Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

The Journey to the Elephant Room

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 11:29:00 -0800

In 2005, Geoff Sobelle (who plays Dennis Diamond) and Trey Lyford (who plays Daryl Hannah) performed all wear bowlers at the Here Arts Center, where they met Kelley Kirkpatrick, an Associate Artistic Director at Center Theatre Group. Kirkpatrick helped bring all wear bowlers to the Kirk Douglas Theatre that same year, which also happened to be the year Michael Ritchie began his tenure as Artistic Director. Thus began a nearly two-decade long artistic partnership with Center Theatre Group.

Seven years later, and after a whole lot of clownery, Center Theatre Group’s commission of Elephant Room played the Douglas, recruiting illusionist Steve Cuiffo (who plays Louie Magic) and completing the trio of magic-loving schlubs attempting to expand the membership of their secret magic society headquartered in a basement somewhere in New Jersey—that is, the self-acclaimed Elephant Room. And now in 2020, The New York Times recommended sequel, Elephant Room: Dust from the Stars, provides a glimpse into what happens when “(self-proclaimed) celebrities” disappear into the ether and emerge as space explorers and time travellers—and it’s all happening over Zoom.

Unlike many other virtual theatre plays and readings, Zoom is not something the artists fell back on to present work when live shows were no longer a possibility. Instead, Sobelle, Lyford, and Cuiffo are utilizing all of the special features of the app to create a live show specifically made for the platform, which means that they are the ones who will run the technical aspects while acting and doing magic tricks, sometimes at the same time. For the trio, it was important to integrate the conferencing, messaging and backdrop features to create a fully immersive and interactive Zoom experience unlike any other—and of course, what is Zoom without audience participation? The combination of their experimental theatre performances and the current virtual era of theatre speaks to both the present and future of theatre and performance.

Despite the distancing that has had to take place, Lyford was surprised by how much the community has survived. “Although the ‘live-ness’ of theatre cannot be duplicated, this time has proven that community can be built if you’re creative enough,” said Lyford. “The digital theatre world has opened up access to those who may have been bound by geography, cost, etc., and allowed the community to be more interconnected than ever.” For Center Theatre Group, we have had the opportunity to work with theatres, artists, and students from around the nation through our Digital Stage and Education and Community Partnerships programming. For Sobelle, Lyford, and Cuiffo, it’s given them the opportunity to transform what was once slated to be an in-person show into an innovative digital experience.

In fact, as Cuiffo put it, this moment is just “the tip of the iceberg of what we now call theatre and how we will interact as a species in the coming years.” As technology continues to expand and evolve, and software and new platforms to present theatrical work get developed, it is hard to predict what the future of theatre will look like. Sobelle wonders whether, if and when we come back to physical space, people will hold on to this as a form or whether it will even stay at all. At Center Theatre Group, we have a group of artists that are working together to directly inform this near future of artistic storytelling.

When not assuming the characters of Dennis Diamond, Daryl Hannah, and Louie Magic, Sobelle, Lyford, and Cuiffo work with some of the most prolific theatre artists as part of CTG’s Creative Collective, a group of artists helping Center Theatre Group “create experiences for our Digital Stage today, devise ways to bring audiences together outdoors or in other safe ways during this time of social distancing and to dream differently about the world we want to see when we can all return to our theatres.” Lyford said that “it has been inspiring and humbling to be brought into this room of established theatre workers to see what theatre can become and where it will go.”

Elephant Room: Dust from the Stars, directed by Paul Lazar, is presented live on Zoom as part of Center Theatre Group’s Digital Stage programming December 16–20, 2020.

From the Streets of L.A. to the Digital Stage

Kathlynn Alba — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 13:07:00 -0800

“I’m trying to hook up my headphones. They’re being a little testy,” says actress Sabina Zúñiga Varela during the first virtual rehearsal of Mojada, one of the three Greek plays Chicanx playwright Luis Alfaro has adapted. “This is going to be part of the process,” replied Juliette Carillo, the director. “Dealing with our little technical, bizarre Zoom hybrid world.”

Like Carillo and Zúñiga Varela, Alfaro did not foresee Zoom would become a saving grace for the artworld. Before the pandemic, the playwright was originally approached by The Getty with the idea to throw a launch party to celebrate the publishing of the collection, The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro: Electricidad; Oedipus El Rey; Mojada. When they realized they could no longer hold public events, they proposed to have the works filmed and work with somebody to produce it.

