Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

Costume Designer Raquel Barreto Talks All Things Elliot Trilogy

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 12:35:00 -0800

Center Theatre Group: How did you start your design process?: Raquel Barreto: I had designed two of the plays [Water by the Spoonful and

How Do You Make An Arts Professional?

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 11:15:00 -0800

(L-R) Talin Abadian, Johnathan Garza, and Jocelyn Lopez.

These three young people shared their stories at a Internship and career resources available to students.

Johnson then asked the three alumni—Abadian, Lopez, and Garza—to share about your experience at Center Theatre Group and help us tell the story of why it’s important to have programs that connect school and work.

Abadian, who was born and raised in Iran, talked about how serving as Center Theatre Group’s Management Fellow helped bring together her personal love of literature and her professional path. English is her third language, and she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to forge a career that depended on her reading and writing skills. But working on contract agreements and reading scripts at Center Theatre Group—and learning about dramaturgy—eased her fears. The biggest thing it did for me was give me confidence, she said.

Lopez, a longtime participant in Center Theatre Group education programs, talked about starting her internship with trepidation. You set yourself up to think, ‘I have to be perfect,’ she said. Then came her a-ha moment: Wow, this is actually a learning experience. These programs are meant for young people…to show you basically how to do a job. And I think this is what we’re lacking in a lot of fields. The internship plugged Lopez into professional networks in the field and helped her decide to pursue a career path in arts administration.

I was able to learn and mess up here. It felt like I was getting an education, said Garza. I was a student here. He talked about how the Center Theatre Group experience prepared him for an internship in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. Center Theatre Group was my foundation. Everything I learned about being a professional—working on my resume, working on my cover letters—everything came from Center Theatre Group. When I went to D.C., people were impressed that I was able to do these things, but I had learned them here.

In closing, Jon Axel let guests know about three ways for Corporate Circle members to help students like Abadian, Lopez, and Garza: by offering financial support, by providing their expertise as volunteers and mentors, and by sharing enthusiasm for this type of programming within their companies and professional networks.

The Cast of 'Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue' Opens Up

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 15:54:00 -0800

L-R: (below) Caro Zeller, Rubén Garfias, Jason Manuel Olazábal, and (above) Peter Mendoza. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

RUBÉN GARFIAS, GRANDPOP

I surround myself with people who commit themselves to the pursuit of excellence.

Center Theatre Group: What inspires you?: Rubén Garfias: Aside from my family, which provides a constant source of inspiration, the work that I do. I surround myself with people who commit themselves to the pursuit of excellence no matter what obstacles they have to overcome. That rare ability to surmount all odds when resources are limited is so much fun to be around.
How did you prepare for the role of Grandpop?: As with every role, with a ton of questions and a lot of homework. Rehearsals are essential for discovery, mistakes, trial and error, going too far and then pulling back until all the ingredients begin to take shape.
What is special about this cast and crew?: It’s a pleasure and a joy to be a part of this incredibly talented, professional, friendly cast. They are serious in their approach, dedicated to story, quick with their sense of humor, and totally focused on exploring all possibilities. I don’t notice the time going by. The crew is also a dream—the heart, vision, dedication, and love for what they do can be felt in the final execution of this production.

PETER MENDOZA, ELLIOT

It's exciting to be a Latino right now. The call for diversity is so strong. Our voices are being heard.

Center Theatre Group: What inspires you?: Peter Mendoza: Fear. I never wanted fear or my environment to determine who I will be. That responsibility lies with me. I give myself the chance to take a risk on something bigger than myself and know that I can live an extraordinary life as an actor. My late mother, Rachel Reyes, always believed God had something special for me, and I never wanted to let her down. She took in four children out of the kindness of her heart and raised them to believe they could achieve great things. I am here because of her and I know I will make it because of her.
What's your relationship to Quiara Alegría Hudes' work?: I first encountered Quiara’s work in college. I read Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum, I remember reading Water by the Spoonful again in the green room while Zoot Suit was playing. I also auditioned for the movie version of In the Heights. I just found it very funny; it seemed like Quiara was on my back, and I couldn't shake her. When I finally got my hands on Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, I was mesmerized. The sheer beauty and musicality of her writing was so powerful. I knew this was what I needed to do. It was fate.
Tell me about being a rising young Latino actor in Los Angeles?: It's exciting to be a Latino right now. The call for diversity is so strong. Our voices are being heard. We are no longer settling for stereotypes but calling for opportunities to be a part of great stories that don't have to do with race but ability. It’s going to be great to see what happens.

CARO ZELLER, GINNY

I see in Ginny my mother and grandmother, and all my aunts, the women who raised me.

