Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

Sigrid Gilmer — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 20:58:00 -0700

“Rodgers and Hammerstein were top-notch at integrating dialogue and music to tell vivid stories. These stories were capable of not only entertaining with great humor and whimsy, but also challenging notions of racism, classism and sexism.”
(http://www.cinderellaonbroadway.com/files/educationguide.pdf)

Some of their classic works include: Oklahoma (1943), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959), which all became successful films and have enjoyed many Broadway revivals. During their partnership, Rodgers and Hammerstein created eleven musicals and received 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards. Their work continues to inspire generations of musical theatre writers and is produced for its relevance and artistic mastery. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work lives on as one of the most beloved canons in American musical theatre.

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella is the only musical collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein that was written specifically for television. Largely based on Charles Perrault’s version of the tale, it premiered on CBS in 1957 and starred Julie Andrews. The first staged version of the musical was performed in London a year later.

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella was produced for television two more times after its premiere, in 1965 and 1997. The 1997 version of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella starred Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother. This production was noted for its diverse casting. The Royal Family was comprised of an African-American mother, a Caucasian father and an Asian-American Prince. This production reflected the diversity of the country and the universality of the story. The casting of pop stars helped open up Cinderella to a new audience.

This current revival of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella has been updated with a new book by five-time Tony Award nominee, Douglas Carter Beane. Beane and the creative team re-imagined the journey of the classic tale and gave the female heroine a more empowered, more active role in the story.

The new production also incorporates additional songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue, including "Now Is the Time," "Me, Who Am I?" and "The Music in You,” as well as the original music from the television version, including, "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible/It's Possible," "Ten Minutes Ago" and "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?"

A Conversation with Costume Designer William Ivey Long

Marcos Nájera — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 20:53:00 -0700

Marcos: William, what is your job?

William Ivey Long: My job as a costume designer is quite simply to help someone become someone else. Because that is what actors are doing. Actors are becoming someone else. They aren't playing themselves, unless it’s a reality television program (laughs). They are playing a character, a scripted character who has an arc of an experience. And that is what a play is. It’s a story that has a beginning, middle and end. And through the time it takes to tell the story, my job is both to help them become somebody else and to help them show physically in three dimensions that change.

And how do tangible items like fabric, thread and even fantastic things like sequins—coupled with clothing and costume—transform people onstage?

Part of the storytelling, in Cinderella for instance, you can tell she is living the life of a servant in the 16th century, France because of her clothing. It’s dirty. There are comments, many comments in the script that “Oh, how do you know she is poor? Well, look at her clothes!” Her whole name, Cinder-Ella, was created by Charles Perrault who wrote the original story to show that she spent her life working in the chimneys, in the cinders, re-starting the fires that heated the house. That charcoal smudge can get on your skin, on your clothes. We deal with the effects of her work. So you see the dirt that we theatrically rub into her clothes. It’s paint that we rub into her clothes. Because when you see her you have to really feel that she is downtrodden. And her stepsisters are being treated like princesses.

My job is to who? what? why? when? how? You have to figure out that there is a period, we have sort of a fantasy 16th century period. The 1580s, sort of the court of Catherine de Medici, [an Italian noblewoman who was Queen of France from 1547 until 1559], is where we set it—loosely. And then you can see hierarchically in the home the mother is dressed in fine clothes and the step-sisters are dressed in fine clothes. But then Cinderella is totally dressed in rags. So that’s what fabrics can do.

On a more nuanced, sophisticated level, once you’ve seen the silhouette that is happening, and if it reminds you of Shakespeare's time shall we say, you can see that the mother and the sisters have a fancier silhouette—they are wearing little hoop skirts which are called “Farthingales.”

What a wonderful word, ‘Farthingale!”

Farthingale! That’s a 16th century hoop skirt. It might have something to do with a brass farthing, which is like a penny [1 cent] in English history.

When you say the word ‘silhouette,’ what do you mean by that?

A silhouette is what you see if you put someone behind a curtain or a sheet and you shine a light on them [from behind], the shadow they cast is their silhouette. It’s the outline of their shape. Their actual body and the clothes they’re wearing.

