News And Blogs

She didn’t know it at the time, but Andi Chapman’s first encounter with legendary playwright August Wilson was prophetic. “He said ‘hello’ and told me I had hands like his mother,” said Chapman—who, 22 years old and beginning graduate school at the Yale School of Drama, wasn’t sure what to think. Today, however, “That’s a specia...

Meet Center Theatre Group August Wilson Program Advisor Andi Chapman

It’s easy to take the cold weather attire and accents of the characters of Sweat to mean that the problems they face are endemic to industrial East Coast towns. Yet the reality for so many Angelenos is all too similar to that of the Reading, Pennsylvania working-class characters in Lynn Nottage’s searing play (onstage August 29 – October 7, 2...

Different Coasts, Same Problems

At first glance, the words jazz and politics do not necessarily sound like harmonious ideas.

Can Music Make Democracy?

In Classroom Connections, Center Theatre Group invites groups of educators to enjoy a night out at the theatre—followed by a discussion of the show and where they found inspiration over food and drinks. The goal is to talk about the bridges we can build between the craft of theatre and the craft of classroom teaching.

'Archduke' Offers Students Lessons in Collaboration and History

Disgraced is a play that everyone seems to be talking about across the country, from my family in Chicago to many friends here in L.A. I had heard about how the play dealt with contemporary faith and religion head-on. So when I received an email about Center Theatre Group’s Youth Theatre Forum for Disgraced on June 17, 2016, I got excited. Who do...

Students Discuss Faith, Identity, and ‘Art Activism’

On a Thursday afternoon in early June, an anonymous Downtown L.A. conference room was transformed into a 1920s recording studio on Chicago's South Side filled with music executives, musicians, a legendary blueswoman, and her entourage. The room’s walls had been covered in lists of images and ideas about theatre, music, and American history, and i...

L.A. Educators Immerse Themselves in August Wilson

The American Civil War is the backdrop of Suzan-Lori Parks’ new play, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), which plays the Mark Taper Forum April 5–May 15, 2016. But this tale of a slave who must decide whether to fight in the war on the side of the Confederacy also offers insight into racial dynamics and identity issues w...

Conversations from the Classroom: Teaching Theatre Students About Access, Equity, and Inclusion

What does a recent rash of TV shows focusing on religious subjects such as Breaking Amish, Big Love, and Reza Aslan’s upcoming Believer reveal about our fascination with the collision of deeply held beliefs, doubt, and different perspectives on religion?...

Reality TV, 'The Christians' and Exploring Belief