News And Blogs

A roller derby rink. Choreographed roller skating without wheels. An all-female cast, creative, and design team. These are just a few aspects that set apart For The Love Of (or, the roller derby play)—onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre March 7–17, 2019 as part of our third annual Block Party. And these are also some of the many reasons why the...

Getting a Derby Rink on the Douglas Stage

She didn’t know it at the time, but Andi Chapman’s first encounter with legendary playwright August Wilson was prophetic. “He said ‘hello’ and told me I had hands like his mother,” said Chapman—who, 22 years old and beginning graduate school at the Yale School of Drama, wasn’t sure what to think. Today, however, “That’s a specia...

Meet Center Theatre Group August Wilson Program Advisor Andi Chapman

Creator Ruben-Santiago Hudson dedicates his autobiographical play Lackawanna Blues to the memory of Bill Sims Jr.

In Memoriam: 'Lackawanna Blues' Composer Bill Sims Jr.

Whether you’re a fan of Disney animated movies, classic fairy tales, or have been an Ahmanson subscriber since 1999, you are probably very familiar with the story of Cinderella. Now 20 years later, as we welcome Matthew Bourne and his acclaimed Cinderella back to the Ahmanson—onstage February 5 – March 10, 2019—we’ve traded medieval Europ...

Forget the Clock, the Night’s Still Young for Cinderella

When Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Lackawanna Blues first premiered Off-Broadway in 2001 at The Public Theater, The New York Times lauded it as so humble and warm that the honesty of its spirit is never in question. That honesty was in part due to its directness: Santiago-Hudson was both playwright and solo performer embodying the people he lived along...

The Many Lives of ‘Lackawanna Blues’

Some might think the closest Center Theatre Group got to the Oscars was when the Academy Awards were hosted at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion just across The Music Center Plaza. But in fact, our audiences have come close to Oscar gold for more than 50 years, thanks to the countless Academy Award winners who have appeared in productions across our th...

Center Theatre Group Comes up Oscar Gold

After more than 20 years of prolific touring productions, longtime Ahmanson audiences are no stranger to Matthew Bourne. And with one of his most beloved productions, Cinderella, back at the Ahmanson—onstage February 5 – March 10, 2019—Bourne has had a chance to reflect on this milestone, his relationship with Center Theatre Group, and the s...

The Cinderella Story of Matthew Bourne and his 'Cinderella'

This fall, the Center Theatre Group family, and the Los Angeles arts community, lost a longtime champion with the death of Dorothy Sherwood. To honor her contributions, we are renaming our Richard E. Sherwood Award—which Dorothy established in memory of her husband, the longtime President and Chairman of the Center Theatre Group Board of Director...

Nurturing L.A. Artists and Honoring their Champions

As his Cinderella returns to the Ahmanson Theatre February 5 – March 10, 2019, director and choreographer Matthew Bourne talks about its many inspirations, from the Prokofiev score and the classic films he loves to his own family history.

A Timeless Fairytale, a 75-Year-Old Tragedy, and a Show 20 Years in the Making

Ian Barford—who plays the central character of Wheeler in Linda Vista—told us in a recent interview, “Having done second productions on several occasions, I must say that this one does not feel like a remount. It feels like a new production altogether.”...

Meet the Actors ‘Fearlessly Exploring the Human Condition’ with Tracy Letts

In a 2018 Q&A with Slate, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Tracy Letts said, I lie in all these interviews.

A Mostly Candid Tracy Letts on His Career Wins and Woes