You can see from the silhouette and you can hear in the script the stepmother saying that they are “aspiring to a higher social plateau.” So there's a sense of aspiration. So I need to show you that this family is aspiring. So, subtly, I have made their shopping dresses—which are the first you see—not out of velvet, but out of corduroy.

Oh wow, that IS subtle!

And it’s wide-whale corduroy, so you can actually see it’s corduroy. It’s poor-man’s velvet!

So they are faking it!

They’re faking it, with a fabric that ordinary people wear. It’s a way to relate to this aspiration. They are not there yet. They’re wannabees!

Now, I’m going to give you another irony. Corduroy is a wannabe velvet. But it is called “corde du roi” meaning fabric/chords of the king. So, I’m not sure if it’s always had an ironic send-up in its name.

What about Cinderella’s fabric?

It’s called Linsey-woolsey. She is wearing home-spun wool. Home-woven wool. Like Harris Tweed, which began, before it became a fancy men’s fabric was woven in home looms in Scotland. It still is. But back in the day it was just worn by simple people. And it was hand-woven from their sheep, and the colors were sheep colors. And people are still doing it up in Scotland, but now it costs a fortune because it’s done by hand. But back in the day, simple people wore those things in natural colors.

When you look at the silhouette shapes of all of the characters in this story, it seems – like the less power or money a character has – like Cinderella at the beginning of the show the more real human-shaped the silhouette is and the less fabric layers the costume has. And the more money or power a character has – the more fabric and bulkier the costume silhouette. Is that part of the design goal?

That’s right. Correct. And the imagery of the forest has been really close to all of the clothing because it takes place in a forest. The kingdom is a forest kingdom. So there’s a lot of moth and butterfly imagery in ball gowns for instance.

That’s right. And in [the character of] Sebastian, who is sort of the evil counselor, the lord protector, I created his coat and based the [costume] on a black crow with the wings tucked in. So his silhouette has sort of a bird of prey, a crow look.

Are there actual black feathers?

Yes, they are big black coque feathers, pronounced “coke.” They are rooster feathers! Roosters, in French, are coques.

What role do vision boards, images and pictures play in your design process?

Whenever you do an imaginary kingdom, it gives you sort of freedom.

But yet also quite strict responsibilities. In other words, you have to set up the rules and you have to set up the design guidelines. Because remember there is no sky-is-the-limit, is it going to be on Mars? Is it going to be on the farmyard or is it going to be in the forest? The sky is the limit if it can be all of those things, but you need to zoom it down. Or zoom in on what it is you're trying to say. So we are trying to say that it is all in a forest, the flora and fauna, and it is all based on nature, these images. Of course if you think of Cinderella's character she starts as a moth and turns into a butterfly.

Where do you go to get your pictures for inspiration? Are they from magazines or online searches? Where do they come from?

All of the above. And because I am from an older generation, I collect books and I have used every job assignment to buy at least a dozen books! But then we have something called the Internet. And the design process with the director and the set designer and myself is that we use something that the kids all use called ‘Dropbox.’ Where you can find things online, you save them and you can select them, you know they come out and move over to another side of the screen and then you can drop them … I'm not very good at this at all, I’ve just seen it happen. [My assistants] do it for me! But anyway, we would share imagery and they would send me literally hundreds, several hundred, images of from what they are looking at. This is the set designer and director. And then I would share my imagery and we would put them all into a generally shared ‘Dropbox.’

We started about a year and a half to two years ago before we opened doing this design process. I would say a year and a half. And our director took some trips, some vacations and he likes to hike. And he would go on vacations and he would take pictures on his phone of roots. He would be in Wyoming or someplace marching through [nature], and he’d see some tree. It had fallen over and it was looking like a tree monster and he would send the set designer and me that image! And it was very helpful, sending us this image from his phone when he was out hiking. Then also we will put it up next to all the different images. We had boards on the wall. See, I just don’t leave it online. I print them out. I have something that I, I don't know if other people do it, but I certainly do it. I go to a hardware store and I buy insulation boards that are 4’ x 8’. They are either pink or blue depending on how thick of an insulation you want.

