News And Blogs

The following letter is excerpted from Reflections, The Taper at Twenty, a publication produced by Center Theatre Group in recognition of the Mark Taper Forum’s 20th Anniversary. In this section, Spalding Gray reflects on his time developing Swimming to Cambodia through Taper, Too. Taper, Too launched in 1983 at the John Anson Ford Theatre in Hol...

Memories of the Taper Also

Costume designer Raquel Barreto had a unique opportunity to dive headfirst into the work of a playwright she loves when Center Theatre Group tapped her to design both Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (onstage January 27 – February 25, 2018) and Water by the Spoonful at the Mark Taper Forum (onstage January 31 – March 11,...

Costume Designer Raquel Barreto Talks All Things Elliot Trilogy

The cast members of Water by the Spoonful took a break from rehearsals to tell us what drew them to this play and these roles, their experiences in Los Angeles theatre, and where they’re finding inspiration.

The 'Water by the Spoonful' Cast Spills

Quiara Alegría Hudes’ award-winning Elliot Trilogy of plays—Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, Water by the Spoonful, and The Happiest Song Plays Last—have appeared at theatres around the country over the past decade. Now, for the first time, they are onstage concurrently in one city. From January 27 through March 19, lucky and ambitious Angelenos...

One Playwright. Two L.A. Theatre Companies. Three Acclaimed Plays.

At age 30, Quiara Alegría Hudes had written the book for a Broadway hit, In the Heights. At 35, she had won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for Water by the Spoonful. Now, at 40, she is one of America’s most widely produced playwrights, and Center Theatre Group is proud to be bringing two of the works in her acclaimed Elliot Trilogy to our stages...

From 'Zoot Suit' to 'Water By The Spoonful'

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.

'Archduke' Offers Students Lessons in Collaboration and History

No one needs to tell a native Angeleno that car culture is rooted deep in Los Angeles. As immortalized in George Lucas’s American Graffiti, cruising is forever enmeshed with youth culture and music. Inspired by the cruisin’ oldies of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons—and Bob Gaudio's red "Caddy" convertible—in Jersey Boys (onstage at the A...

Top Five Cruising Boulevards of L.A.

Look, I’d do anything for a sandwich because I know what a sandwich is, one poor, hungry man tells another in Rajiv Joseph's Archduke (onstage at the Mark Taper Forum through June 4, 2017). In Joseph's darkly comic take on the origins of World War I, global history hinges in part on three young Serbs' desire for sandwiches. Will they assassinate...

Five Serbian Sandwiches Worth Going to War For

Archduke, which plays the Mark Taper Forum through June 4, 2017, takes place in the days and hours before the event that is widely regarded as the beginning of World War I—the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Playwright Rajiv Joseph hopes that the play will get audiences thinking about World War I as not so distant or forei...

Wonder Woman, Uncle Sam, and ‘Archduke’

Rajiv Joseph’s World premiere Archduke, onstage at the Mark Taper Forum through June 4, 2017, is based on the event credited for launching World War I—the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. While The Great War has been endlessly studied and written about, the young Serbian men behind the assassination are largely a mystery. Archduke fic...

Who Killed Franz Ferdinand?

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