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Diane Paulus' New '1776' Will Complete the 2019-2020 Season at Ahmanson

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DIANE PAULUS’ NEW PRE-BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF THE AMERICAN CLASSIC “1776” WILL COMPLETE CENTER THEATRE GROUP’S 2019 – 2020 SEASON AT THE AHMANSON THEATRE

Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards’ Tony-Winning Musical Comes to Los Angeles in July of 2020

Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie announced that the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University and Roundabout Theatre Company production of “1776” will be the seventh and final production in Center Theatre Group’s 2019 – 2020 season at the Ahmanson Theatre. Directed by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus and featuring a book by Peter Stone with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, “1776” will begin a pre-Broadway engagement at the Ahmanson in July of 2020, on the heels of its launch at A.R.T. May 22 – June 28, 2020. Exact dates at the Ahmanson have not been announced. The Broadway engagement will take place at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre in the spring of 2021.

They knew they would make history, but not what history would make of them. Fed up with living under the tyranny of British rule, John Adams attempts to persuade his fellow members of the Continental Congress to vote in favor of American Independence and sign the Declaration. But how much is he willing to compromise in the pursuit of freedom? And who does that freedom belong to? Tony Award winner Diane Paulus directs a new production of this Tony Award-winning musical, reexamining this pivotal moment in American history.

“When I first heard that Diane Paulus was interested in directing a new production of the Tony Award-winning musical ‘1776,’ I knew it would be a perfect fit to complete our 2019 – 2020 Ahmanson season,” said Ritchie. “Diane is an exciting voice in the American theatre landscape who we last welcomed to our theatre with her celebrated interpretation of another classic, ‘Porgy and Bess.’ In ‘1776,’ not only does she promise to bring an exciting perspective to the musical, but also to a critical point in this country’s history—when our Founding Fathers solidified America’s independence. I can’t imagine a better time to revisit this work than as our country nears our next presidential election.”

Diane Paulus is the Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University. Broadway: “Waitress” (Broadway and US national tour), “Pippin” (Tony Award, Best Revival and Best Director), “Finding Neverland,” “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” (Tony Award, Best Revival; NAACP Award, Best Direction), “HAIR” (Tony Award, Best Revival). West End: “Waitress,” “HAIR.” Off-Broadway: “Gloria: A Life” at the Daryl Roth Theatre, “In the Body of the World” (Drama League nomination) at Manhattan Theatre Club, “Invisible Thread” at Second Stage. Upcoming: “Jagged Little Pill” on Broadway, “Gloria: A Life” and “1776” at A.R.T. At A.R.T.: “ExtraOrdinary,” “The White Card” by Claudia Rankine, “Crossing,” “Witness Uganda,” “Prometheus Bound,” “Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera,” “Best of Both Worlds,” “The Donkey Show.” Other recent work includes Cirque du Soleil’s “Amaluna,” currently on tour in the US. Paulus is a Professor of the Practice in both Harvard University’s English Department and Department of Theater, Dance & Media. She was selected for the 2014 Time 100, Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world; as one of Variety’s “Trailblazing Women in Entertainment for 2014”; Boston magazine’s “50 Thought Leaders of 2014”; and Boston magazine’s 2018 “100 Most Influential People in Boston.”

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under Artistic Director Michael Ritchie, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2100-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 “1776” are currently available by season subscription and group sales only. For information and to purchase a subscription by phone, call the exclusive subscription hotline at (213) 972-4444. To purchase season subscriptions online, visit www.CenterTheatreGroup.org/Ahmanson. Groups of 15 or more may reserve tickets by calling (213) 972-7231. The general ticket on-sale date will be announced in the future.

The Ahmanson Theatre is located at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, 90012.

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May 6, 2019