Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

Order Up!

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 13:21:00 -0800

Order Up

ROMA MARKET AND DELI, PASADENA
Eighty-three-year-old Rosario Mazzeo has been making “The Sandwich” at Roma Market and Deli every day since 1959—so it’s safe to say that he probably knows what he’s doing. “The Sandwich” is simple: fresh bread, capicola, mortadella, salami, provolone, and olive oil. And, despite being the king of Italian subs, he does not do SUBstitutions.

BUB AND GRANDMA’S, GLASSELL PARK
Bub and Grandma’s is churning out their own sandwiches on their fresh baked bread after years of wholesale sales to restaurants like Dune and Highly Likely, and their own Hollywood Farmers’ Market stand. Owner Andy Kadin hopes to bring together Jewish and Italian cuisine, reminiscent of the New Jersey delis of his youth. They have picks for both breakfast and lunch, ranging from a classic Bacon, Egg, and Cheese to the vegetable filled “Rainbow” sandwich with sprouts, beets, pickles, and more.

MACIEL’S PLANTBASED BUTCHER & DELI, HIGHLAND PARK
Many sandwiches consist of meats and cheeses between bread. But Maciel’s is the first vegan butcher in Los Angeles, offering made-in-house meat free sandwiches, cheeses, and cold cuts to those looking for an animal product-free alternative. Owner Maciel Bañales Luna is influenced by her Mexican heritage as well as her parents’ passion for health and environmentalism by making legume-based, minimally processed meat alternatives that may make meat-eaters do a double take (or double bite). For example, “The Flores” features Mexican inspired adobo ribs made from jackfruit that is spiced and sweetened with Mexican spices and a bit of maple syrup.

KONBI, CULVER CITY
Konbi is a Michelin-rated sandwich shop specializing in sandwiches frequently found in Japanese convenience stores. Their notable sandwiches are neatly cut into thirds, not halves, on thick yet light milk bread that are filled with katsu (a term for meats or vegetables covered in breadcrumbs and fried), egg salad, or tuna salad. The tuna salad is a new addition, with nori, mayonnaise, cucumber, and pickled celery.

HOWLIN’ RAY’S, DTLA, PASADENA
The “Luis Style Sando” at Howlin’ Ray’s proves you don’t need a trip to Tennessee for Tennessee-style hot chicken sandwiches. And they have spice level selections for everyone, ranging from nonexistent to “X-Hot” and “Howlin’!”

PHILLIPE’S, CHINATOWN
Phillipe’s has doled out their signature “French Dip” sandwiches in Los Angeles since 1908. The sandwiches are filled with meat and cheese and dipped into gravy. Located by Dodger Stadium, depending on who you’re rooting for, it might be a good alternative to a Dodger Dog.

LEE’S SANDWICHES, ALHAMBRA
Founder Chieu Le’s parents served banh mi to students in San Jose in the 1980s, and ended up inspiring a chain of restaurants across California and statelines. Now, they’re known for a variety of sandwiches. The “Lee’s Combination” is one of their classic fusions of Asian and European influences: a french baguette with ham, head cheese, paté, pickled daikon and carrot, onion, cilantro, soy sauce, and mustard.

BAY CITIES ITALIAN DELI, SANTA MONICA
Bay Cities opened in 1925 and have had lines for their classic Italian sandwiches and sides ever since. Their fresh-baked bread is the base for “The Grandmother:” prosciutto, ham, capicola, mortadella, genoa salami, provolone cheese, and “the works,” with veggies and mild or hot peppers. And if you’re looking to make your own magic sandwich, take home a bottle or two of their wide arrays of vinegars and olive oils.

MOO’S CRAFT BARBECUE, LINCOLN HEIGHTS
Some of the best barbeque in the country can be found right here in Los Angeles. Snag a “Sloppy Moo,” a loaded brioche bun with their backyard smoked brisket and sausage with pickled peppers, pickles, and onions, from them if you can—they sell out fast.