Like drywall?

No, styrofoam. Like the thin sort of foam and they make them in pink or blue. And they are very light and I get white acrylic wall paint, you know ceiling paint and I paint them white so they disappear. And then I pin all the pictures on one side. And I can use both sides. And [my design studio] is big so I can get 25 or 26 of these around the room. So I actually make whole boards of these hundreds of 8 x 10 images.

Why is this an important part of the process?

It’s very important. Another natural term, “osmosis.” I think if you are surrounded actually by imagery that your eyes sort of look at day after day and you sort of wander through them with your eyes, it seeps inside. And so you are influenced by them through osmosis.

So you are surrounded by these fantastic pictures you’ve found online of roots, plants and forest animals, pictures from the director’s hikes out in nature, and according to one video I watched online—you even have pictures of Taylor Swift! What does Taylor Swift have to do with your design process? (Laughs)

Isn’t that hilarious? (laughs) They found it online and sent it to me. In fact, that was a very important first image because the director saw Taylor Swift in a big, pink, poofy ball gown in a forest and there were crystal chandeliers hanging from the boughs. And there were a lot of leaves on the bottom so there she was rustling the leaves. But there she was in a very pink sort of ruched-up ruffles of net, pink tulle, big ball gown. And that was very helpful for us figuring out what our land would look like, what our houses and palaces would look like.

So do you draw inspiration for your design from your daily life?

Oh sure. I am lucky in New York. I take the subway and on Canal Street where I live, all the subways stop. So I’ve got six subway lines that are within a block or two blocks from me. It’s very luxurious. So I go everywhere on the subways. And they are the best design resource. Because you are thinking about your projects and you're dreaming and you're standing there holding onto something, and your eyes start wandering and you are looking at everybody and it is just endlessly fascinating and I love it. I often miss my stop because I'm so fascinated by looking at people and what they're wearing and who are they and what's their story? I do it all the time. I'm just fascinated. You cannot be disinterested on the subway because the craziest mash-up of people are just sort of thrown together by happenstance and they change partners—it’s like musical chairs. They get on, they get off. It’s like a metaphor for life, but it's really true. If you are aware of design and you're aware of people, there it is right in front of you.

And now the design question everyone asks you. How do you create those magical costume transformations with the Fairy Godmother and when Cinderella goes from a rag dress to a spectacular ball gown in just a few seconds onstage?

(Laughing) And my official and personal answer is that it is magic! (Laughing) I don't give you any help on that. But I do say the following. I wanted the magic to be created by the actors themselves. So all of these transformations are done by the person wearing the garment. And I think it’s really important that it’s not done with smoke and mirrors and that the lights don’t turn off. It’s all done right in front of you. Because that is the story: magic is all around you.

I even tell the actors when they are coming in and we are going to rehearse how this goes and we are going to do it 20 times. I tell them “If it doesn't completely work the first time onstage don't freak out. Just finish the transformation under your control and the audience will be quite intrigued if they have seen a hint of how it's done.”

I have been a firm believer in magic since I was a kid so I am with you! I noticed that the prince has a crown that goes all around his head, but the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella don’t. Their crowns look more flat. Why is that?

Yes, the prince is a real prince. And he is sort of born with his crown. His crown doesn't really leave his head, except at the first of the balls when he is wearing a mask and he doesn't want people to know he's a prince. But every other time you see him in the full crown, all the way around. So we use the crown carefully so when he doesn't have it, it’s because he is trying to pretend and he's trying to fit in so he can judge the different choices for a wife, you see, when he's dancing with them. And then the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella, the main reason I chose tiaras—and they are slightly curved, they aren’t just flat, they are really half-tiaras. The reason is they are underneath—I will tell you this, they are flat on their heads. Like Cinderella is wearing her kerchief, you know, because she is keeping her hair from getting too sooty and the Fairy Godmother is wearing her hooded cape in the forest. So when they transform the hooded cape falls away and disappears and the kerchief falls away and disappears. And literally out pops the tiara and it changes her silhouette.

Oh! So the tiaras are like pop-up books! That is so cool.

