Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

Composer Jason Robert Brown Switches Hats to Conduct at the Ahmanson

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 10:06:00 -0800

But besides knowing that Brown, who wrote the music, is making sure everything sounds as he intended, what else is he bringing to the performance? We talked with Brown, as well as with local composer, conductor, and orchestrator Dan Redfeld, about the job of a conductor, and what it means when a composer takes the baton.

The conductor’s job begins well before opening night, said Redfeld, when the conductor sits down at the piano to work with the singers. Rehearsal technique is key. “The concert’s not important. It’s how you prep the orchestra,” he said. Redfeld recounted watching the famous composer John Williams notice during a rehearsal that the French horn was out of tune—and wasn’t going to be fixed by the horn player. Instead, Williams said to the rest of the orchestra, “‘It would be wonderful if you could actually tune to the horn,’” said Redfeld. “When you work with a great conductor, you see that ability in rehearsal to solve so many problems quickly so you don’t have to deal with them later on.”

During the performance, the conductor’s main job is to keep the show moving, said Redfeld, and to make sure the musicians and singers know where they are in the music. When a beat changes, the players “can look down and get a cue from us as to where they have to land,” said Redfeld. “We also set the tempo of the show, the tempo of each song, and kind of help guide the orchestra in a certain way.” A key part of the job is to help with transitions from section to section and simple shifts, said Redfeld.

Brown’s understanding of conducting has changed over time. “As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that conducting is not so much about dictating how the pieces move but really just about making sure that they all move together,” he said.

Conducting is not so much about dictating how the pieces move but really just about making sure that they all move together.
—Jason Robert Brown

“I don’t have to hold the whole show together,” said Brown. The musicians are “so confident and so good at their jobs that I can watch them enjoying themselves.” He added, “That’s where it’s really honestly the most fun—where I see them thinking: ‘Oh I can take a leap here,’ ‘Oh I have the freedom to go this place,’ ‘The song wants me to go here.’ And that’s been happening a lot with this cast. They’re just smart and very gutsy performers.”

Redfeld said that the biggest misconception about the conductor’s job is the importance of dramatically waving around the baton. “Conductors go around and do all the crazy gesticulating stuff, and you’re putting on a show,” he said. Former New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Zubin Mehta is “an incredible showman. But his rehearsals were very different. His baton was very clear,” said Redfeld. “By the time he’d worked with the orchestra for four or five days, he could go crazy.”

Not all composers are great conductors, said Redfeld, but those who are “can bring a really beautiful essence” to the music.

“The composer and the conductor are two very different hats, and you sort of can’t wear them simultaneously,” said Brown. “They inform each other, but when I’m conducting I can’t be the composer, or else I sort of can’t focus on the work I do.” If you’re thinking about switching chords or cutting measures, you get lost, said Brown. “You have to be a little bit ahead of the moment, and you have to be anticipating what that actor might do, what that musician might respond to.”

Los Angeles audiences, and Brown’s fans, are thrilled to have him being in and ahead of the moment each day at the Ahmanson. And Brown is thrilled to have this opportunity to return to The Bridges of Madison County. “Every night I’m very grateful that I get to be part of the show again,” he said.

Musicals that Leaped from Page to Screen to Stage

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:41:00 -0800

With Los Angeles audiences immersing themselves in the love story of National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid and Iowa housewife Francesca Johnson at the Ahmanson Theatre through January 17, 2016, we chose 10 notable shows that also made the leap from page to screen to stage:

