News And Blogs

Fetch Clay, Make Man started with a photograph of Muhammad Ali and Stepin Fetchit in the window of Oakland’s Afrocentric bookstore, Marcus Books.

DUKING IT OUT with Debbie Allen & Will Power

“Nothing in this play is what it appears to be,” Actor Eugene Lee says of A Soldier’s Play.

Soldiering On

February is Black History Month, an annual observance that honors the important people and events in Black culture and the history of the United States. The month highlights the love, success, and bond Black people share and the contributions they have made as a community and for the country, while also honoring and recognizing the strife they have...

The Black Artists of Yesterday, Today, and the Future

The writers of the 2022/2023 Season at the Mark Taper Forum convened to discuss their roles and work in a monumental season—the first in which each play was written by a woman-identifying, transgender, or nonbinary artist.

A Historic Season of Firsts

Danny Robins has been searching for ghosts his whole life. He has become an award-winning writer, broadcaster, and producer by finding and telling real-life ghost stories. His podcast series, The Battersea Poltergeist, became a worldwide phenomenon that combined drama and documentary that will now become a TV show with Blumhouse Productions, which...

Finding Hope in Horror and Hauntings with Danny Robins

Mike Birbiglia’s The Old Man and the Pool begins performances at the end of July at the Mark Taper Forum. This is his second production with Center Theatre Group, his first being The New One, which played at the Ahmanson Theatre in 2019. It is also his fifth solo production with both director Seth Barrish and scenic designer Beowulf Boritt. Thro...

Remembering How to Swim with Mike Birbiglia

Every year, Center Theatre Group commissions two to three playwrights as part of Community Partnerships to develop short plays that will be performed in public libraries across Boyle Heights. While the past few short plays have been transitioned onto an online platform (Community Stories) due to COVID-19, CTG is looking forward to the return of li...

Meet Playwrights Aja Houston and Rosie Narasaki

When Alex Alpharaoh was two months old, he and his 15-year-old mother were almost killed in a bomb blast in La Limonada, a shantytown in Guatemala City. To escape the violence, they began their journey to the United States, where they would start their lives anew in Los Angeles, albeit in the shadows, undocumented.

Out of the Shadows and onto the Stage

For Kemp Powers, 2021 has already been quite the year—and it’s only February. After over two decades of writing, Powers has finally had the chance to experience what so many aspiring creatives can only dream about with the celebration of two debut screenplays. “It’s been surreal, to be honest. It’s weird to have your work out there...

Playwright Kemp Powers takes Hollywood by storm before turning to our Digital Stage

For any playwright, the opportunity to create and converse in a collaborative setting is a golden one. Especially unique is an environment as immersive and supportive as the L.A. Writers’ Workshop, now beginning its 14th year at Center Theatre Group.

Diverse Stories and Remarkable Talents

From Appalachia to Hollywood, drama to comedy, A Play Is a Poem is a cross-country cross-section of American theatrical history. Consisting of five short plays of disparate settings and genres, the fundamental connection these pieces share doesn’t begin onstage. Rather, it all starts with over a decade’s worth of collaboration between playwrigh...

Collaboration, Cast, and Poetry: What Makes a Play?