CEMITAS DON ADRIAN, VAN NUYS
The cemita sandwiches here are named after the sesame seeds that sit atop the browned and crispy bun and are inspired by the iconic flavors of the Mexican city, Puebla. All of the sandwiches are both big in size and flavor—especially the “Cecina Asada,” with cured beef, cilantro, jalapeños, red onion, chipotle sauce, and either panela or Oaxacan cheese.

PERRY’S JOINT, PASADENA
Just outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena is Perry’s Joint, offering towering sandwiches with a side of jazz inspiration. Not only do they have live jazz music on Tuesday nights, but the sandwiches are named after jazz songs and singers, like “The Egg From Ipanema” egg salad sandwich or the “Tuna Simone” tuna melt.

GRAND CASINO, CULVER CITY
Grand Casino has made their Argentinian baked goods fresh on their Culver City premises since 1987. In addition to their empanadas and pastries, they make sandwiches on homemade bread, like the “choripán,” with grilled sausage and chimichurri.

CHERRY PICK CAFÉ, DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
If you’re at the Music Center for either the Ahmanson Theatre or the Mark Taper Forum, Cherry Pick Café is a Center Theatre Group staff favorite. This café, run by a husband-and-wife duo, offers a mix of Italian and American sandwiches, with some wildcards, like the wasabi tuna sandwich.

A New Season of Storytelling

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 13:05:00 -0800

The Education & Community Partnerships department welcomed the new cohort of Teaching Artists for the 2022/2023 Season this fall. Teaching Artists take on a variety of roles and projects throughout a season, be it working directly with students in classrooms or community members in workshops in our Boyle Heights costume shop, developing storytelling series in local community spaces, or creating digital resources and programming related to our shows on stage. They work alongside Center Theatre Group’s resident Education & Community Partnership team, Traci Kwon, Jesus Reyes, Aurora Ilog, Nico Rosario, and Meighan La Rocca, to collaborate with and inspire the greater Los Angeles community of artists and storytellers.

Get to know each of the Teaching Artists for this year.

AJA HOUSTON (SHE/HER)
“I think it is super necessary and important to nurture the next group of artists and artists of color...For the future of storytelling theatre...we need to nurture the voices that I feel aren’t heard enough and for it to be more multifaceted and nuanced. [I try to] find a safe space for my students to form their voices and be confident in their voices and create brave, bold, creative, imaginative work.”

JOHNATHON JACKSON (HE/HIM)
“As an educator, I come from the standpoint of making sure that...kid knows that their story is valuable, that it’s worthy, and it has dignity and it’s worthy of art. I do it to try and change their lives the way [the arts] have literally changed the course of my life.”

DEBRA E. PIVER (SHE/HER)
“I love that we approach this program collaboratively. I love that we have a team of Teaching Artists and we are really collaborative through the whole thing. It starts with us. I love the student matinees...I’m always delighted by what students have to say and, if you ask them a big question, how they respond.”

ESTELA GARCIA (SHE/HER)
“That’s really at the core of who I am as an educator, of meeting people where they’re at and help[ing] amplify and give you skills to really...enunciate the storyteller in you. It’s not about changing you or breaking you down or showing you my method, but giving you tools and taking you through an experience where you’re going to feel more confident and able to tell your story...Because there’s such talent already in the communities that we’re not tapping into.”

TARA RICASA (SHE/HER)
“I believe that theatre connects us. And, because of that, it is an essential part of...that journey to being better human beings. Experiencing theatre, both as an audience member and experiencing it as a creator, are very different experiences, but equally valuable in terms of life skills...those basic soft skills–communication, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, all those things that you can get in other contexts, right? But theatre, for me, boils down to healthy communities.”

RAMY EL-ETREBY (HE/HIM)
“[Students are] not [being] taught that their stories are important. They’ve not been taught that there’s beauty and magic and power [in where they come from]. A lot of youth that we have met, you know, are trying to imagine a brighter future rather than assess who they are and what they know. I really like investing in people and getting them to own who they are and celebrate who they are. And I think the arts is the best way to do that.”