Alfaro, who had worked closely with the Center Theatre Group over the years, shared the idea with Artistic Director Michael Ritchie who recalls “We immediately reacted with, ‘Sounds great. Let's start figuring out how we can do it and do it well.’”

It has been roughly seven months since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses and entertainment venues in Los Angeles and shocked the theatre world into complete heartache. As Angelenos continue to grapple with the unknowns of this once in a lifetime phenomenon, Center Theatre Group discovered a way to overcome the grief and restore the arts: opening the curtains for the Digital Stage.

Serving as the fourth stage to the collective of venues under Center Theatre Group, the Digital Stage is a virtual home for a collection of new audio and video series for theatre lovers in Los Angeles and beyond. While the theatre company’s downtown L.A. theatres—the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum—remain dark, the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City was transformed into a makeshift film studio to record a set of new multi-camera, virtually produced readings and productions, for a series called: Live from the KDT.

Presented in partnership with The Getty, The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro, three plays inspired by Chicanx culture the series including Oedipus El Rey (adapted from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King), Mojada (adapted from Euripides’ Medea) and Electricidad (adapted from Sophocles’ Electra) have been captured on the stage of the Kirk Douglas Theatre. In the plays, Alfaro takes Greek tragedies and transports them to the familiar streets of Los Angeles, a diverse city whose Latinx community makes up almost half the population. Rather than mere adaptations, they become counterparts to the Greeks centering on the experiences of the Chicanx and the wider Latinx communities.

Although previously performed across theatres around the world as individual plays, this will be the first time the entire trilogy of Chicanx adaptations will be read together. Alfaro believes an environment can play its own character and is conscious that his plays are speaking the language of Los Angeles. One of the characters in Mojada is a pan dulce vendor, and beloved Laker Lebron James even gets a nod, via a jersey worn by a character.

“I really like writing about places,” Alfaro says. “It tells you a lot about how people love and think and live.”

As an L.A. native, Alfaro’s close connection to Center Theatre Group goes beyond his years working there as a resident artist. In his youth, he worked as an usher at the Ahmanson and Taper.

“I was really into Blues music,” the Chicanx playwright reminisces. His parents began taking him to concerts and theatre at a very young age. “I was a little eccentric kid.”

Alfaro’s mother was committed to indulging his love of the arts by dropping him at theatres all around Los Angeles while she waited for him in the car. He then began going to The Music Center. “Eventually, I think it was my dad that said, ‘You got to get a job here because this is way too expensive.’”

We still don’t know when we will be able to gather as a community in theatres, but the playwright remains positive about the challenge of change and embraces it. “I feel like this great pause is also for us artists, a great possibility,” he says. “How do we reinvent this thing? So that it's not about how we stopped, but it's about how we kept going? Or how we started to do something new? How we came back to our industry with new ideas, but not only new ideas, new people?”

The pandemic has taken so much from the theatre community this year, but fear not, the show is just getting started.

Center Theatre Group’s Digital Stage will feature a series of streamed performances, community conversations, and its ever-expanding library. For more information, visit CenterTheatreGroup.org/DigitalStage.

Scenes From the Vault—Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 12:34:00 -0700

In October 2015, Center Theatre Group, El Teatro Campesino, and members of the Boyle Heights community transformed Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles into a giant puppet theatre to tell the epic Mayan creation story—the story of Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven. The show was produced under the guidance of Center Theatre Group’s late Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez and the direction of El Teatro Campesino’s Producing Artistic Director Kinan Valdez. It was essential that the show not only showed an authentic representation of L.A.’s culture, but also was a community-based effort from start to finish.

With the help of Estela Garcia, Tiana Alvarez and other integral members of the Boyle Heights community, Center Theatre Group and El Teatro Campesino were able to find local community members to not only create music and puppets for the show, but also cast the show with nearly 40 Boyle Heights residents varying from children to adults. The music was created with ETC’s Music Director Emiliano Valdez and members of L.A.-based bands Ozomatli, Quetzal, and Mariachi Divas in what Valdez describes as their “Mayan Orchestra.” Together, the Mayan Orchestra blended the pre-written score with the sounds of Los Angeles—salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, and rap. During workshops at our Costume Shop and our partner space, Self-Help Graphics, members of the Boyle Heights community gathered to design and create puppets for the production. Staff members described seeing participants more engaged than ever before. In fact, many of those who participated in the workshop also auditioned to perform in the show and don their creations alongside the 14-foot puppets of the Mayan gods. Between the uniquely L.A. vision and community enthusiasm, Center Theatre Group and El Teatro Campesino’s production of Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven became an artistic celebration of Los Angeles’s Latinx culture and history.

