News And Blogs

In a recent conversation with Goodman Theatre's Director of New Play Development Tanya Palmer, Lauren talks about what inspired her play, and what it’s like to write herself into a story that is, as she describes, only kind of true—just like the stories your father once told you as a child.

Meet Playwright Lauren Yee

Dry Land is such a beautiful play. And what I think it does really well is that it captures—in this subtle, insightful way—the pain and vulnerability of being a young woman in America, said Alana Dietze of the work she is directing at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of our inaugural Block Party, onstage through May 21, 2017....

Finding ‘Dry Land’ with Alana Dietze & Block Party

The journey of veteran director Shirley Jo Finney to the Kirk Douglas Theatre’s Block Party with The Fountain Theatre’s Citizen: An American Lyric began two and a half years ago, when Fountain co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs called to ask her if she had read Claudia Rankine’s New York Times bestseller Citizen. Or maybe it began in 1997, wh...

'Citizen: An American Lyric' Brings Healing Power to Block Party

Block Party is our new celebration of Los Angeles Theatre. In January, we announced that we would be collaborating with three local theatre companies to make this inaugural event a reality. Coeurage Theatre Company, The Fountain Theatre, and The Echo Theater Company are each one piece of the ecosystem that is Los Angeles theatre, and their stories...

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Fifty years ago this month, on April 9, 1967, the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre were dedicated at a star-studded event. Actor Gregory Peck proclaimed, “Tonight marks the realization of what seemed an impossible dream. Since we didn’t inherit great cultural monuments, we had to create our own.” Speaking before the opening production at...

Our 50th Anniversary, A Sondheim Classic, and a Celebration of L.A. Theatre

Failure: A Love Story was handed to director Michael Matthews by playwright Philip Dawkins, a friend of Matthews from his days working in Chicago theatre in the early 2000s. It was only fitting that the play should find its first home in Los Angeles at Coeurage Theatre, a company full of transplanted Chicagoans. Now, Failure is playing April 14–2...

The Journey of 'Failure: A Love Story' from a Softball Field to the Douglas

Fifty years to the week of Center Theatre Group’s beginning, and the opening of the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum, the Los Angeles Times marked our anniversary with three stories that look to our past, present, and future.

The ‘Los Angeles Times’ Marks our Golden Anniversary

The first page of the script of Ngozi Anwanyu’s Good Grief (onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through March 26, 2017) specifies the time (1992–2005) and place (Bucks County, Pennsylvania) where the play’s action occurs.

The Set Design Magic of ‘Good Grief’

Pablo Santiago speaks slowly and carefully, pausing between phrases as he considers his words. He brings this same thoughtfulness to his lighting design. Santiago’s unique style has been recognized with the 2017 Sherwood Award for emerging artists.

Pablo Santiago Wins the 2017 Richard E. Sherwood Award

This month, we’re proud to have productions at three theatres—plus a bonus live art theatrical experience—that demonstrate our commitment to diversity in every sense of the word.

Civil Rights, Memoirs, and a World Premiere Playwright

Few things in this world are more certain than young love. Whether it is fueled by raging hormones, the fates themselves, or the mind of a plotting dramatist, it is safe to say that—no matter what your age—stories of cupid’s first strike are irresistible. And both Good Grief, which plays the Kirk Douglas Theatre February 26 – March 26, 2017...

First Love, Rendered in the Stars and on our Stages