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (1907, 1949, 2013) Roy Horniman’s 1907 novel about a poor man who murders his way to his late mother’s family fortune was titled Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal. The 1949 movie version, Kind Hearts and Coronets, starred Alec Guinness as all eight heirs/targets. Jefferson Mays played the same role in the Broadway production, which received rave reviews and a Tony for Best Musical. But the show, which comes to the Ahmanson in March, almost didn’t get made when the owners of the rights to the movie sued its creators. Lucky for us, the musical prevailed!
The Phantom of the Opera (1910, 1925, 1986) Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra was partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera. In 1925, it became a silent film starring Lon Chaney as the Phantom, which is most famous for the scene in which Chaney is unmasked, and Christine sees his horrifying face. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is the longest running show on Broadway, and played the Ahmanson Theatre for a record-breaking four years.
The Secret Garden (1911, 1949, 1991) Bridges scribe Marsha Norman won a Tony Award for writing the musical’s book. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s book, which tells the story of a young British girl orphaned by a cholera outbreak in India and sent to live with her forbidding uncle, was originally serialized in a magazine for adults. A film version was made in 1919 but subsequently lost; the next movie was made in 1949 by MGM; and subsequent screen versions include several BBC serials, a Hallmark TV movie, a feature produced by Francis Ford Coppola, an animated movie, and an anime adaptation.
Mary Poppins (1934, 1964, 2004) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Need we say more about this iconic children’s story of the eponymous nanny who is “practically perfect in every way”? P. L. Travers, who wrote the novel and its seven sequels, disapproved of the Disney film so strongly that she wasn’t invited to the premiere. It took years for her to agree to a stage musical—and she insisted that no Americans be involved in the adaptation. Mary Poppins broke records when it came to the Ahmanson in 2009–2011 featuring Ashley Brown, who originated the role on Broadway, playing the title character.
The Addams Family (1938–1988, 1991, 2010) Gomez, Morticia, Lurch, Uncle Fester, Cousin Itt, Pugsley, and Wednesday were TV stars in the 1960s and movie stars in the 1990s, but they started out as the stars of a series of one-panel cartoons by Charles Addams, about half of which were published in the pages of The New Yorker, primarily in the 1940s and 1950s. The musical version, which hit Broadway in 2010, was adapted directly from the cartoons rather than from the screen versions.

Carrie (1974, 1976, 1988) Stephen King’s first published novel was written in a trailer on a portable typewriter. Two years later, it became a hit horror movie—one of the few to receive Academy Award nominations. More than 100 adaptations of King’s works followed, including a 1988 musical version of Carrie that is considered one of the most legendary flop musicals ever produced, closing on Broadway after only 16 previews and five performances. (Technical difficulties included a microphone malfunctioning while being covered in fake blood.)
Catch Me If You Can (1980, 2002, 2011) Frank Abagnale was one of the most famous con men of all time—and escaped the police twice—before he was 21 years old. His memoir of his capers across America and Europe, including impersonating a physician, an airline pilot, and a lawyer, were made into a Steven Spielberg movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent who pursues him before becoming a musical that was eventually nominated for four Tony Awards.
The Color Purple (1982, 1985, 2004) Alice Walker’s epistolary novel of an African-American woman’s struggles in rural Georgia in the early 20th century won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Oprah Winfrey made her big screen debut in the Steven Spielberg-directed movie, which became a successful musical—with a book by Marsha Norman—that was nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 2005. The show played the Ahmanson in 2007–2008, and a Broadway revival featuring Jennifer Hudson just opened to great acclaim.
Matilda (1988, 1996, 2011) Roald Dahl’s story of an unusually precocious, horribly mistreated young girl who eventually gets revenge on the adults who wronged her was a children’s literature classic well before it became a movie starring Mara Wilson and Danny DeVito, who also directed. The movie was a critical success but not a domestic box office hit. In 2010, Royal Shakespeare Company premiered the musical, which went on to London’s West End, Broadway, and the national tour that played the Ahmanson this past summer.
Big Fish (1998, 2003, 2013) Six months before Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions was published, screenwriter John August optioned the film rights and began adapting the story of a father on his deathbed, relating fantastical tales of his life to his estranged son. Tim Burton directed the star-studded movie, which received generally positive reviews, but the musical spent several years in development before a brief and disappointing Broadway run.

Reality TV, 'The Christians' and Exploring Belief

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:12:00 -0800

We have to look no further than the reality show Breaking Amish to see why these stories of crises of faith are so compelling. The show follows a group of five young people (four Amish and one Mennonite) who move to New York City to decide whether to remain in their restrictive faiths or leave them and their families permanently. Although its form, structure, and tone are very different, The Christians, which plays the Mark Taper Forum through January 10, 2016, explores similar issues as Paul, an Evangelical pastor, puts his success and his good standing in his community on the line following a change in his beliefs.