As we continue reflecting on the power of Popol Vuh, we have been continuing our work in the community with Jesus A. Reyes, Center Theatre Group’s Community Partnerships Director, through the soon-to-launch Community Stories program and long-standing ongoing free workshops and events through our shop in Boyle Heights, local libraries, and beyond.

Scenes From the Vault—A Soldier's Play

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 12:34:00 -0700

Before its Academy Award-nominated film adaptation in 1984 and its Broadway debut in February this year, A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller opened the Mark Taper Forum’s 16th season in 1982. The show was produced in collaboration with the Negro Ensemble Company with a star-studded cast including Adolph Caesar and Denzel Washington. Just months before the Taper’s production, Fuller’s play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making Fuller the second Black playwright to win the award. The show also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play, a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, as well as three Obie Awards. Despite the play’s success, Fuller “never thought it would be on Broadway.” Forty years later, the play finally had its long-overdue place on the Broadway stage.

A Soldier’s Play is a chilling murder-mystery that explores internalized racism, colorism, and tensions within the Black community. The story is set in 1944 in Fort Neal, Louisiana—a United States Army base—when the military was still segregated. The play centers around the murder of black Sergeant Vernon Waters and the ensuing investigation by a black Army officer, Captain Richard Davenport. Although the original suspects were Klansmen, Captain Davenport later discovers how Waters detested other Black men who conformed to stereotypes and how he projected his own internalized racism onto his men, ultimately leading to the suicide of a fellow soldier and his own demise.

Fuller intended to create “what may be the first Black murder-mystery” play that centered around the Black experience with three-dimensional characters. In a 1982 interview with Center Theatre Group, Fuller noted that,

“In the 60s and early 70s, many Black plays were directed at whites [and] were primarily confrontational pieces whose major concern was to address racism and white-black relationships in the country. Now we are much more concerned with examining ourselves, with looking at our own situations... Addressing white people about racial problems is not our only concern... I also think we’re now seeing [Black] characters who are more complex, ones who have bad qualities as well as good ones.”

Scenes From the Vault—Soft Power

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:48:00 -0700

In 2014, Artistic Director Michael Ritchie approached Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright David Henry Hwang to commission a new work for Center Theatre Group’s 50th Anniversary. After collaborating with Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Shrek the Musical; Caroline, or Change; Fun Home), Tony Award-nominated director Leigh Silverman (Yellow Face; Chinglish; Violet), and Tony Award-winning choreographer Sam Pinkleton (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Amélie; Significant Other), Soft Power—a 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist—had its World premiere at the Ahmanson in 2018 as a co-production with The Public Theater. Soft Power was the latest in David Henry Hwang’s long-running relationship with Center Theatre Group, which includes the World premieres of Flower Drum Song in 2001 and Yellow Face in 2007 at the Mark Taper Forum.

Soft Power turns the classic East-meets-West musical on its head by putting the traditional American musical through the Chinese perspective. Like much of Hwang’s work, Soft Power explores identity and cultural appropriation. Inspired by the racism imbued in The King and I, where a white woman travels to Siam to teach the king how to be civilized, Soft Power inverts that power relationship by creating a world approximately 100 years in the future in which China has superseded the U.S. as a cultural power. Not only is this achieved through the storytelling, but also through the music. Tesori’s score pays homage to the sounds of classic Broadway in order to depict how China has appropriated the American musical form. Inspired by the events of the 2016 election, Soft Power also explores the ideas of independence and democracy—the songs "Democracy" and “Election Night” are our featured Scenes from the Vault selections.

Did you know that you can visit The Music Center to drop off your ballot? Registered Los Angeles County voters can cast their ballots in-person or drop off their mail-in ballots. The Vote Center will be open for the extended voting period from October 24 through November 2, and on Election Day, November 3, 2020. The Vote Center is located in Stern Grand Hall on the second level of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Enter through the main lobby doors, accessible from Jerry Moss Plaza. Restrooms will be available to voters. Learn more about voting in Los Angeles here.

