May | Center Theatre Group

When the Royal Shakespeare Company decided to make a musical version of Roald Dahl's beloved book Matilda, they chose Matthew Warchus to direct. When Warchus went looking for a songwriter for Matilda The Musical, he chose Australian comedian Tim Minchin, a performer who "plays a heightened version of himself: a smart-ass who knows he's right a...

It was just a year and a half ago that Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen staged their work-in-progress How to be a Rock Critic as a reading at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Los Angeles Times arts reporter and pop music critic Mike Boehm delves into the story behind the story:...

One of the incredible joys of my job as Center Theatre Group’s artistic development program manager is to see a project grow and change from the beginning. I remember the day when Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez passed along the script of Used To Was (Maybe Did) by playwright Brian Dykstra to me. I could feel the excitement and e...

Center Theatre Group recently invited donors, Kirk Douglas Theatre subscribers and the general public to the KDT’s rehearsal room for a special DouglasPlus event called Sandbox@CTG. The Sandbox is an opportunity for our audiences to meet CTG’s family of artists and to participate in the creative process by attending readings of new works a...

Inner Circle members received a rare glimpse into the orchestra pit of the Ahmanson Theatre at the Inner Circle’s most recent Up Close Dialogue as producing director Doug Baker sat down with Jay Alger, the music director of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Up Close Dialogues are opportunities for members of the Inner Circle to hear Cent...

On Friday, April 24, Center Theatre Group’s young professionals group, The Fringe, got together for the irreverent comedy Immediate Family at the Mark Taper Forum. Over fifty Fringe members were in attendance and a wonderful performance set the tone for a great night of mingling and partying....

Center Theatre Group is profiling the work of Los Angeles educators in a new Teacher Feature series. These features — which highlight both theatre and non-theatre teachers — provide a glimpse into the daily challenges and successes in the classroom (and sometimes on the stage) and offer a space for fellow educators to learn from each other and...

Teacher Feature - End of the year “crazy time”

Throughout the school year, we are asking Los Angeles educators for their most inspiring and essential ideas for teaching and integrating theatre in the classroom. If you’re a local educator with a passionate and innovative approach to working with students or a self-growth strategy to share with colleagues, pitch your blog idea to Education@Ce...

The Art of Teaching Theatre: Endings and Rituals

Alone on the Mark Taper Forum stage one evening in early March, Philip Patrick Bucknor performed an excerpt from August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. He finished and … silence. Then, explosive, roaring applause. It was a dual accolade that would be cherished by actors far more experienced than Bucknor, a high school senior, and it...

August Wilson's Historic Cycle Touches the Future

“The first Mistake of Art is to assume that it’s serious” – Lester Bangs

This article was originally written by Lynell George for the program for the production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone directed by Phylicia Rashad at the Mark Taper Forum in spring 2013. The below post is an excerpted version of the original article. Center Theatre Group's Los Angeles National Finalists of the August Wilson Monologue Compet...

News:

The New Yorker explores the "secular kind of fervor" of 'Matilda The Musical' composer Tim Minchin

LA Times' Mike Boehm sees how 'Rock Critic' hits an honest chord

Bringing ‘Used to Was (Maybe Did)’ from page to stage

Inside Sandbox @ CTG: Feral Drives, Fierce Women: A Conversation with Sheila Callaghan

The Man Behind the Music

The Fringe @ Center Theatre Group attends 'Immediate Family'

Teacher Feature - End of the year “crazy time”

The Art of Teaching Theatre: Endings and Rituals

August Wilson's Historic Cycle Touches the Future

The Rock Critic’s Journey

From "Freed-Man" to Free: The Distance of the Journey