News And Blogs

I’ve come to know that community encompasses more than just a group of people from a specific neighborhood, ethnicity, or age, and so, I’ve developed three “lenses” that I look through as I design community programs: community, Center Theatre Group, and artists. Each lens allows me to see who and what is represented or what spaces are...

The Boyle Heights Chronicles: Use More Lenses, Find More Intersections

We are halfway through the third year of programs in and around Boyle Heights as part of Center Theatre Group’s The Shop initiative and community programs, and each day I still learn something new, I meet someone who has never been to the theatre, and I find myself in awe of the creativity unleashed at a workshop, play reading, or costume de...

What I've Learned Three Years In

The path to becoming a medical doctor is long but direct: pre-med classes, then the MCAT exam, then medical school, then residency, then licensing—and finally, you're a fully fledged M.D. The road to a career in theatre, on the other hand, is full of forks, twists, and curves (some of them hairpin).

Los Angeles Theatre's Next Generation

Through the Looking Glass seeks to foster a dialogue between the communities of Montebello and Leimert Park by creating a play inspired by individual residents’ autobiographies—written not by themselves but by their counterparts in the other community. For seven months, Center Theatre Group and playwright and poet Jerry Quickley hosted workshop...

Two L.A. Communities Peer 'Through the Looking Glass'

Over the past six months, Montebello and Leimert Park community members have been writing their own stories—and those of their counterparts in the other community—for Through the Looking Glass, which aims to create a dialogue that will bridge understanding between two distinctly different L.A. neighborhoods. In weekly workshops, participants dr...

'Through the Looking Glass' Reflects on 'Appropriate' and 'The Christians'

Through the Looking Glass explores the real drama, real triumphs, and real people in two of Los Angeles’ most vibrant neighborhoods—Montebello and Leimert Park—in a deeply personal presentation that seeks to create connections, inspire, and empower. For the past six months, community members from each neighborhood have participated in weekly...

A Peek 'Through the Looking Glass'