From L.B. theater to L.A. film

A Long Beach native got her start in show business with the Long Beach Theatre Guild. Now living in Los Angeles, she is a producer of films and plays.

Michelle Kaufer, who graduated from Long Beach High School in 1988 and attended Nassau Community College, joined the Theatre Guild at 16 and was involved with the organization for five years. During that time, she performed in about five musicals.

Kaufer said her years with the Theatre Guild were her “first experience in the world of entertainment,” opening her eyes to stage and film and showing her a direction in life. 

Kaufer lived in Long Beach until she was 32, thinking it was her forever home. “All was good. I had a condo on the water,” Kaufer, now 50, said. “I really thought I was staying for good.”

That all changed when she met writer and director Michael Leoni at a social event. He encouraged her to follow her dreams, and she never looked back.

Since she moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, Kaufer has produced short films, has been the associate producer of episodes of TV documentaries and was a producer of film adaptations of stage shows.

The recently completed “Famous,” which she helped produce, will be released in theaters and on streaming services Friday. The film, a version of the stage show, follows a young actor and his struggles with fame in the 1990s. The stage show ran in Los Angeles for about a year, which Kaufer said is long for “not being in New York.”

“The stage itself was cinematic even before filming,” Kaufer said. “It felt [that] anyway. You knew you were watching a play but were getting swept away like a movie.”

Chris Kattan, who is known primarily for his work in comedy and on “Saturday Night Live,” has a supporting role in the production as Lawrence Nichols.

Kattan “knew of the project through mutual friends, and he was honored to do it,” Kaufer said. “He was into the idea of a dramatic role after mostly doing comedy, and he really respects the writer and director.”

With all the projects Kaufer has been a part of, she said choosing one that she is most proud of is difficult. “Famous,” though, could be it, she said, because it spans both theater and film, noting it “opens the box on both mediums.”

Don Kelly has been involved with the Theatre Guild since 1978, acting and participating in shows along with his wife. He said he remembered Kaufer and how she was involved in musicals and was in the chorus.

“She was very happy to be involved,” Kelly said. “She was very nice, had a nice voice and was a good dancer, as well.”

Kelly said he did not necessarily foresee Kaufer producing films. He did say the Theatre Guild has been “very fortunate in having young, enthusiastic people who have gone on to do great things.” Kaufer, he said, could be added to that list.

Kaufer has two more upcoming projects. The first is “Elevator–The Live Experience,” which was a play at first also. The production was originally filmed for archival purposes, but will be released soon. The show is “a beautiful story about how people are more alike than different.”

Her other upcoming project, “The Sun, the Moon and Everything in Between,” will begin filming next year.