Yup, see? Because I wanted to change the silhouette of the smooth hair because you have just seen her in a scarf. But think about it, you’ve just seen her wearing a scarf, you see the shape of the head. There are no bumps in it. And then, when it falls away and disappears, whoops, look! There's the tiara! And if there were a crown, you would see it under the scarf. But I want it to be like a pop-up book. It would give away the surprise.

And it's very, very low-tech. All of the magic is low-tech. Because I created it with my brilliant, brilliant costume shop. Everything is a group effort. Of course you know that. And I have several shops I work with all the time for like 30 years. And there are two. One shop worked with me to create the Fairy Godmother transformation and then another one worked with me to create all of Cinderella's. And so it is a group effort.

I drew diagrams and pictures. I sleep with a yellow legal pad next to my bed. And a lot of times I wake up with a thought and then draw it and go back to sleep. I think a lot of people do that. Most people do that actually. It's just a black pencil because then I don't have to find the cap. It’s just pencil. Just draw and then go back to sleep. And so I would collect these thoughts and pencil sketches and then take them to the shop.

And then a lot of times I would make on mannequins, little quarter-inch scale fashion dolls. They are little dress dummies. And I work out a lot of transformations on these maquettes. Again, a French word, maquette. Which became “mock-up!” It’s a little version. I call them ‘my dolls.’ It’s easier.

So what do we get from all this? You make your own magic. I know it sounds dopey, but I believe it!

Around the World

Sigrid Gilmer — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 21:00:00 -0700

The story of Cinderella - a good hearted young woman who overcomes hard times with the help of magical friends and special clothes is an old and popular story. Cultures all over the world have their own version of it.

The oldest known Cinderella story is from China (618-907 AD). Its heroine Yeh-Shen is a good hearted girl with a beloved fish. Her mean stepmother will not let Yeh-Shen go to the local party where the young people of her land meet their wives and husbands. And to be extra mean she cooks Yeh-Shen’s fish. The sad girl gathers her fishes’ bones. She talks to them and they give her a beautiful dress and gold slippers so that she can go to the party. Yeh-Shen looses a slipper trying to escape from her stepmother who sees her at the party. The prince finds it and matches it to Yeh-Shen’s foot and they live happily ever after.

The Egyptian Cinderella – Rhodopis - was based on the true story of a Greek slave girl, name Rhodopis who married the Pharaoh (king) of Egypt. In the Egyptian version, the magical animal is an eagle who helps the Pharoah find Rhodopis. Instead of a cruel step family, Rhodopis is enslaved and owned by cruel masters. Yet like Yeh-Shen, she has slippers of gold, is kind-hearted and hard working.

In Soot-Face Girl, the Native American Ojibwa Cinderella, the heroine’s stepsisters were so mean that they burned her face and chopped off her hair. Soot-Face only wore rags, yet she is hard-working, kind and virtuous. The Prince in this version is an invisible warrior who drives a sled with a rainbow and has a bow made from the Milky Way.

Estrella de Oro (The Little Gold Star) is from the American southwest. This story also contains magic birds and mean stepsisters. But instead of a special slipper, it is a beautiful gold star on her forehead that helps the Prince find the heroine.

The version of Cinderella that you are going to see at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre -Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella- is based on the French story written by Charles Perrault in 1697. The Disney animated movie is also based on the Perrault story. All three of these Cinderella stories share elements found in the versions from around the world: a mean step-family, special shoes, magical helpers, a big party and a kind- hearted young woman.

Why do you think that people all over the world have a Cinderella story?
Why do you think this story keeps getting told over and over again?

A Member of the Family: Director Phylicia Rashad returns to the Taper

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 21:13:00 -0800

Phylicia Rashad, who last directed Joe Turner’s Come and Gone for Center Theatre Group, returns to the director’s chair for Immediate Family, which she also directed at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2012. Here, she discusses what makes this project so special.

What drew you to Immediate Family?