Center Theatre Group: What inspires you?: Caro Zeller: I look to nature for inspiration. Growing up in Puerto Rico and moving to L.A., the differences in the natural world and sounds of each place are a reminder of how varied we are as people. Different things thrive in different places and different characters ask for a different part of who we are.
What’s your relationship to Quiara Alegría Hudes’ work?: Every time I read one of Quiara’s plays I have a physical reaction to it. It’s like she transports me back to my family. And family is the reason why I do this. Playing Yaz in Water by the Spoonful was my first experience working on a play by Quiara. This is when I first realized how much music is in her language, in the writing, in the story, in all her work. Elliot is a fugue, and we are the instruments. Playing Ginny is a very unique experience for me. I seldom am asked to play a role that is so close to my personal life. I see in Ginny my mother and grandmother, and all my aunts, the women who raised me. I get to take them onstage with me and share who I am because of them.
What is special about this cast and crew?: Collaborating and learning from the entire cast and crew has been a real honor. We became a family that needed to tell a story together. In the beginning we had no idea how that was going to happen, but as the first week progressed we soon realized we had created a vocabulary for ourselves and the pieces started to come together. It's also a room with some really funny, witty, and charming people, which includes our crew. Gotta love a crew that dances with you!

JASON MANUEL OLAZÁBAL, POP

To be moved emotionally, in whatever way that manifests itself, is a gift.

Center Theatre Group: What inspires you?: Jason Manuel Olazábal: I try to find inspiration in everything around me—the people I'm with, the places I've seen, the books I've read. Basically, I’m inspired by whatever I can use to help me deepen a connection and strengthen a bond. That goes for the characters I play and hopefully for the person that I am.
How did you prepare for the role of Pop?: Vietnam was the main focus of my research. I was up to my neck in books and documentaries. I needed to learn as much as I could so that I could start to breathe life into what would ultimately become my Pop.
What do you hope audiences take away from Elliot?: What I wish most for our audiences is to feel something—to be moved by a character, a line, or an image onstage. That is what I find so special about the theatre. To be moved emotionally, in whatever way that manifests itself, is a gift. Being part of this team gives me great pride because of what we have accomplished and continue to accomplish. I have been a fan of Quiara's work for quite a while. To say that I am overjoyed to now be a part of it would be an understatement.

Donors Go Inside the L.A. Writers' Workshop

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 16:32:00 -0800

L-R: Deborah Stein, Dominique Morisseau, and Leslie Ishii. Photo by Mike Palma.

To have a writers’ group like this is a lifeline. It keeps you going. Self-doubt creeps in while you’re all by yourself, she said. To hear your work out loud and get the validation of people laughing where you put a joke, or being moved—or even asking questions and people being confused by things—is very useful.

Miles and Joni Benickes founded the L.A. Writers’ Workshop. Events such as the evening at the Lippmans’ are one benefit members enjoy. We can pull the curtain back and find out what happens in the creative process, said Miles in his introduction to the evening. How does great art get up onstage? In order to find out, he turned the conversation over to Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist Leslie Ishii.

Ishii was moderating a discussion between Stein, who wrote and codirected Ain’t Too Proud—The Temptations Musical (onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre August 21 – September 30, 2018) and Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theater). Both playwrights participated in the 2016/17 L.A. Writers’ Workshop.

The writers met once a month beginning in December, just after the presidential election; three writers brought 20-30 pages of new writing to each meeting. It was a really special year to have this community of artists—to have this vehicle and this place and this community to be working through all these things that were coming up, said Stein.

One of the special things about the group is we’re there strictly because Center Theatre Group makes so much space for the wide range of our creative exploration, said Morisseau. We were all able to support each other’s different ideas and help each other cultivate the different stories we wanted to tell on our own. She was grateful for the group’s diversity as well. I had a very emotional moment in our last three-day retreat, where I looked around at our group, I looked at the stories we were telling, I looked at the kind of actors we were going to have in the room because of the kind of stories we were writing, and I thought, 'Oh this is the community I want to live in,' she recalled. I felt so full, learning from all these artists and their cultural perspectives.

Morisseau, who is also a writer on Showtime’s Shameless, talked about how important it is to keep writing for the stage while also writing for the screen. The L.A. Writers’ Workshop saved my life artistically because you don’t want to let go of one side of what you do because you’re branching out into other sides, she said.

After the initial conversation, Stein and Morisseau each read a brief excerpt from the plays they wrote in the Writers’ Workshop, followed by a question-and-answer session with donors.

I loved the evening at the Lippmans’ for so many reasons, said Center Theatre Group Board Member Monica Horan Rosenthal. The playwrights were both so articulate and compelling when reading their outstanding work and sharing insights into their processes. But I was also moved and inspired by comments made by donors present who shared their passion for deepening the culture of our city and cultivating an audience from the spectrum of its population by developing great work.

