News And Blogs

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 Michael Rit...

Passing the Baton of Art and Activism

As 2017 begins, we’re officially celebrating Center Theatre Group’s 50th Anniversary. We’ll be spending much of the year looking ahead to the next 50 years of theatre in Los Angeles and beyond, but we’re also honoring our past. From January – May, each of our issues of Performances will feature a timeline of one decade in our history. We'...

Zoot Suits, Performance Artists, and 50 years of History

On August 17, 1978, Los Angeles theatre, Latino theatre, and American theatre changed forever with the opening of Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum. “When the character of El Pachuco, memorably played by Edward James Olmos, swaggered onto the Taper stage, Chicano theatre became American theatre,” explained writer/director Luis Valdez. Valdez ca...

How 'Zoot Suit' Changed Theatre Forever

In politics, it’s cliché to say that “image is everything,” but in Jon Robin Baitz’s newest play—which is set to have its World premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre October 23 – November 20, 2016—image is the only thing. At the center of Vicuña is a real estate tycoon and reality TV star turned presidential candidate and his tailor,...

A World Premiere Ripped from the Headlines

Almost exactly 101 years after Arthur Miller’s birth, Center Theatre Group is thrilled to be bringing the work of one of America’s master playwrights back to our stages to open our 50TH Anniversary Season. Our history with Miller began in December 1972, our sixth season, with a highly successful production of The Crucible starring Charlton Hest...

Arthur Miller Wows Center Theatre Group Audiences Once Again

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