I met Paul Oakley Stovall on another theatre project, and he called me afterward and asked if he could send me the script. Then he called again about three-and-half weeks later and said, by the way, did I ask you to direct this play? No, you did not! [Laughs.] It was coming up at the Goodman, and we had to move fast. We produced it with very little turnaround time, and honed it down from six locations to one. In the process, we were discovering so many things about the family, the characters and their behavior. The audience reaction was good, and in the end we had a very fine play, but I thought that was the end of it. Then, somehow, it came to [Artistic Director] Michael Ritchie’s attention. He called and said it had been a long time since he’d read a script that made him laugh out loud. How about directing this in L.A.?

And here we are. Do you expect to continue discovering new things about the play in Los Angeles?

Absolutely. Theatre takes time, and it’s constantly unfolding. It evolves and changes with every performance, and the play you get in the middle of the run is going to be refined in ways it wasn’t at the beginning. That’s just the nature of it. It’s always what we don’t know at the outset that excites us and interests us most.

The play is set in Chicago. How does that figure into the story?

Chicago has very interesting implications. It has a civil rights history that is most interesting. Martin Luther King Jr. thought it was more dangerous than the South. He said it’s tougher there than in Mississippi. And that’s because it’s a city of neighborhoods. It’s a city that works better for some than for others. It’s a city of ethnicities, and they live in these very well-defined neighborhoods. And this becomes part of the play’s story, literally and metaphorically.

What do you want audiences to take away from this play?

I never plan what they should see other than the truth of human behavior, and, hopefully, something of their own humanity. You see something of your own self reflected on that stage, and one way or another, you can understand it — not judge it, but understand it.

Immediate Family plays at the Mark Taper Forum April 22-June 7, 2015.

Students create models of Chavez Ravine homes

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 21:10:00 -0800

Center Theatre Group teaching artist Janne Larsen worked with these students to create their designs as part of Center Theatre Group's participation in the Front and Center Theatre Collaborative. In partnership with The Actors’ Gang, We Tell Stories, Young Storytellers Foundation and 24th Street Theatre, Center Theatre Group helps develop and implement this collaborative that supports the Culver City Unified School District in providing a comprehensive theatre education for all Culver City students from kindergarten through high school.

The expanded vision of arts education in Culver City Unified emerged out of their work as a Los Angeles County Arts for All Blueprint Vanguard District. Their desire to provide a quality district-wide theatre education program and their proximity to the Kirk Douglas Theatre created an opportunity for Center Theatre Group to offer relevant program solutions that meet the emerging needs of the school district.

Through the initiative this year students participated in a six-week residency around Chavez Ravine. They read the script and explored themes of home, family and community. Their models represented the eight homes referred to in the play as "ghost homes," those of the last families who refused to abandon their neighborhood and faced eventual eviction. To make the ghost homes, students learned from Larsen about electrical circuitry and lit their glass and wood frames from within.

Students reflected on the meaningful experience and the opportunity to improve their artistry:

“Being able to make art about Chavez Ravine is a unique experience that makes me feel emotionally connected to the culture of the people that used to live there.”
– Angie C., Student

“Center Theatre Group’s residency program has taught me how to combine different mediums to make a great art piece. It has expanded my abilities as an artist. By reading scripts, we are inspired to create artwork that is relevant and important.”
- Zoe L., Student

“It is an honor for us make art about the families of Chavez Ravine. It is important to remember the events that shaped the Los Angeles of today and especially for us not to forget what happened to this community.”
– Chris V., Student

Center Theatre Group is proud to have supported these students as emerging artists as they reflected upon the rich and troubling history of this neighborhood in their own Los Angeles hometown.

Grand Dames: Lessons from legendary ladies

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 22:38:00 -0800

It's the journey, not the destination.

Cicely Tyson had wanted to play Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful ever since catching Geraldine Page’s triumphant turn in the 1985 film. Nearly three decades later, the part finally came to Tyson — on Broadway, in a Lifetime television movie, in a six-week engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre and, finally, in a two-and-a-half week victory lap at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theatre. Including previews and a 15-day film shoot, Tyson played her dream role well over 250 times.

