurt your knees by just getting on them and praying on the floor,” Sanchez said. “I looked at Scott and said, ‘That’s our guy.’”

Just like the play, Brian said the cast and crew had fun during rehearsals and allowed actors room to explore their talents. Brian focused on balancing out all of the different ideas coming from the actors about how their characters should react to construct his vision of “Unbearable Hotness.”

”All the actors are absolutely incredible performers, so when they came into the room, they’re trying a million ideas,” Brian said. “Every little moment, we just played through in a million different ways until we found the most interesting and compelling way to tell a story.”

The cast and crew found creative ways to raise money for the set design and lighting, with Sanchez even throwing parties in his backyard to fund the project.

“You’re always going to find a way,” Sanchez said. “You’re in college; you just have to see what people are doing.”

From partying to rehearsals, the “Unbearable Hotness” crew and cast built relationships with each other that they will never forget. The entire process brought them closer together, finding the equilibrium between work and leisure.

“I felt so cared for and connected by doing this [play], and that’s not something I was expecting,” Kocsis said. “I really feel like I made some close friends that I’m going to be friends with for a really long time.”