Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

Cast Set for ' The Beauty Queen of Leenane' at Taper

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 18:30:00 -0700

CAST ANNOUNCED FOR THE DRUID PRODUCTION OF “THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE” AT CENTER THEATRE GROUP/MARK TAPER FORUM NOVEMBER 9 THROUGH DECEMBER 18, 2016

Tony-Winning Director Garry Hynes Returns to Martin McDonagh’s Classic Play with Original Cast Member Marie Mullen

Center Theatre Group has announced the casting for the Druid production of “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” by Martin McDonagh. Directed by Druid artistic director Garry Hynes, “Beauty Queen” begins previews November 9, opens November 16 and continues through December 18, 2016, at Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum.

The cast includes, in alphabetical order, Aaron Monaghan, Marie Mullen, Aisling O’Sullivan and Marty Rea. Mullen, who played the daughter Maureen in the original 1996 production and earned a Tony Award for her performance, will now play the role of Maureen’s mother Mag; O’Sullivan will play Maureen; Rea will play Pato; and Monaghan will play Ray.

The design team includes Francis O’Connor for sets and costumes, James F. Ingalls for lighting, Greg Clarke for sound. Paddy Cunneen is the composer and Bryan Burroughs is fight director.

“Beauty Queen,” which is set in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, is the tale of Maureen Folan, a plain and lonely woman in her early 40s, and Mag, her manipulative, aging mother, whose interference in Maureen's first and potentially last romantic relationship sets in motion a chain of events that are as tragically funny as they are horrific.

Peter Marks of The Washington Post said of McDonagh, “Please avail yourself, and brace yourself, for the virtuosic turbulence of one of modern theater’s most giddily diabolical minds.” “McDonagh’s writing is a tightrope act of unnerving skill and maturity,” said John Peter of London’s Sunday Times. Benedict Nightingale, writing for The New York Times, said, “[Martin McDonagh is] the most wickedly funny, brilliantly abrasive young dramatist on either side of the Irish Sea.”

Hynes won a Tony Award for her direction of “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” on Broadway in 1998. She also directed McDonagh’s “The Cripple of Inishmaan” at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2011, as well as Arthur Miller’s “The Price” at the Taper in 2015. Center Theatre Group presented McDonagh’s “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” at the Taper in 2010. McDonagh is an award-winning writer and director. His work with Druid includes “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” “A Skull in Connemara,” “The Lonesome West” (Druid/Royal Court/Broadway) and “The Cripple of Inishmaan” (Druid/Atlantic Theater Company/U.S. Tour). Other theatre includes “The Cripple of Inishmaan” (National Theatre, London/West End/Broadway), “The Pillowman” (National Theatre, London/Broadway), “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” (RSC/Garrick/Broadway), “A Behanding in Spokane” (Broadway) and “Hangmen” (Royal Court). His film work (as a writer/director) includes “Six Shooter” (a short), “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths.” His awards include the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy (“The Lieutenant of Inishmore”), Olivier Award for Best New Play (“The Pillowman”), Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (“Six Shooter”), BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay (“In Bruges”).

The production is currently touring Ireland starting in Galway, where the Druid Theatre Company was founded in 1975. The Taper run will be the first U.S. engagement in the tour. Subsequent tour dates will be announced at a later date.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Tickets for “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” are available by calling (213) 628-2772 or online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org. Tickets range from $25 – $85 (ticket prices are subject to change). The Mark Taper Forum is located at the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012.

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September 27, 2016

The World Premiere of Lucy Alibar's "Throw Me On the Burnpile and Light Me Up" Opens...

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 23:51:00 -0700

THE WORLD PREMIERE OF LUCY ALIBAR’S “THROW ME ON THE BURNPILE AND LIGHT ME UP” OPENS AT CTG’S KIRK DOUGLAS THEATRE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

Currently in Previews, “Throw Me on the Burnpile…” Will Continue Through Oct. 2

The world premiere of “Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up,” written and performed by the Oscar-nominated Lucy Alibar (Best Adapted Screenplay for “Beasts of the Southern Wild”), will open Friday, September 16 at 8 p.m. Currently in previews, “Throw Me on the Burnpile…” will continue through October 2, 2016, at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Directed by Center Theatre Group Associate Artistic Director Neel Keller, “Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up” blends a lecherous goat, Pentecostals on the radio, a clutter of inbred cats, phone calls from death row, Daddy’s burnpile and countless other rich ingredients into a delicious and magical stew of stories about a singular childhood in Grady County, Florida.