Scenes From the Vault—Parade

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 11:24:00 -0700

In 2009, Center Theatre Group produced Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s Parade at the Mark Taper Forum in partnership The Donmar Warehouse. This celebrated revival marked a return to the Taper for both artists, with the World premiere of Brown’s 13 and Uhry’s Without Walls having played there just a few years before. Brown later returned to Center Theatre Group to conduct the orchestra for our 2015 production of The Bridges of Madison County at the Ahmanson.

With a cast including T.R. Knight, Lara Pulver, Charlotte d’Amboise, and Davis Gaines, the 2009 revival of Parade featured two new songs by Brown as well as several revisions in the script by Uhry, and was directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford. The production was described in the Los Angeles Times as “a potent antidote to the jukebox mindlessness running rampant today and an urgent reminder of what contemporary composers are still capable of achieving.” The original Broadway production in 1999, which was also Brown’s first Broadway show, was nominated for nine Tony Awards and won two, while the Donmar Warehouse’s London production in 2008 received seven Laurence Olivier Award nominations.

The musical is based on the story of the 1915 mob lynching of Jewish factory supervisor Leo Frank, who was falsely accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl named Mary Phagan who worked at the same factory in 1913. The event became a national news story that was sensationalized in the press, which kindled antisemitism in the greater Atlanta area and the state of Georgia at large. In fact, the Anti-Defamation League was established in 1913 as a response to the wave of anti-Jewish sentiment spurred by this event. After being unjustly convicted of murder despite there being two other suspects, as well as a series of rejected appeals, Governor John M. Slaton of Georgia reduced Frank’s sentence from capital punishment to life imprisonment. Frank was sent to prison where a group of men angered by Slaton’s decision kidnapped him, brought him to Marietta, Georgia—Mary Phagan’s hometown—and lynched him.

The musical deals with the complex themes of antisemitism and racism—or as noted in The Hollywood Reporter, “government-supported bigotry against blacks and Jews (shockingly pitted against each other) and the terrifying power of mob rule.” Parade is set in Georgia, where Confederate values and Jim Crow laws were still upheld. And despite how the political landscape has evolved since 1913, as composer Jason Robert Brown described, “In the time we are currently living in, the story of Leo Frank is entirely relevant and sort of sadly obvious. This is a story of America. We can all pontificate about how we want this to change and how things have gotten worse or things have gotten better, but there is something about the American story that is embedded into Parade, and I think we have to own that part of who we are.”

2020 Emmy Nominees: Stage to Screen

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 12:08:00 -0700

Uzo Aduba, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (Mrs. America)

Venice at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (2010)

J.D. Goldblatt and Uzo Aduba with the cast of “Venice” at The Kirk Douglas Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Venice is a dystopian hip-hop musical that was created as a co-production with Kansas City Rep at the Douglas. Uzo Aduba originated the role of Anna Monroe, the ghost of the protagonist’s mother. In addition to being a member of the original cast, she also played the role when the show went to The Public Theater in New York.

Wayne Brady, Outstanding Game Show Host (Let’s Make a Deal)

Blade to the Heat at the Mark Taper Forum (1996)

(L–R) George Villas, Ray Oriel, and Wayne Brady in “Blade to the Heat” at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz/Jay Thompson.

Before rising to fame on Whose Line Is It Anyway, Wayne Brady performed in the West Coast premiere of Blade to the Heat at the Taper in 1996 opposite a cast including Raymond Cruz, Dominic Hoffman, and Justina Machado.

Sterling K. Brown, Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series (This Is Us)

Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) at the Mark Taper Forum (2016)

Sterling K. Brown in “Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 and 3)” at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz

In 2016, Sterling K. Brown reprised his role as Hero in Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) at the Taper. Hero is a slave living through the Civil War that is offered his freedom if he joins his master to fight for the Confederacy and is faced with the difficult decision to leave the people he loves for what could be an empty promise.

Brian Cox, Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series (Succession)

Skylight at the Mark Taper Forum (1997)

(L–R) Laila Robins and Brian Cox in “Skylight” at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

In 1997, Brian Cox starred as Tom Sergeant in the British play Skylight opposite Laila Robins and Michael Hall. The play centers around a school teacher who is suddenly confronted by her former lover, Tom, with whom she had an affair with several years prior.

