News And Blogs

It’s hard to imagine that less than a generation ago, Cupertino, California was an agricultural town. Today, it is home to Apple Inc.’s headquarters—a vast, ring-shaped structure made of glass and steel—and one of the wealthiest cities in the country. Yet for playwright, director, and El Teatro Campesino founder Luis Valdez, Cupertino will...

‘Zoot Suit’ Creator Luis Valdez Plants New Seeds at the Taper with ‘Valley of the Heart’

A major pillar of Center Theatre Group’s mission is to foster new plays and support local playwrights at every step of the process from conception to production. The ideal example is Quack, a World premiere onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre October 21 – November 18, 2018. Playwright Eliza Clark wrote the piece during her residency in the 2016...

From Start to Finish, A Home for New Work

Center Theatre Group has remained the first and only West Coast theatre to embrace my voice as a writer. I write African comedies, explained Ghanian American playwright Jocelyn Bioh. There are so many beautiful layers to my continent, and I feel rewarded in knowing that I’m adding to the conversation of how the African diaspora is reflected [ons...

Playwright Jocelyn Bioh Blends Comedy and Culture in ‘School Girls’

All three stages at Center Theatre Group have hosted artists whose stories reflect our diverse community since our doors opened in 1967, but this fall marks an important moment. At the Ahmanson, Taper, and Douglas, three powerful female playwrights—all theatre artists of color—have works onstage simultaneously: Dominique Morisseau, book writer...

Three Playwrights. Three Stages. Three Journeys.

Good friends are hard to find—and oftentimes harder to keep. And even the most challenging female friendships can be legendary with the right gals by your side. In honor of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play—onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre September 2–30, 2018—we’re paying tribute to some of the most iconic girl squads in p...

Five Girl Squads that Are Friendship Goals

From both an urban development and stylstic standpoint, industrial design has become incredibly popular in American culture, embraced for both the history it evokes and its more utilitarian qualities. This trend provides an interesting juxtaposition to Lynn Nottage’s Sweat—onstage August 29 – October 7, 2018 at the Mark Taper Forum—a play t...

Industrial Design Meets Set Design