At a time when interest in and adherence to organized religion is falling, and less than 20% of Americans attend church on weekly basis according to a study by C. Kirk Hadaway and P.L. Marler, these shows draw massive viewership, with new programs premiering all the time.

Despite a few prominent examples of shock value, many of these religious television shows grapple with deep and meaningful issues in a respectful and inspiring way. Preachers of L.A. on Oxygen follows a group of Christian prosperity theology pastors and bishops. While their personal dramas are portrayed in the overly dramatic aesthetic typical of reality TV, the actual religious aspects of their work and lives are treated seriously. Similarly, in Return to Amish on TLC, which follows the Breaking Amish cast after they either return to their communities or break away, the Anabaptist religious and cultural traditions are never mined for superficial emotional effect. This approach led to critical acclaim for Return to Amish and substantial success for Preachers of L.A., including several possible spin-off series.

Attempting to honestly communicate and understand incredibly different viewpoints and beliefs seems central to the fascination and interest in these shows—and is central to The Christians as well. “I have a powerful urge to communicate with you, but I find the distance between us insurmountable,” Pastor Paul says over and over again.

Prominent religious scholar Reza Aslan, a professor of creative writing at UC Riverside, knows this distance all too well. In a 2013 interview with Fox News for his book Zealot, Aslan was grilled on his personal beliefs and scholarly credentials because he was a Muslim man writing about Jesus. His measured response in the interview went viral and catapulted Aslan into cultural celebrity. Now, Aslan is set to premiere his own show, Believer, on CNN in 2016, which will explore different cultures through religious practices. You can get a taste of what Aslan’s approach will be in a 2013 Washington Post interview in which he explains how his ideas about religion has evolved, and where they stand today: “It’s not [that] I think Islam is correct and Christianity is incorrect. It’s that all religions are nothing more than a language made up of symbols and metaphors to help an individual explain faith,” he said.

The Christians asks its audience—whatever their personal religious or political opinions—to consider what makes belief holy, and if that holiness is truly diminished by those who believe differently. If you’re a fan of Preachers of L.A., Breaking Amish, or even Big Love, you’ve probably considered these questions before—and now is a good time to ask them again.

Tips for Applying to Our Internship Program

Camille Schenkkan — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 18:42:00 -0800

1. Make sure you’re eligible, and follow all directions carefully. Each semester we receive applications from graduate students applying for undergraduate internships, and vice versa, or from people who have been out of school for longer than the maximum amount of time. These won’t be considered. Many people also miss specific instructions regarding file format for cover letters and resumes (PDF!), or how to avoid submitting our Internship Application as a blank form. The directions are in the individual PDF internship descriptions and on the main internship webpage. Your application is an indication of your ability to read and follow instructions, and of your work style—make a great impression!

2. Customize your cover letter. Form cover letters—even for non-arts-related departments such as Finance and HR—never receive consideration. Your cover letter should tell us why you’re excited about a specific internship, how that internship will help you achieve your career goals, and why you are interested in interning at Center Theatre Group.

3. If an internship sounds particularly appealing to you, it probably sounds that way to a LOT of people. Some internships, such as Casting, Theatre Management, and Content Marketing, receive many applications. Successful applicants demonstrate through their cover letter and resume that they already have interest in those areas: they’ve job-shadowed at a casting agency, cast shows at their college, etc. They also tell us why this particular internship is necessary for them at this point in their career growth. People who are applying solely because something sounds fun are unlikely to get to the interview phase.

4. The most competitive internships tend to be in areas that are the most familiar to college students. Internships in Development, Audience Engagement, areas of Marketing like Account Sales and Ticket Operations, and Community Partnerships aren’t things you’re introduced to at an undergraduate level, so they get comparatively few applicants. If you don’t know what something is, research it! You may be surprised by a perfect fit. For example, Development (fundraising) can be a great opportunity for students who have studied English or communications and are interested in either working at a non-profit or starting their own organization. These internships are just as creative and rewarding—and you have a better chance of being selected, even if you have no prior experience.