Laurence Fishburne, Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series (#FreeRayshawn)

Two Trains Running at the Ahmanson at the UCLA James A. Doolittle Theatre (1992)
Without Walls at the Mark Taper Forum (2006)

(L–R) Matt Lanter and Laurence Fishburne in a scene from “Without Walls.” Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Laurence Fishburne starred as Sterling, a young Turk freshly out of prison in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. He also appeared in Alfred Uhry’s Without Walls, which made its World premiere at the Taper in 2006. Fishburne plays Morocco, a gay high school drama teacher that produces The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for his class, which becomes a mirror to the story that unravels in Uhry’s play.

Jeff Goldblum, Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special (The World According to Jeff Goldblum)

Seminar at the Ahmanson Theatre (2012)

(L–R) Lucas Near-Verbrugghe and Jeff Goldblum in "Seminar." Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Jeff Goldblum reprised his Broadway turn in Seminar for the West Coast premiere in 2012 at the Ahmanson. Goldblum played Leonard, a professor who leads a seminar for four young writers in New York City.

Louis Gossett Jr., Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Watchmen)

And Where She Stops Nobody Knows at the Mark Taper Forum (1976)
Three Sisters at the Mark Taper Forum (1976)
Center Theatre Group’s 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Ahmanson Theatre (2017)

Louis Gossett Jr. in “Three Sisters” at the Mark Taper Forum.

Louis Gossett Jr. was a member of the Taper’s repertory program in 1976, starring in plays including And Where She Stops Nobody Knows and Three Sisters at the Taper. He later returned to Center Theatre Group in 2017 to help celebrate Center Theatre Group’s 50th Anniversary.

Hugh Jackman, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Bad Education)

Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (2019)

Anne Douglas, Deborra-lee Furness, Kirk Douglas and Hugh Jackman backstage after a benefit reading of “Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-lee Furness joined Center Theatre Group for a reading of Kirk and Anne: Letter of Love Laughter and a Lifetime in Hollywood at the Douglas in 2019 for a special one-night fundraiser.

Cherry Jones, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Succession)

The Heiress at the Mark Taper Forum (1996)
Tongue of a Bird at the Ahmanson Theatre (1999)
Doubt at the Ahmanson Theatre (2006)

(L–R) Lisa Joyce and Cherry Jones in “Doubt” at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Cherry Jones has starred in numerous productions with Center Theatre Group. She appeared in The Heiress as Catherine Sloper, an unassuming girl who is the heiress to a great fortune. In Tongue of a Bird, Jones portrays Maxine, a search and rescue pilot looking for a lost girl in Maine. She returned to our stage in 2006he Ahmanson in Doubt as Sister Aloysius, a nun who suspects a priest of improper conduct against a student.

Leslie Odom, Jr., Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Central Park)

Leap of Faith at the Ahmanson Theatre (2010)

Leslie Odom, Jr. and the cast of “Leap of Faith” at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Leslie Odom, Jr. originated the role of Isaiah Sturdivant in Leap of Faith, a musical adaptation based on the 1992 movie of the same name. In addition to his performance in the World premiere at the Ahmanson, he was part of the original Broadway cast.

Sandra Oh, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Killing Eve)

The House of Bernarda Alba at the Mark Taper Forum (2002)

Sandra Oh in “The House of Bernarda Alba” at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

In 2002, playwright Chay Yew’s adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba was produced at the Taper. The show centers around the newly-widowed Bernarda Alba who sentences her five daughters to remain in mourning for eight years—ultimately resulting in another death. Sandra Oh portrayed Adela, the youngest of the title character’s five daughters.

Dolly Parton, Outstanding Television Movie (Dolly Parton's Heartstrings: These Old Bones)

9 to 5: The Musical at the Ahmanson Theatre (2008)

Dolly Parton receives flowers during the curtain call for the world premiere of “9 to 5: The Musical” at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging.

9 to 5: The Musical, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, had its World premiere at the Ahmanson in 2008. The show, which is based on the hit 1980 movie of the same name, opened with a star-studded cast which included Stephanie J. Block, Alison Janney, and Megan Hilty.

Jeremy Pope, Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Hollywood)

Ain’t Too Proud at the Ahmanson Theatre (2018)

Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Jawan M. Jackson, James Harkness and Derrick Baskin in “Ain’t Too Proud” at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Before heading to Broadway and receiving 11 Tony nominations and one win, Ain’t Too Proud, a musical featuring the songs of The Temptations, came to the Ahmanson. Jeremy Pope performed as Eddie Kendricks and was nominated for a Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical.

