News And Blogs

At Center Theatre Group, we believe in the value of bridging what students learn in the classroom with what theatre professionals do every day. Enter our Teaching Artists, creative professionals who integrate their art form, perspectives, and skills into our educational programming.

Bringing the Class to the Stage, and the Stage to the Class

“It was almost like talking into the mirror,” said Wayne Mackins of being on the “A” side of a post-show Q&A session with high school students from around the country on a rainy spring night in New York City. Mackins, a senior at Fordham University, is currently making his Broadway debut as an ensemble member in The Prom. But in 2014, h...

Young Artists Inspiring Young Artists

A recent survey by statewide arts education coalition createCA found that only 26 percent of middle and high school students in California have access to music, theatre, dance, and visual art—access that is required by state law. The numbers for theatre in particular are bleak: just 4 percent of students across the state are enrolled in theatre c...

Building a Brighter Future For California Educators

Congratulations to Aryana Williams and Alexander Villaseñor on terrific performances in the ninth annual National August Wilson Monologue Competition on May 1, 2017 at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway. Their performances marked the end of a long and fulfilling journey into Wilson’s work; both Williams and Villaseñor had participated in the...

August Wilson Monologue Competition Finalists Take Broadway

On February 27, 2017, a century of the African-American experience came to life on the Mark Taper Forum stage through the words of August Wilson and the voices of Los Angeles high school students. Since 2011, Center Theatre Group has served as the Southern California home for the national August Wilson Monologue Competition. Each year, over 100 stu...

A Journey of a Century Begins With a Single Student

On May 2, 2016, local high school students Damaris Vizvett and Samuel Christian performed onstage at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre in the August Wilson Monologue Competition National Finals. Vizvett, who earned first place in the Los Angeles Regional Finals, took second place, winning a $1,000 college scholarship and a $750 cash prize....

2016 August Wilson Monologue Competition National Finalists Head to NYC

Monologues are one of the ultimate forms of theatrical expression. When delivered with skill, precision, and passion, they thrill audiences and deeply satisfy artists.

The Art of Teaching Theatre: Mastering the Audition Monologue

Alone on the Mark Taper Forum stage one evening in early March, Philip Patrick Bucknor performed an excerpt from August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. He finished and … silence. Then, explosive, roaring applause. It was a dual accolade that would be cherished by actors far more experienced than Bucknor, a high school senior, and it...

August Wilson's Historic Cycle Touches the Future