5. Tell us why you’re the unicorn. Why are you—yes, you, reading this article—the person who will benefit most from this opportunity? How does your work history, background, passion, and focus at school make you the ideal fit for this internship? Use your cover letter and resume to draw connections between what you’ve already done, what this internship can teach you, and what you want to achieve as a working professional.

6. Be honest. In the CTG Internship Application, you’ll need to initial a series of statements to confirm your availability and commitment. If you sign off on those, get called in to an interview, and try to negotiate them or tell us they’re no longer true, you’ll be removed from consideration—and you will have prevented someone else from getting the opportunity to interview. Similarly, if your cover letter tells us how much you love casting but your entire resume is focused on corporate finance, it looks like you’re trying to hide something. If you’re switching careers or trying something new, address it directly and tell us why your feel you need the internship at this point in time.

If you have questions about a specific internship or something not addressed in this article, please feel free to contact me at Internships@CenterTheatreGroup.org. Thanks for your interest in our program, and I hope to receive your application soon!

Riding an Emotional Roller Coaster at the August Wilson Monologue Competition Preliminary Auditions

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 12:31:00 -0800

This year for the first time, nearly every participant attended an orientation workshop prior to the preliminary auditions to get audition tips and practice with acting techniques. Upon arrival at the audition, they confirmed their monologue choices at check-in before heading to the waiting room to relax and prep. Some participants led warm-ups amongst themselves; others contemplated the task ahead in solitude. Teaching artists delivered last words of encouragement designed to pump everyone up before they entered the rehearsal room to stand (or sit) before an audition panel of three judges plus an accuracy judge. Afterward, participants downloaded the experience with teaching artists and on camera.

Teaching artist Elena Muslar—who was one of CTG’s first August Wilson Program interns in 2011—said that a highlight of the day was “surveying students in the moment right after their audition about how they were feeling and what they were proud of accomplishing while giving them a peaceful, private moment to relax and take a deep breath.” The students “were experiencing their most heightened, true, and raw emotions,” she said.

“I was really impressed with their courage, and by how many young, talented, and brave young people are willing to go audition,” said teaching artist Tiana Alvarez. She was also surprised by how positive the students were after coming out of the auditions. “I was expecting to speak with people who were very distraught or upset, but it felt like it was very positive overall for every person that I talked to,” she said. “It seemed that they were all really coming out knowing a lot more, and having an experience that was going to strengthen them in the future.”

Muslar concurred. “I think the students learned a lot about resilience and confidence from the way some of them had to recover from a flubbed line or take on the attributes of a character that may have seemed intimidating at first,” she said. “I also hope that they recognize that this whole experience is one created for them to learn—about a phenomenal playwright and their potential to breathe life into his creative works.”

Teaching artist Bernard Addison agreed that Wilson and learning are at the center of the day. “I hope that the biggest takeaway the students have from this experience is to witness a larger collective of artists all gathering and giving their all to the celebration of the work of one of the true singular voices of the theatre,” he said. “This process speaks to the larger lesson of collaborative art. Even though it is a monologue, it is still a collaboration—actor and text, actor and coach, actor and the community of artists at CTG that did their very best to make it a day for them to shine.”

Added Muslar, “I think August Wilson is looking down smiling because his Century Cycle hasn’t ended. His writings were merely the beginning. The cycle continues every time a new generation is introduced to and gets the opportunity to really meet his work through wonderful programs like the August Wilson Monologue Competition at CTG.”

In 'The Christians' L.A. is The Choir

Center Theatre Group — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 12:40:00 -0800

Why is a massive cross dominating the stage of the Mark Taper Forum, and why is a choir belting out hymns? These are two ways The Christians, which plays the Taper through January 10, 2016, is immersing audiences in an evangelical church where they play the congregation. At the pulpit, a pastor questions a core tenet of Christianity, organized religion at large, and the very concept of belief. These questions ultimately threaten his congregation and his personal relationships. The choir, apart from providing a beautiful and entertaining backdrop to the actors and actresses and increasing the production’s realism, plays a pivotal part in how these questions are presented and addressed.