Though she once saw Carrie Watts as her swan song — in 1985, she said she would retire if she got her Bountiful — Tyson eventually felt reinvigorated by the part. “It’s nothing that I really dreamed would happen at this stage in my life or my career,” she explained to writer David Ng in a feature for the Los Angeles Times. “You know you’re on the wane. But I’m revitalized and I have a whole new career.”

Sharing is caring.

Angela Lansbury has five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an honorary Oscar. She invented some of the most iconic roles for women in the musical theatre. She appeared on film with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Charles Boyer and Elizabeth Taylor. Despite these prodigious accomplishments, Lansbury feels it’s her duty to continue sharing her talents with others.

“This is what I understand I am able to do,” she told Los Angeles Times theatre critic Charles McNulty. “And as it is a God-given gift, I must use it or I’m turning my back on something that gives pleasure to others.”

Her generosity even made its mark in the star dressing room of the Ahmanson Theatre. On closing night of Blithe Spirit, she left a lipstick message on the mirror for its next resident (pictured at top). “Darling Dame Edna!” it read. “It’s all yours. Love Madame Arcati.”

If you must say farewell, do so gloriously.

Indeed, the Ahmanson was all Dame Edna’s for six weeks. Throughout her stay, she skewered audience members for their fashion choices, “senior” moments and — for those in the balcony — their status as a “nonentity.” She left in her wake a trail of tears, but mostly because folks laughed so hard.

Before her glorious run, Dame Edna entreated Los Angeles not to miss her farewell appearance at the Ahmanson. Unfortunately, her most devoted possums just can’t help it; they do miss their Australian emissary. After all, the bite of a fresh insult feels surprisingly good in the glare of a bedazzled gown.

What lessons did you learn from these legendary ladies? Tell us in the comments section!

Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye — The Farewell Tour plays at the Ahmanson Theatre until March 15, 2015. Recommended for audiences ages 13+. The Ahmanson Theatre season continues with Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella and Matilda The Musical.

Educational materials tour the nation

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 22:42:00 -0800

The Young Audiences Program brings thousands of students to select shows each year. To enrich the performance experience, the student matinee program includes a pre-show educator conference to prepare teachers to guide their students through the themes of the play, Educator Resources to help teachers lead activities they learned at the educator conference, the full-length performance, optional pre-and-post show visits by professional teaching artists to the classroom, and student Discovery Guides. The student Discovery Guides are designed to help students understand thematic content as well as make personal connections with the art onstage. Center Theatre Group's Discovery Guides have been so popular that some have even travelled to Broadway to accompany productions following their run at Center Theatre Group.

The Discovery Guide for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which played at the Mark Taper Forum in spring 2010, travelled to Broadway following a successful run with Center Theatre Group. You can access the materials here. This guide addresses challenging topics about war and occupation to prepare students for the serious themes in playwright Rajiv Joseph's darkly comic play.

Discovery Guides always include information on the themes of the show and conversations with creative team members who worked on them. In the Bengal guide, young people can read a fresh perspective on the American occupation of Iraq (the play is set in 2003) and even explore future careers in writing through an interview with Joseph and Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist Marcos Nájera. For any aspiring writers, Joseph's words hold great value: "I think the thing about becoming a writer is it’s a combination of obviously working hard but also finding what medium or what type of writing not only appeals to you the most, but also that you have a knack for."

Bring It On: The Musical ran at the Ahmanson Theatre in fall 2011, and the Discovery Guide, which you can find here, was picked up by the national tour. From history about the all-male origin of cheerleading in the 1880s to conversations about redestricting and gentrification, this Discovery Guide is packed with rich content. In an inteview included in the guide, librettist Jeff Whitty says, "And Bring It On: The Musical is full of fun themes like betrayal and revenge, ambition and disappointment. You know, major themes that have been staples of drama for centuries."

Center Theatre Group's Discovery Guide for the winter 2012 Mark Taper Forum production of Clybourne Park travelled to Broadway after the run in Los Angeles. Students learned about art being inspired by other art - Clybourne Park was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. The rich materials also address White Flight and gentrification, humor as a weapon, and the history of private property. Because so much of the story of Clybourne Park revolves around property and a home that throughout the course of 50 years saw Caucasian and African-American owners, Center Theatre Group aptly interviewed set designer Daniel Ostling for the Guide. Ostling shared: "You know, each play I work on is a whole new story, a whole new world opens up. And I can pick any way to tell that. There isn't a way that it has to be done. Whatever makes the story be the most powerful for the audience is what we do."