Phylicia Rashad, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (This Is Us)

Gem of the Ocean at the Mark Taper Forum (2003)
A Raisin in the Sun at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (2012)
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Mark Taper Forum (2013)
Immediate Family at the Mark Taper Forum (2015)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Mark Taper Forum (2016)
Head of Passes at the Mark Taper Forum (2017)

Phylicia Rashad in “Head of Passes” at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad has been a part of Center Theatre Group for over 15 years, including as the director of four productions across our stages: A Raisin in the Sun in 2011, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in 2013, Immediate Family in 2015, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2016. She’s also starred in two of our productions: Gem of the Ocean in 2003 and Head of Passes in 2016. Rashad created the role of Aunt Ester, a character mentioned in several of August Wilson’s Plays but not featured until Gem of the Ocean. In 2017, she reprised her role as Shelah—a dying mother living in hurricane-prone Louisiana—in Head of Passes at the Taper

Cicely Tyson, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (How to Get Away With Murder)

The Trip to Bountiful at the Ahmanson Theatre (2014)

Cicely Tyson and Jurnee Smollett-Bell in "The Trip to Bountiful" at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Cicely Tyson reprised her Tony Award-winning role as Mrs. Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful at the Ahmanson in 2014 opposite a starry cast including Vanessa Williams and Blair Underwood. The play follows Mrs. Watts, who lives in her Houston apartment with her unhappy son and daughter-in-law, and eventually runs away to her hometown of Bountiful.

Special Mention

Alan Menken, Best Original Song in a Children’s, Young Adult or Animated Program (Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure *won at previously held Daytime Emmy Awards Ceremony)

Little Shop of Horrors at the Ahmanson Theatre (2004)
Leap of Faith at the Ahmanson Theatre (2010)

Composer Alan Menken (seated) and lyricist Glenn Slater in rehearsal for “Leap of Faith” at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Center Theatre Group has staged two shows featuring now EGOT-winner Alan Menken’s music, including Little Shop of Horrors in 2004 at the Ahmanson and the pre-Broadway World premiere of Leap of Faith, a musical based on the 1992 movie starring Steve Martin.

Scenes from the Vault—Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 11:00:00 -0700

When the World premiere of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was produced at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2009, an exciting artistic partnership between Center Theatre Group and Rajiv Joseph was born. Not only was it Joseph’s first large-scale production at a major regional theatre, but the following year, the show was trasnferred to the Mark Taper Forum and ultimately went to Broadway in 2011 and starred actor Robin Williams. The play was named a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and was also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. Center Theatre Group then commissioned Archduke, another World premiere play from Joseph that played the Taper in 2017, and has recently co-commissioned his King James with Steppenwolf Theatre Company for an upcoming Taper World premiere production.

The idea for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo formed when an article about the killing of a Bengal tiger at the zoo in Baghdad came to Joseph’s attention. During the April 2003 invasion of Iraq, the zoo was destroyed and turned into a battlefield, leaving hundreds of animals roaming about the grounds, trapped in cages, and stolen for food and profit—only 35 of the 650 animals remained. Four lions that escaped were killed by US soldiers. The zoo was partially restored by conservationist Lawrence Anthony and even opened to the public that summer, but in September, US soldiers held a party on the zoo's grounds. According to the zoo's manager, a soldier allegedly attempted to feed a tiger and had his right arm mauled, leading another soldier to shoot and kill the tiger. After an Army investigation, it was revealed that the soldier who was injured had been drinking, and the soldier that killed the tiger had used an illegal weapon he had taken from an Iraqi.

The play draws direct inspiration from the news story. At the top of the play, a tiger that lives at the Baghdad zoo explains to the audience that many of the animals that once lived at the zoo have fled due to the invasion, only to be shot by soldiers. Later that day, Kev, a United States soldier, shoots and kills the tiger. The play follows Kev, who is haunted by the ghost of the tiger that wanders the streets of the ravaged city “seeking the meaning of life” and witnesses the destruction of the world by its very inhabitants. The show also features several other characters whose lives have been directly impacted by the US’s intervention, both American and Iraqi, and is even written in two languages: English and Arabic. Through Joseph’s abstract storytelling, described as “boldly imagined, harrowing, and surprisingly funny” by The New York Times, he explores cycles of violence, how it affects the human psyche, and how it can continue even in the afterlife.

