Center Theatre Group Hits The Road

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:23:00 -0700

Center Theatre Group frequently partners with theatres around the country on co-productions. Recent partnerships include this summer’s Block Party at the Douglas. But in fall 2016 and fall 2017, we embarked on a more unusual endeavor for a nonprofit regional theatre: producing our own small tours, first for Arthur Miller’s Bright Star.

As the original producer of these tours, we don’t hand off the play to the next theatre, said Center Theatre Group Producing Director Douglas C. Baker. Instead, we remain the producer and employer of the show and its cast and crew. Doing so can help us defray the cost of producing a show, including production and rehearsal costs, while getting our brand out into the world.

After playing the Ahmanson, A View From The Bridge headed to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Bright Star heads to San Francisco’s Curran Theater and Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Theatre Company after L.A.

(L-R) Capathia Jenkins, Ramona Keller, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, and (foreground) Tonya Pinkins in Caroline, or Change. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

I stay in touch with colleagues scattered around the country who produce or present large-scale work, explained Baker. Through those relationships, I discover we have a mutual interest in a show or artists. That’s where the kernel of an idea to tour a production begins.

In many cases, these shows might not make it beyond New York or Los Angeles otherwise. Many of our partner theatres typically present national tours that are produced by New York or London commercial producers, said Baker. They know they can rely on Center Theatre Group to bring them a show that’s every bit as high-quality. And since we are producing, the artists are comfortable with the project proceeding, too.

Producing tours also helps Center Theatre Group create and sustain long-term relationships with artists.

Baker pointed to Caroline, or Change, which we remounted as a Center Theatre Group production at the Ahmanson in 2004 and then toured to the Curran after it closed on Broadway. Caroline, or Change was a continuation of book and lyrics writer Tony Kushner and director George C. Wolfe’s long histories at Center Theatre Group and also helped set the stage for composer Jeanine Tesori to return to the Ahmanson with Soft Power. It was challenging to produce, but a powerful, wonderful show, said Baker. Had we not done it, it wouldn’t have been seen on this coast with a full-scale Broadway physical production and with original Broadway star Tonya Pinkins.

Baker also pointed to Neil Simon’s Ivo van Hove’s first time on the West Coast, said Baker. And we’re very fortunate to be working on Bright Star with two more of the best artists in the world in Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

Center Theatre Group Partners with East West Players on 'Soft Power'

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 04 Oct 2017 15:44:00 -0700

Not only does this World premiere bring together two of the most well-respected artists in the American theatre for the first time, it also reunites Center Theatre Group and East West Players (EWP). Center Theatre Group last partnered with EWP in 2007 on our production of Hwang’s Community Conversations leading up to the play’s premiere.

Both Hwang and Tesori are recent Center Theatre Group collaborators. Taper audiences may remember Hwang’s 2002 Tony^®-nominated revival of

Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

Center Theatre Group Hits The Road

Center Theatre Group Partners with East West Players on 'Soft Power'