[2][4] Affected by the Great Recession, the company became the third Fullerton theater in two years to shut its doors due to financial pressures.
[6] The Hunger Artists received numerous acclaim and awards for contemporary plays such as "Bash: Latter-Day Plays", "4.48 Psychosis" and "The Gog/Magog Project", world premieres such as "The Land Southward", "The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant" and "The Pledge Drive: Ruminations On The Hunger Artist", world premiere adaptations of literary works such as "The Metamorphosis", "Little Women" and "Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book", reworkings of classic plays such as "White Trash Private Lives", "Re: Woyzeck" and an all-male "The Importance of Being Earnest", musicals such as "Sweeney Todd", "Assassins" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", one-act festivals such as Beyond Convention, 24 Hour Theater and Last Chance Fest, and original late-night entertainment such as the Orange County Underground Burlesque Society and Muddville.
[8] Other productions that received particular acclaim included Sans Merci (2010),[9] Turn of the Screw (2011),[10] Almost Maine (2011),[11] British-born playwright Jeremy Gable served as Artistic Director of the company from December 2006 to April 2009, where he directed the Orange County premieres of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis[12] and Bryony Lavery's Frozen[13], as well as writing the Flying Spaghetti Monster plays, which were covered by the official Flying Spaghetti Monster website.
[14][15] Gable was named "one of Orange County's most genuinely innovative theatrical minds" by OC Weekly and called "one of O.C.
[16][17] On May 21, 2010, Daniel Wozniak performed in Hunger's production of Nine hours after killing his neighbor, PFC Samuel Herr, and college student Juri Kibuishi.