CHRISTINE BREIHAN (SHE/HER)
“I do this work because I think that art makes you a better person. I think it makes your soul grow. I think I want to be in the world with more people who’ve done it...You’re looking for excellence in everyone first, there’s excellence in everyone. Just looking for that all the time and honoring and naming curiosity...and being okay sitting in the mystery of things. Not needing the answers all the time. A lot of learning happens when you don’t know the answer.”

MARA PALMA
“The skills we are teaching through theatre, creativity, and writing are going to serve [students] for the rest of their lives. We’re helping build these future leaders of our society and growing arts appreciators. I find it really meaningful to see [students] with a little more pep in their step, a little more inspired, from the beginning of the workshop to the end.”

ZACHARY BROWN (HE/HIM)
“All of my art [and] theatre classes as a kid had a huge impact on the way that I turned out. And I believe that the creation of art and learning to express yourself is imperative to our development as human beings...of empathy and understanding in the world...I really love the moment that I can prove to someone, prove to a student that they do have something to say or that they can create or produce something.”

CARENE MEKERTICHYAN (SHE/HER)
“I always want to make sure that the youth that I work with know that their perspective and their values and the values of their ancestors are critical, and they have a voice. And I believe art is inherently political and is something that can use to change the world and spark empathy and to create a revolution, so I love to instill that in the youth and the community members that I work with, as well.”

A Historic Season of Firsts

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 12:55:00 -0800

The panel was moderated by ANDREA AMBAM, a politically engaged storyteller, playwright, and actress who is also the host of the entertainment company Level Forward’s podcast, More To Talk About, which unpacks the deeper themes in new work created by artists who are pushing the boundaries of entertainment.

The season starts with JANE WAGNER’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Written in 1985, this one-woman show originally performed by Wagner’s wife, Lily Tomlin, shocked and excited audiences with its feminist perspectives and opinions. The show has been revitalized for a new generation and changing conversations around the housing crisis and feminism, starring Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong.

ANNA DEAVERE SMITH’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 tackles a multitude of identities and political perspectives. Smith interviewed 320 people across Los Angeles about their experiences during the Los Angeles Riots thirty years ago. She is credited as one of the pioneers of documentary theatre, a theatre making process that builds upon real subjects and interviews for dialogue and characterizations. When the production premiered at the Taper in 1993, she took on each character herself. But now, it has been reimagined for cast of five.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner LYNN NOTTAGE is also well versed in documentary storytelling. Nottage began interviewing subjects in Redding, Pennsylvania, one of the poorest cities in the nation, in 2011 for her 2015 play, Sweat, which then played at the Taper in 2018. Nottage said she is building off of her interview work in Redding for her play this season, Clyde’s, which follows a group of formerly incarcerated kitchen workers as they reach for their dreams.

JOEY and FAITH SOLOWAY and MJ KAUFMAN are the first transgender and nonbinary creators to have work produced at the Taper as well. A Transparent Musical is based off of the hit Amazon Prime Original TV show Transparent, which debuted in 2014, breaking ground for new opportunities for transgender and nonbinary stories and starting conversations around transgender representation on stage and screen.

LARISSA FASTHORSE will not only be the first Native woman, but the first Native person to ever have a play produced at the Taper, with her World premiere of Fake It Until You Make It. This play is a satirical look at what it means to be who you want to be, when it is not who you are. Check out just some of the insight these writers provided to audiences at the roundtable event.

On Representative Firsts

LARISSA FASTHORSE
This is stolen land and yet no Native person has been allowed on these stages, that we know of... It just reminds me how incredibly far behind American theatre is...in representation of Indigenous peoples. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I am still first all the time. I still feel like I have to be perfect at everything because if I’m not, they’re not going to hire another [Native American woman] because I’m the first one and...I’m going to screw everyone else up. I’m always fighting for my community and finding the next people and making sure that we’re recognizing that I stand on the shoulders of so many others. There’s that constant of trying to represent everyone when you’re the first and only. It’s exhausting. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to be a white, male writer. I’ve never been given that opportunity to just write and not worry about what it does or who I’m representing. I just can’t imagine how freeing that would be.

