News: Onstage

A Mostly Candid Tracy Letts on His Career Wins and Woes

In a 2018 Q&A with Slate, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Tracy Letts said, I lie in all these interviews.

A Mostly Candid Tracy Letts on His Career Wins and Woes

A Q&A with Ian Barford

Ian Barford has originated four roles in Tracy Letts’ canon of plays: Little Charles in August: Osage County (which he continued on Broadway), Ray in Mary Page Marlowe, Mr. Carp in The Minutes, and Wheeler in Linda Vista, which he steps back into at the Taper January 9 – February 17, 2019....

A Q&A with Ian Barford

A Letter from Michael Ritchie: December 2018

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.

Taking Kabuki to the Taper

In Ancient Greek and Roman theatre, there were tragedies and comedies. During the English Renaissance, there was Elizabethan theatre. During the Spanish Golden Age, secular plays called comedias emerged. And in 17th century Japan, the kabuki tradition prevailed.

Taking Kabuki to the Taper

Ten Camps, One Executive Order

On February 19, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which imprisoned over 100,000 Japanese Americans—about two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens—in one of 10 internment camps across the country’s westernmost states.

Ten Camps, One Executive Order

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

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’