Disrobed returns for its fifth anniversary streaming run
A pandemic-born nudist comedy gets a fresh online encore with new screenings in January
If you missed Disrobed the first time around, or you’ve been waiting for the right excuse to revisit one of the quirkier and more charming cultural artifacts to come out of the pandemic era, this month offers a clean opportunity. The award-winning nudist comedy is back online for a fifth anniversary streaming series, presented by Troy Matthew Peterson Productions in partnership with the Southern Californian Naturist Association (SCNA), marking the latest chapter in a project that has continued to shift forms over the past several years.
The premise lands quickly and then keeps tightening the screws. Eric, polite and tightly wound, finally joins his fiancée Skye for a virtual family happy hour. He can’t figure out why she’s so nervous. As each family member logs on, the reason becomes clear: Skye’s family are nudists, and she’s already told them Eric is one too. As clothes come off and expectations settle in, Eric has to decide whether love is enough to get him through the call.
This film version of Disrobed was created at the height of the pandemic and premiered in January 2021, when Zoom had quietly become a dominant cultural stage. The format turned out to be unusually well suited to the story, amplifying the discomfort, timing, and intimacy baked into the original play, while also opening the door to possibilities that went beyond the stage. The film screened at multiple virtual Fringe Festivals, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and earned three Worldwide Comedy Award nominations for directing, writing, and performance. Five years later, it’s returning intact, still funny, still awkward, and still unexpectedly warm.
How to watch
The fifth anniversary screenings run every Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from this week thru February 1. (Note: times below are listed in Pacific Time)
Thursdays (Jan 8, 15, 22, 29): 7:00–11:00 p.m. PST
Saturdays (Jan 10, 17, 24, 31): 5:00–9:00 p.m. PST
Sundays (Jan 11, 18, 25, Feb 1): 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. PST
Tickets are $8 (plus Eventbrite fees) and are sold through Eventbrite under DISROBED – The Fifth Anniversary Screening. All screenings are online.
How the four-hour screening windows work
Each listed screening corresponds to a four-hour viewing window, not a four-hour program.
When you buy a ticket, you receive a private streaming link to the 55-minute film. You can start watching at any point during the four-hour window. Once that window closes, the link deactivates. There’s no fixed start time, no live chat, and no obligation to log in at a specific moment. Press play when you’re ready.
The structure mirrors how the film originally screened during virtual Fringe runs while keeping the experience time-limited and shared.
A brief history of Disrobed
Disrobed has unusually deep roots for a Zoom-era comedy. Its lineage traces back to Tom Cushing’s 1931 one-act farce Barely Proper, a meet-the-parents comedy set in a nudist household. Cushing reportedly understood the problem immediately and subtitled it “an unplayable play,” knowing that full-frontal nudity made it nearly impossible to stage in conventional theater spaces.
Nudists proved him wrong. Over the decades, Barely Proper survived as a cult favorite within naturist circles, staged repeatedly at nudist clubs, conventions, and gatherings where the premise could actually be realized. In the late 2010s, that tradition was revived and updated as Disrobed, first appearing on stage at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2019, and then again in 2023, both times sponsored by SCNA.
When the pandemic shut theaters down, filmmaker Troy Peterson saw an opening rather than an obstacle. Working with writer Steven Vlasak and SCNA, he adapted the play into a filmed virtual event that leaned into the realities of online interaction instead of fighting them. The result became one of the more durable and inventive pandemic-era comedies to come out of the naturist world.
Across its many iterations, the project has repeatedly adapted to new audiences, new technologies, and new cultural moments, without losing the core tension that made the original premise work. That adaptability has kept Disrobed moving, resurfacing in different forms as the conditions around it change.
A look ahead
If you’re reading between the lines here, you might have picked up that this fifth anniversary streaming run is also a signal that Disrobed is still evolving. A feature-length film adaptation is currently in development with plans to shoot this Spring in California, and I’m involved in that project as a producer, working alongside Troy and the creative team as it takes its next step. We’re actively exploring ways for more people, particularly within the naturist community, to get involved as the feature moves forward. If you’re curious, interested, or want to stay in the loop, you can reach out directly at disrobedinfo@gmail.com.
For now, the anniversary screenings offer a good chance to revisit a story that sits at a strange intersection of theater history, pandemic media, and nudist culture. Awkward silences included. 🪐
Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to viewing. It seems like it could be a quirkey fun time seeing how this plays out. Jeff