News And Blogs

“God can kiss my ass,” says Levee, the young, ambitious, and angry trumpet player in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (onstage at the Mark Taper Forum through October 16, 2016).

Two Levees in Conversation

Lillias White has wanted to play Ma Rainey for a long time.

Lillias White Plays the Mother of the Blues in August Wilson's 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (onstage at the Mark Taper Forum September 1 – October 16, 2016) was written shortly after August Wilson moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1977. There, Wilson worked as a cook for a social services agency, earning $88 a week. It was enough money to give him the freedom to write, and from that freedom sprang the story of a...

Coming Full Cycle

Andrew Thiels has bought, built, and hunted down everything from dead bodies and antique refrigerators to handmade Amish wheelbarrows and vintage motorcycles for Center Theatre Group’s stages. Thiels, who became Properties Manager in 2013 and began freelancing for us in 2004, sat down with us to share some fun facts about his craft.

Prop Manager Andrew Thiels on 'Wild Goose Chases' and 'Making Fantasies Realities' Onstage

On July 18, 2016, Center Theatre Group Board of Directors Member Manuela Cerri Goren and her husband James Goren opened their incredible home to donors and theatre artists for an enchanting evening. Donors at the Benefactor level and above and their guests entered the event through a stony walkway to find a clear blue pool, vibrant yellow canopies,...

‘Grey Gardens’ Guests Delight Donors

The name “Ivo van Hove” doesn’t flow off the tongues of Angelenos yet—but it will soon. (For the record, it’s pronounced “EE-vo van HOE-va.”) The 57-year old Belgian director of A View From the Bridge, which plays the Ahmanson Theatre September 7 – October 16, 2016, has been called avant-garde, minimalistic, provocative, and groundb...

Meet Ivo van Hove