News And Blogs

Suddenly I’m in the cockpit / Suddenly everything’s changed … Suddenly there's nothing in between me and the sky. It’s impossible not to clap or pump your fist or cheer as Becky Gulsvig, who plays Beverley Bass in the national tour of Come From Away (at the Ahmanson November 28, 2018 – January 6, 2019), sings the story of how Bass became...

A Q&A with Captain Beverley Bass

Twenty-eight hours after leaving Paris, France for Dallas, Texas, American Airlines Captain Beverley Bass and her passengers and crew disembarked in the Newfoundland, Canada town of Gander, population approximately 10,000. “Most airline pilots will spend their entire career knowing about Gander but never landing there,” recalled Bass of the loc...

The Making of 'Come From Away'

Dear Community Member, This month we have two terrific productions onstage that—in very different ways—use the art of theatre to illuminate key moments in our American history.

Dear Community Member, If you’ve never been to Center Theatre Group before, I want to welcome you to what I hope will be a wonderful experience. For those of you who are returning…it’s nice to have you back here with us!

A Letter from Michael Ritchie: October 2018

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.

The story of these young African American men navigating their identities, their music, and their role as artists at a time when the nation was in great civic and social unrest—I just think that speaks for now, said Dominique Morisseau.

Bringing Something New to The Temptations

The Broadway company of The Humans is receiving rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for their performances at the Ahmanson Theatre (June 19 – July 29, 2018). And while The Humans may be the only straight play in this 2017/18 Season, this uproarious, hopeful, and heartbreaking work is carrying on a tradition that dates back to Center The...

‘The Humans’ Is in Good Company at the Ahmanson

If we traveled back 70 years in American theatre, a booming parade of sweeping love ballads and uplifting melodic celebrations would welcome us. It’s not dissimilar to the music onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre May 3 – June 10, 2018 for Soft Power, the new show from David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori....

From Revivals to Reconstruction

Tony-Award®-winning composer Jeanine Tesori is known for translating America’s most iconic musical styles to the stage with shows like Caroline, or Change and Fun Home. But even if you appreciate the blend of eras and references that fill her music, don’t call her work “pastiche.”...

Jeanine Tesori’s Musical Patchwork (not to Be Confused with Pastiche)

What does American musical theatre look like if all I have is a bunch of Youtube videos? This was one question choreographer Sam Pinkleton used to guide his process in choreographing Soft Power, David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s World premiere musical fantasia playing at the Ahmanson May 3 – June 10, 2018. The play’s “reverse appropria...

An All-American Dance Off

Playwright David Henry Hwang knows a thing or two about artistic tropes and stereotypes about Asians, a topic that several of his plays have thoughtfully grappled with. Yet Hwang admitted—in a conversation with Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie—that The King and I still holds a special place in his heart. There’s this com...

When Theatre Royalty Take On Real-World Royalty

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