News And Blogs

In the midst of Act II of Grey Gardens—The Musical, Big Edie celebrates her adolescent friend, Jerry, and his fervor for her cooking—specifically the canned corn she cooks for him, which he chows down with delight: “I boil it on the hot plate / Till all the juice is gone / Bless his soul / He knows which side my corn is buttered on.” Bu...

10 Musical Tributes to Food: A List Inspired by ‘Jerry Likes My Corn’

Equally heart-wrenching and incendiary, Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Disgraced (which plays the Mark Taper Forum through July 17, 2016) poses “thorny questions of identity and religion in the contemporary world” (Charles Isherwood, The New York Times) that confound not just the characters onstage but the audience members watchin...

Diving Deep Into ‘Disgraced’

Center Theatre Group’s long history of supporting the LGBT community by producing and presenting work with LGBT themes and characters was honored at Lambda Legal’s West Coast Liberty Awards on June 2, 2016. Artistic Director Michael Ritchie accepted the award on the company’s behalf at a star-studded gala at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire....

Lambda Legal Honors Michael Ritchie and Center Theatre Group

On June 8, 2016, Center Theatre Group donors at the Fan level and above were treated to an Up Close Dialogue between Producing Director Douglas C. Baker and Broadway theatre veteran and The Secret Life of the American Musical author Jack Viertel. Viertel, whose recent New York Times bestseller is subtitled “How Broadway Shows Are Built,” is cur...

Broadway Veteran Jack Viertel Delights Donors

Playwright Ayad Akhtar knew he wanted to be a writer at the age of 15. Until that time, Akhtar—the son of two doctors—was sure that his destiny lay in the world of medicine. Then his high school literature teacher changed his life. When I met her, she was in her late 50s. She’d been through five husbands. She lived on 40 acres of land...

Asking the Deep Questions with Ayad Akhtar

Critics and audiences across the country (including the Pulitzer Prize committee) have been raving about Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced since its 2012 premiere. But Disgraced and the actions of its characters are not without controversy and can be difficult to watch at times....

‘Disgraced’ Does Not Apologize