The national tour of Green Day’s American Idiot picked up the Discovery Guide that was created for the run at the Ahmanson Theatre in spring 2012. The guide, available here, takes students on a tour of protest music, rock opera, and the East L.A. Punk scene. Then in spring, 2014, the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in Tacoma, Washington, placed CTG's 2012 Mark Taper Forum Joe Turner’s Come and Gone guide on their website and distributed printed copies to educators. The guide, available here, contains historical information about the Great Migration, the Middle Passage, August Wilson and his influences as well as Jim Crow laws. Students can also read an interview with director Phylicia Rashad: "And that's how you create a world. You go deeper, and deeper, and deeper every time."

In spring 2014, Tectonic Theater Project of New York visited Center Theatre Group during the run of The Tallest Tree in the Forest at the Mark Taper Forum. Tectonic Theater Project used their signature Moment Work to help prepare actor Daniel Beaty for his role as the iconic Paul Robeson. You can read about Moment Work and Robeson's amazing history in the Discovery Guide available here. Tectonic Theater Project's staff members were impressed with the materials and placed them on their website. They were also impressed with our 33 Variations materials from the production at the Ahmanson Theatre in winter 2011. They placed the Discovery Guide, available here, on their website as well.

And, most recently, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in Ohio borrowed an interview with author David Barry from the Peter and the Starcatcher Discovery Guide available here. Created for Center Theatre Group's run of the show at the Ahmanson Theatre in Winter 2013-2015, the interview is being used in the Cincinnati Playhouse's program for their run of the show.

For over 40 years, the Young Audiences Program has been the cornerstone education program for Center Theatre Group. And with such rich educational materials, we look forward to welcoming students into the amazing world of theatre again and again. We hope that more of our Discovery Guides will continue to support audience engagement both here in Los Angeles and around the nation.

A Classic Opening of 'The Price'

Center Theatre Group — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:45:00 -0800

During the cocktail hour, guests enjoyed live harp music — a nod to the show they were about to see — caught up with familiar faces and got to know new ones. During the dinner, Michael Ritchie thanked Artistic Director’s Circle member Deidra Norman Schumann for her generous contribution to the show. He also talked a bit about his history with Arthur Miller and how excited he was to have this play at the Mark Taper Forum: The Price is one of only two plays he has produced twice, and his wife, Kate Burton, plays the part of Esther in this production.

"I fall in love with her every time I see her onstage," Ritchie said.

Ritchie then introduced director Garry Hynes, a Tony Award-winner for The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Hynes said she was quick to jump onboard to direct The Price. She has known Ritchie and Burton for quite some time, and she was eager to work with the two of them and Alan Mandell.

After dinner, guests ventured to the Mark Taper Forum for the 8 p.m. performance. In the play, two brothers who haven't spoken to each other in 16 years come together to settle their late father's estate. Victor (played by Sam Robards), a police officer of 28 years; his brother, Walter (John Bedford Lloyd), a successful surgeon; and Victor's wife, Esther (Kate Burton), gather in the attic of the family's New York brownstone, where they are met by Solomon, a wise and wily antiques dealer (Alan Mandell). It is not only years of accumulation of family belongings that need sorting out, but also the hidden motives that long ago fractured the brothers' relationship.

An American classic, The Price first opened on Broadway in 1968. Clive Barnes, writing for The New York Times, said the play was "one of the most engrossing and entertaining plays that Miller has ever written."

Arthur Miller's plays include The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944), All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View From the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays (1955), After the Fall and Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977) and The American Clock (1980), among others.

He wrote the screenplay for The Misfits (1960) and several books, including three with his wife, photographer Inge Morath. He received many awards throughout his career, including the Pulitzer Prize (Death of a Salesman), three Tony Awards and a Tony Award for lifetime achievement, two Emmy Awards and the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Post by Center Theatre Group.