The design team for “Throw Me on the Burnpile…” includes Takeshi Kata for scenic design, Laura Bauer for costumes, Elizabeth Harper for lighting, Adam Phalen for sound and Jason H. Thompson for projection design. The production stage manager is Maggie Swing.

Alibar has authored work that has appeared in Zoetrope, the Oxford American, and the Wall Street Journal. Her plays have been seen at Sundance Theatre Lab, National Theatre Studio, Joe’s Pub, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her first movie, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (an adaptation with Benh Zeitlin of her play, “Juicy and Delicious”), received the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Cannes Film Festival Caméra d’Or. For her work on “Beasts,” she was nominated for the Scripter, BAFTA and Academy Award. Alibar is the winner of the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award, the Humanitas Prize and the Nantucket Film Festival New Voices in Screenwriting Award. She is a Sundance Screenwriting Fellow. She’s since been privileged to work for Pixar, Escape Artists/Amazon, Julia Roberts/New Line Cinema and Guillermo del Toro/Universal Studios (“The Secret Garden”). “Burnpile” is currently being adapted into a pilot for FX. Alibar is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, associate editor at Oxford American and an advocate for girls in the arts.

“Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up” was developed by Center Theatre Group and was presented as a work in progress at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2015 as part of Center Theatre Group’s DouglasPlus program.

Tickets for “Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up” are available by calling (213) 628-2772 or online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org. Tickets range from $25 – $70 (ticket prices are subject to change). The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd. in Culver City, CA 90232. Ample free parking and restaurants are adjacent.

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September 13, 2016

Performances Begin September 7 for the Young Vic Production of Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge"

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:55:00 -0700

PERFORMANCES BEGIN SEPTEMBER 7 FOR THE YOUNG VIC PRODUCTION OF ARTHUR MILLER’S “A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE” PRODUCED BY CENTER THEATRE GROUP AT THE AHMANSON THEATRE

On-Stage Seating Available for Director Ivo van Hove’s Tony Award-Winning Revival Which Opens September 14 and Continues Through October 16

Performances begin Wednesday, September 7 for the Young Vic Production of Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge” produced by Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre. Directed by Ivo van Hove, “A View From the Bridge” opens September 14, 2016, and performances continue through October 16.

This stunning new production of an American classic features on-stage seating flanking the stage on two sides. Those seats are currently being offered at $25 each (see the end of the release for more ticketing information).

The cast includes, in alphabetical order, Danny Binstock, Catherine Combs, Alex Esola, Andrus Nichols, Howard W. Overshown, Dave Register, Thomas Jay Ryan and Frederick Weller. The scenic and lighting design is by Jan Versweyveld, costumes are by An D’Huys and sound is by Tom Gibbons. The production stage manager is David S. Franklin.

In the 2016 Tony Award-winning production of “A View From the Bridge” (Best Revival and Best Direction), Eddie Carbone (Weller) is a Brooklyn longshoreman obsessed with his 17-year-old niece, Catherine (Combs). When Catherine falls in love with a newly arrived immigrant (Register), Eddie’s jealousy erupts in a rage that consumes him, his family and his world.

“A View From the Bridge,” said Ben Brantley of The New York Times, “…must be what Greek tragedy once felt like, when people went to the theater in search of catharsis…You also feel ridiculously blessed to have been a witness…”

“Breathe, everybody, breathe!” said Marilyn Stasio of Variety. “Audiences really need to be reminded of that at the end of Ivo van Hove’s magnificent production…” “The tension never dips as the show heads toward the kind of mind-blowing climax that’s the stuff of Broadway legend,” said Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post.

This production of Miller’s classic was first presented at the Young Vic in 2014 then transferred to the West End in 2015 and was awarded three Olivier Awards (Best Actor, Best Revival and Best Director). Lyn Gardner of The Guardian called it “…a menacing, meticulously conceived production…It’s like watching a runaway train hurtle towards you…” The production opened on Broadway in November 2015 for a limited run and closed this past February.

Following the run at the Ahmanson Theatre, Center Theatre Group will tour this production to the Kennedy Center for an engagement in the Eisenhower Theater which will play from November 18 through December 3, 2016.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1,600 to 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Tickets for “A View From the Bridge” range from $25 – $125 (subject to change) and are available by calling (213) 972-4400 or online at CenterTheatreGroup.org, or by visiting the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre. The Ahmanson Theatre is located at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, 90012.

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September 7, 2016