2016 | Center Theatre Group

When playwright and MacArthur “Genius” Luis Alfaro was a child, his mother would bring him to shows at the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum—but she would wait in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power while he sat in the audience, enraptured. Alfaro became an usher in 1979 and eventually became part of Center Th...

The Local Theatre Movement

Most of Amélie, A New Musical (onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre December 4, 2016 – January 15, 2017) takes place in Montmartre, a neighborhood in Paris known as an artistic and bohemian enclave.

Montmartre

It’s no secret that politicians spend a lot of time thinking about how they look. After all, as the saying goes, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” In Vicuña by Jon Robin Baitz, political fashion (and the power of a well-tailored suit) take center stage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre October 23 – Nove...

Seven Key Fashion Moments in American Politics

Immerse yourself in the theatrical world of playwright Martin McDonagh before you see his The Beauty Queen of Leenane at the Mark Taper Forum.

A Martin McDonagh Primer

Google Martin McDonagh—whose play The Beauty Queen of Leenane is onstage at the Mark Taper Forum November 9 – December 18, 2016—and you very quickly learn a few things. One is that in 1997, he famously (and drunkenly) cursed off Sean Connery. (Which is true.) Another is that in that same year, he became the first playwright since Shakespeare...

The Irascible Irish Genius of Martin McDonagh

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN, CIRCA 1950. Since the 1800s, Red Hook has been a neighborhood of immigrants—first the Irish, then Germans, Norwegians, and now the Italians. There are no skyscrapers here. Residents have a clear view of the Statue of Liberty across the water, whose mighty presence first welcomed them to the United States.

A Snapshot of Red Hook, Brooklyn Circa 1950