In a city full of multi-talented performers, it would have been easy to cast only professionals to play the choir. Instead, Music Director Scott Anthony, playwright Lucas Hnath, and Director Les Waters decided to put together a group of singers consisting of many actual choir members from across Los Angeles. “It’s important to reflect the community on stage,” said Anthony, “to have a mix of professional singers and local talent.” Hnath and Waters, said Anthony, “stressed the necessity of diversity in the choir. The audience should feel on walking in that this is ‘church’—but not a specific church. Local and diverse choir members create the universality.”

This universality is intended to ensure the audience’s full investment—that they actively feel the play rather than passively absorb it. Like an ancient Greek chorus, this chorus of Angelenos comments on the action, provides insight to characters, and perhaps most importantly, guides the audience from the perspective of the local community. “It allows the city to feel ownership of the story and the show, said Anthony, and “it cultivates a sense of civic investment.” As in a traditional Greek chorus, the choir has a leader: Anthony is taking the stage as the choir director for the church, mirroring his real-life role.

The choirs are being pulled from a pool of 50 local vocalists—a mix that spans the gamut from established Broadway performers to USC students and ranges in age from their 20s to their 60s. A core choir that performs every night will be augmented by three rotating choirs that will take the stage at different points in the run. Anthony described the process of casting a diverse choir that represents L.A. as “exhausting and wonderful,” but aligning everything from their musical ranges to their schedules required “massive spreadsheets.” However, Anthony doesn’t seem to mind. “Working with all of these people has been amazing!” he said. “We pulled in people from across the spectrum religiously, and the show connected to them. That was very gratifying.”

Anthony predicts that audiences will connect with both the show and the choir, as they did during the 2014 Actors Theatre of Louisville production of The Christians, which also featured a choir made up of community members. The choir gives the audience “the sense of people in the pews,” as Anthony put it. Like the choir, the audience comes from a mix of backgrounds and faiths, or lack thereof. The play speaks to all these people as it probes the expanding morass between differing viewpoints in our world today. The choir, with faces plucked from L.A., shows our yearning to bridge that distance. “Not to mention,” said Anthony, “they provide a great stage exit.”

Conversations from the Classroom: English Learners Speak the Language of Theatre

Lynn Clark — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:17:00 -0800

Three months into the school year, I’m amazed by what they’ve accomplished. Just last week, Khin, a seventh grader from Burma who started the year not speaking any English, got up on stage and read a script with another student—in English! But I also wanted to know what else I could be doing to support Khin and my other English learners. (Khin is not her real name, nor are my other students mentioned by their real names.)

So I sat down to talk with two of my colleagues, David Johnson and Linh Phuong, who are both full-time English Language Development (ELD) educators with a combined 44(!) years of classroom experience. They offer instruction in core academic curriculum to the same group of students for much of the school day while simultaneously cultivating their students’ English language skills.

My first question: “What do you think would be effective strategies to assist English learners in theatre class?

“Provide them with things in advance so that they can translate,” said David—not just scripts but also simple classroom directions, like ‘Turn to page 65.’ You guess what you think you are going to need them to know, and you create a translation sheet for them.”

“I do a lot of role play,” added Linh. “And if I were to teach your class, I would allow them to speak their own language. They could do little skits or scripts in their own language.”

“Role play could be really short, situational dialogues, like ‘Who’s in your family?’” said David. For students just beginning to learn English, “you provide a template: ‘Here’s your conversation. You’re just going to substitute brother for sister.’”

But it’s not just about what I can do for these students as a teacher, I’ve discovered; it’s also about what they can do for one another.

“Do you have the English learners sit together all the time?” David asked me.

“I have them sitting in different places,” I explained. “I didn’t want five or six students in a corner and then have the other 30 students doing something else. I was trying to normalize the social situation for them.”

“If you can make them part of the class, then you’re doing a positive thing for those kids, and it’s good for everybody else, too,” he said.

I think that’s one reason why Khin, my Burmese student, performed on stage recently. The students in my class who already speak English, or the students who are still learning but are more confident, have started coaching the English learners.