MJ KAUFMAN
I love what you said, Larissa, about, “[the] first that we know of,” [because] I think about that all the time with trans things because we actually have so many trans ancestors who didn’t know [they] were trans, who were in the closet or had other names for how they expressed their gender identity, or never had the language or framework to realize their true selves...There are so many talented trans writers out there—so why am I the only one here? And it’s because of this desire to tokenize...the industry wants one person to represent everyone and it always tips toward the least intersectional [identity]—I’m white, I come from a certain amount of class privilege, I got to go to the Yale School of Drama, all of these things I think are part of why I’ve been able to be the first [and] only trans writer in a number of spaces.

On the Politics of Identity

JOEY SOLOWAY
I’m happy to talk about this moment. There’s a writer named Olivia Lang and she says, “fascism loves a binary.” And so in [A Transparent Musical], we’re going back to Berlin right before Hitler rose to power...Magnus Hirschfeld was defining trans science, they knew all this stuff that we’re trying to get people to say—there’s more than two genders, there’s such a thing as both—this was known in 1930s Berlin.

JANE WAGNER
I think there’s so much similarity in what’s happening today. Fascism is the right word.

JOEY SOLOWAY
It’s my hope that...with all of us writing from a trans perspective...I really want people to be shifted in their belief in...whatever people believe about trans people and to not only make a play that says we’re real, but for Faith to be writing songs that people are going to be singing on the way home. It is the reason why I get up in the morning, Jane, the belief that we can make art that addresses this idea of fascism.

ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
You said, Joey, that fascism likes that which is binary—it also likes us to be divided into different camps...When I wrote Twilight...I got a call from two Korean American graduate students at USC and they said, “We know you’re going to get it wrong,” referring to how I suppose, as a Black woman, I would represent what happened in the Korean American community. And here’s the important part—they said, “We want to help you.” And they took me around Los Angeles where I couldn’t possibly have gone, places I didn’t even know about, they translated for me—there’s no way I could have that part of the story. Jane, you may remember this, it was something I came across when doing research for a project. Lily Tomlin on The Dick Cavett Show...and there was some male television star on the show talking about what he owned and he said he owned his wife, and Lily Tomlin said, “I have to leave the show” and she got up and walked off the set of national television. And Dick Cavett kept talking as though she had not done that.

JANE WAGNER
I was devastated. You’re right, that’s the point. They didn’t honor her outrage at all. They didn’t understand. But we all saw...she was always proud of that. I was, too.

MJ KAUFMAN
A cultural critic, Lili Loofbourow, says...what’s more dangerous to female artists and trans artists than the male gaze is the male glance. It reminds me of what you said, Anna, about [their reaction to] Lily’s outrage was that they were going to glance and return back. When women and trans people and anybody who’s outside finally gets their art made, we’re faced with a white, male, industrial critic world. We’re still having our work seen through the eyes of people who actually don’t feel comfortable sitting in our shoes for a couple of hours. It doesn’t feel good if you have privilege and you center yourself all day long, to not see yourself.

Where Do We Go From Here?

ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
I’m 72. I’ve watched these landmark moments of cultural revision and they don’t last very long. How do we leverage this moment so that more people can participate?

ANDREA AMBAM
How do we sustain this? How do we make sure that it’s not just one incredible landmark season that was so cool, and never been done before? And then not done again for years and years to come? We are activated as allies across identities that indirectly affect us all. Because all of us are in community with each other, whether we like it or not.

JOEY SOLOWAY
‘Men seasons’ have been the norm and we just accepted that things can be exclusively one way and haven’t thought to reimagine that things could be exclusively the other way. It’s a new precedent. It’s a new way to say that this is the norm—to have a season that does not include a man, that is all women,

that is all nonbinary, that is all trans, that is all Native, that is all Black. I can’t even begin to imagine what [this season] will mean to the audiences, of people who are not cis men to begin to...be able to see themselves...and not have to see themselves as an object to find themselves in the theatre. It’s just so exciting to be able to call it out and say it is a season of non-men. It’s so dangerous that we barely have a way to say it. But if this is a turning point, it will become something that is easier to say.