Scenes from the Vault: Zoot Suit

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 11:21:00 -0700

When Center Theatre Group’s Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson met with Luis Valdez to commission a play that was quintessentially Los Angeles—what came from their meeting redefined theatre history. When Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit first premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in association with Teatro El Campesino in 1978, it made history as the first time a Chicano play had been given a mainstage production at the Taper. Nine months after its run in Los Angeles, it took over New York City and made waves as the first Chicano play on Broadway and later became the first Chicano major motion picture. In 2017,

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 10:53:00 -0700

As the country continues to grapple with unacceptable truths, this July 4^th we’re reflecting on the ways in which artists have examined and exposed important elements of our country’s history with this look at just some of the many potent plays to appear across our stages. These works explored America’s history in many ways, including through documentary approaches and interpretations using fictionalized characters representing greater truths.

As we stated in our public commitments to change, our mission has always been to reflect the community we serve and to harness the power of art to transform society. This list of projects is just a sample of this work, but as an organization Center Theatre Group has room to grow and deepen this investment. We are committed to producing and amplifying more diverse voices in our mainstage programming, to seeking out, empowering, and creating spaces for those who have historically been marginalized or silenced, and to investing in underserved communities throughout all our programmatic and outreach decisions.

This list is meant to celebrate the work, but also serve as a starting point. Let the great work begin…

Father Comes Home From the Wars: Parts 1, 2 & 3

2016 at the Mark Taper Forum

(L-R) Sterling K. Brown and Josh Wingate. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan Lori-Parks’ explosively powerful play, which is set against the backdrop of the Civil War, mixed music, contemporary wit, and epic theatricality to tell a timeless story about the struggle to hold onto who we are and what we love in a country that forces us to fight battles we didn’t choose for ourselves.

Parks explained how she sees the role theatre has in exposing the state of contemporary America when speaking to The Frame during the Taper run: “I think we continue the dialogue. We give people a way to talk about things—[or] issues. I think we give people a way to understand their world. Just like old storytellers. Just like Homer, with The Odyssey. He gave people a way to understand the war. To feel it, you know? A lot of stuff today, they don't want you to feel, they don't want you to think; they just want you to buy something. We want you to feel and think and keep on keepin’ on.”

August Wilson’s The American Century Cycle

25+ years across the Ahmanson, Taper, and Douglas

(L-R) John Earl Jelks, Yvette Ganier, and Phylicia Rashad in Gem of the Ocean. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

August Wilson was an American playwright who believed in the importance of history to find out who you are and where you’ve been. He said, “It becomes doubly important if someone else has been writing your history.”

Over the course of 25 years, August Wilson completed 10 plays—each set in a different decade of the 20th century—capturing the universal themes of love, honor, duty, and betrayal through the daily lives, creams, triumphs, and tragedies of African Americans, one decade at a time. “Put them all together,” Wilson once said, “and you have a history.”

We’ve produced nine of the 10 plays in the cycle to date.

What the Constitution Means to Me

2020 at the Mark Taper Forum

Maria Dizzia. Photo by Joan Marcus.

This boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will affect the next generation of Americans. Fifteen year old Heidi Schreck—also the playwright—earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives.

Chavez Ravine

World premiere in 2003 at the Mark Taper Forum and revived in 2015 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

(L–R) Herbert Siguenza and Eileen Galindo. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

In 1949, long before the Dodgers considered leaving Brooklyn, a hillside neighborhood of a few hundred modest homes became one of the most controversial pieces of land in Los Angeles over a public housing project. Culture Clash’s Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza satirically revealed a chain of events that shaped and reshaped the life of a city, the effects of gentrification, and the history of what is now home to Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine.

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

World premiere in 1993 at the Mark Taper Forum

Anna Deavere Smith. Photo by Jay Thompson.

In the immediate wake of the Los Angeles riots and beating of Rodney King, Anna Deavere Smith spent months interviewing more than 175 people from all walks of life to craft Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, which addressed the conditions and events that led to the uprising.

Smith described her approach to making theatre in the program for Twilight, writing “I am interested in where a person’s unique relationship to the spoken word intersects with character. What fascinates me is not just what a person says, but how they say it. I am also interested in the changing roles of men and women in society, and our current challenge to find new and creative ways to negotiate racial and ethnic difference.”