Triple Play Puts Playwrights, Patrons, and Theatres in Conversation

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 13:57:00 -0800

That’s why, in 2013, Center Theatre Group jumped at the chance to participate in Triple Play, a national initiative led by the Theatre Development Fund and Theatre Bay Area. Triple Play tried to put us all in the same conversation about the value of new work for our audiences—why people go to see it and what obstacles get in their way—so artists and theatres can understand how to make a healthier new play ecology for audiences, explained Center Theatre Group Literary Manager & Artistic Engagement Strategist Joy Meads.

Triple Play began with conversations in a handful of cities among theatre professionals and local artists about our perception of the demand for new plays, said Meads. Center Theatre Group hosted the Los Angeles conversation, which was lively, passionate, and inspiring, said Meads, and made us eager to investigate and get some real information to back up all of our assumptions and expectations.

Over the next few years, local playwrights and patrons came together for two stages of focus groups and one-on-one interviews. The first took place during the World premiere of eventual Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime at the Mark Taper Forum. Meads had been a champion of Marjorie Prime and was taking notes at the interview sessions, which focused on single-ticket buyers who had already seen the play.

Jeff Ward and Lois Smith in the world premiere of Jordan Harrison’s ‘Marjorie Prime’ at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

One of the things I enjoyed the most when I first read Marjorie Prime was discerning its mysteries from page to page, and my evolving understanding of what was happening, she recalled. I had gone to our Marketing department and asked that they not give any spoilers away. She discovered she was not, in fact, doing the audience a favor. People kept saying they wanted to clearly understand what a play was about before they decided whether or not to come see it. The request I had made turned out to be the best way to keep people from coming to see this play that I dearly loved.

Playwright Prince Gomolvilas found a number of his assumptions about audiences turned upside down during the second set of discussions. He was surprised that audiences don’t care about the 'World premiere' designation (and some even see it as a negative because World premieres are 'untested'). He also learned that audiences don’t follow playwrights, don’t know their names, can’t remember their names; story or synopsis is how people decide whether or not to see a play.

Gomolvilas and Meads’ observations were supported by interviews and surveys collected from theatregoers around the country. The results of the entire Triple Play study are available at theatrebayarea.org. Center Theatre Group also hosted a share-out that brought together members of the Los Angeles theatre community and the organizers of Triple Play to talk about the findings.

Meads said that Triple Play is already informing her work. I’m trying to be a partner with our audiences, she said. When people see new work, they need more information in order to feel safe taking a risk on it. We need to make sure they understand why a play is exciting or urgent or speaks to the time, and why the playwright felt a pressing need to tell this story right now.

The Block Party is Back at the Douglas

Center Theatre Group — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 17:56:00 -0800

Block Party is already a favorite tradition for the organization, said Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie. We cherish the opportunity to work alongside others in the L.A. theatre community and look forward to continuing to learn, share, and experience with our colleagues.

The Artistic Directors of the selected companies echoed Ritchie’s sentiment.

The two things that always move me about the Los Angeles theatre community are the incredible and exciting diversity of the artists and the work, and the sense of collegiality and sincere support that people bring to each other, said Critical Mass Performance Group Founding Artistic Director Nancy Keystone.

The three Block Party shows are emblematic of all this, as well as the quality of work being produced.

Block Party opens with Ameryka from Critical Mass Performance Group. Founded in 1985, Critical Mass Performance Group invents category-busting new works, including historical-poetical epics, adaptations of classic texts, intimate interactive salons, public happenings, and social practice art, performed in traditional and alternative spaces. Charting a course that begins with the American Revolution and continues through the struggle for civil rights, the fight against Communism, and the war on terror, Ameryka is an epic exploration of human longing for freedom and justice.

L-R: Nicholas Santoro, Danielle K. Jones, Ray Ford, Curt Bonnem, Valerie Spencer and Christopher Salazar in the original production of Critical Mass Performance Group’s “Ameryka.” Photo by Turner Munch.

One of the unique aspects of Ameryka is that it is an ensemble-created piece. We developed it together, from nothing, over six years. Each moment of the show is filled with the specific energy, ideas, and inspiration of each person in the company, said Founding Artistic Director Nancy Keystone, who also wrote and directed Ameryka in collaboration with the company.

L-R: Drew Droege and Tom DeTrinis in the original production of Celebration Theatre’s “Die, Mommie, Die!” Photo by Matthew Brian Denman.

The final Block Party show, which plays the Douglas May 10–20, is Celebration Theatre’s Die, Mommie, Die! Celebration Theatre was founded in 1982 by gay rights pioneer Charles Rowland and is dedicated to telling the stories of the LGBTQIA community. Today, the company is led by Co-Artistic Directors Michael Matthews and Michael A. Shepperd.