I told David and Linh about Sam, who is from China and is just beginning to speak English, but already “has been on stage and improvised and spoken a few words. The students in his small group gave him a role, or some action to perform, and he did it.” I also told them about Hui, who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, and Carey, who speaks only Mandarin. “Hui, who is more English-proficient, explains things to Carey,” I said. “I’ve been finding it offers meaning to the student mentors. It makes them happy to help someone else.”

And as David and Linh know, it’s not just about teaching students a new language but also embracing their first language and culture. “I was speaking with Tony”—a counselor at Jefferson and Linh’s husband—“and he suggested having kids in drama write stories about their own culture,” I said. “Then I thought, why not have them write plays in their own languages and have them translated? When they perform them, either they would speak in their own language, or have dual scenes going on, with one in English and one in their language—”

“Or maybe have an interpreter on the side?” suggested Linh.

They’re absorbing…That’s what they’re doing in your [drama] class."
—Linh Phuong

“This is something that gets talked about,” added David. “Teachers say, ‘Well, how much are you going to allow them to speak their own language?’ and I’ve heard people say, ‘You have to insist, right from the start, English-only.’ And I’ve never done that. I don’t think that’s the way to go.”

Linh explained her approach: “In class I encourage them to use English. But every once in a while they just can’t think of the word, so I tell them, ‘Say it in Chinese,’ or whatever language. During break time, they can speak any language they want. I encourage them to read in their language. Don’t lose it.”

Tyrone Howard, an education professor at UCLA who spoke recently at a conference I attended for teachers of English learners, agreed. “He emphasized honoring and embracing your students’ languages, whether they use slang or a completely different language, because it’s an essential part of who they are, and, therefore, it’s a part of how they learn,” I told David and Linh. “To have your students completely compartmentalize language that is not academic English, and to not have them engage it, can hamper their learning process.”

David and Linh agreed that moving beyond academia and talking or reading about pop culture—whether it’s celebrities or video games—can be a useful way to engage the kids.

“You might talk about TV shows or movies,” said David. “Encouraging them to watch TV is not necessarily a bad thing.”

Said Linh, “The parents are always kind of surprised: ‘You want them to watch TV!’ Yes, watch the news or a wholesome TV show. Watch with them.”

I asked if subtitles were helpful, and Linh and David said that just listening is better.

“Sometimes, for all kids, it’s good to watch a scene with no sound,” added David. “They make up their own story, or they’re just talking about what they see.”

That gave me an idea: “I could have people act out scenes without any dialogue,” I said.

“Then they write their own dialogue,” said Linh, “even in their own language.”

“Another thing I do with English learners is give them a script with missing words,” said David. “They’re not listening for the whole thing, but they are listening for a specific thing.”

Before wrapping up, I asked David and Linh, “If you could only give one piece of advice to someone teaching English learners, what would it be?”

“Talk to other teachers who have experience with them,” said Linh. “David and I are always asking, ‘What are you doing? How are you doing it?’ Even though we teach different levels [of English language learners], some of his ideas I can alter a little bit to fit my kids.” Linh summed it up as, “Having a department meeting, collaboration, talking.”

David’s advice is to be “aware of how much time it’s going to take them to learn things, no matter how well they’re doing. Try to come up with tasks they can have success with, whether it’s a sentence or a word here and there.”

Linh was inspired to echo motivation David had offered when she was feeling down about something. “He was telling me, ‘Just think of it this way: think about the number of kids who have come back speaking English. That’s what we really want.’” She added, “Like David said, it takes time. You might not see it this year.”

The development that happens from one year to the next can surprise you, said David and Linh. “Kids leave my room not speaking, and they come back speaking English,” said David.

“They’re absorbing,” said Linh. “That’s what they’re doing in your [drama] class.”

Young Jean Lee on Bringing 'Straight White Men' to L.A.

Center Theatre Group — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 11:26:00 -0800

Meet the 2015/16 Student Ambassadors

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 11:35:00 -0800

When I Say 'Straight White Men,' L.A. Says...

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 10:42:00 -0800