Zoot Suit

World premiere in 1978 and revival in 2017 at the Mark Taper Forum

Edward James Olmos. Photo by Jay Thompson.

Weaving together fact and fiction from documents, transcripts, letters, and newspaper articles, playwright Luis Valdez portrays the events surrounding the infamous 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder in Los Angeles in Zoot Suit. It remains an urgent portrayal of the clash between generations in a Chicano family, the rifts between cultures in America, and how racism and injustice can haunt a city and a society.

“I have always believed that the American theatre must be attuned to the realities of our time,” wrote Valdez. “Zoot Suit is a product of that belief and, I hope, proof of the vitality of the relationship between a work of art and the society in which it is produced.”

Latin History for Morons

2019 at the Ahmanson Theatre

John Leguizamo. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

John Leguizamo schools America on Cinco de Mayo, and every other aspect of Latin history they’ve misunderstood and forgotten, to create a heartfelt and funny tribute. From a mad recap of the Aztec empire to stories of the unknown Latin patriots who won American independence, Leguizamo breaks down the 3,000 years between the Mayans and Pitbull into 110 irreverent and incisive minutes.

Yellow Face

World premiere in 2007 at the Mark Taper Forum

(L-R) Hoon Lee and Peter Scanavino. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Inspired by the 1990s Broadway controversy over the “yellow face” casting of Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce as a Eurasian pimp in the musical Miss Saigon, Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang spins a comic fantasy in which Asian American playwright DHH pens a play in protest, then unwittingly casts a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play.

Black Elk Speaks

1995 at the Mark Taper Forum

Peter Kelly Gaudreault and Jane Lind.

Black Elk lived the experience of the Native American people from the moment before white people entered his world through the end of their independence at the massacre of Wounded Knee. His unique eloquence and that of his cousin Crazy Horse are recognized in this play based on the book by John G. Neihardt and adapted by Christopher Sergel. Using oral storytelling traditions and music, it moves through a vast and rich history.

“The definition of the Indian as far as Hollywood has been concerned is ‘savage.’ This is one of the first pieces that has another view of the Indian,” actor Ned Romero said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times while performing at the Taper. “Maybe it’s time. Black Elk says that what was killed at Wounded Knee (was) not just people but a dream of harmony. His dream is about peace and communication and honesty—from person to person and with nature and the universe.”

Stuff Happens

2005 at the Mark Taper Forum

(Clockwise from lower left) James Handy, Tyrees Allen, Keith Carradine, Dakin Matthews, Mitchell Edmonds, and John Michael Higgins. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Stuff Happens by David Hare is about the series of events that led to the war against Iraq, and the parts played by world political leaders, in particular President George W. Bush and his inner circle of foreign policy advisors. From the early search for weapons of mass destruction and the long shadow cast by 9/11, to the drive to remove the tyrannical Saddam Hussein from power, to the thousands of questions relating to oil, terror, Al Qaeda, and more, Stuff Happens explores through public record and through David Hare’s carefully informed imagination what most likely happened behind the closed doors of power.

The Body of Bourne

2001 at the Mark Taper Forum

Jodi Thelen and Clark Middleton. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

The Body of Bourne by John Belluso traces the brief, but brilliant life of social critic Randolph Bourne, whose significant physical disability gave him a unique perspective on America at the turn of the century. An outspoken critic of World War I, Bourne foresaw further international instability and expressed a longing for a truly cosmopolitan society that would draw its strength from diversity and political pluralism.

The play was developed as part of the Mark Taper Forum’s The Other Voices Project, which was a playwright development program for artists with disabilities in the American theatre.

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

World premiere in 2008 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

Benjamin Walker. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

A fast-paced irreverent rock musical about the country we live in and the leaders we choose, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson follows America's seventh president from his early days as a child on the wild frontier to his controversial reign in the White House, including his part in the carrying out of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

“There’s not a show in town that more astutely reflects the state of this nation than Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” critic Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times once the musical transferred to Broadway. Describing it as “unconditionally (and alarmingly) of the moment,” Brantley said, “the image presented in this shaggy, devastatingly insightful show is likely to remain a true reflection of these United States for many years to come.”

Explore more of our history of works across the Ahmanson, Taper, and Douglas on our