News And Blogs

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.

How ‘Zoot Suit’ Can Help Students Find a Voice

In honor of our revival of Zoot Suit, Richard Montoya of Culture Clash shared with us his reflections on the pachuco and what this play means to him. His father, the pachuco poet and artist José Montoya, was a close friend of Luis Valdez and designed the art that was used in the first Center Theatre Group New Theatre for Now production....

Pachuco: A Conversation of The Americas

This month, Center Theatre Group brings you two productions that broke new ground artistically and in terms of representing different aspects of the American experience onstage.

The Return of an L.A. Classic and a Very Fun Home

The current revival of Zoot Suit marks both "a major social event in Los Angeles history"—the real events the play is based on—and "a major cultural event"—the 1978 World premiere at the Mark Taper Forum was "the first time a Chicano play had been given a mainstage production anywhere in the country, in the world, even," explained...

Passing the Baton of Art and Activism

In honor of our 50th Anniversary, we are mining our archives for gems that highlight important and interesting moments from throughout Center Theatre Group’s history. The following is an excerpt from a note by Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson in the program for the 1978 World premiere of Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum. With Zoot Suit...

Evolving Stages

Zoot Suit is not merely performed in English and Spanish. The characters also speak caló, a patois or dialect that is one of the highly distinctive ways the pachuco has of projecting himself. According to one scholar, caló developed in barrios all around the country to give each region its own particular idiom and phrases....

A 'Zoot Suit' Glossary