Articles for Center Theatre Group

Mark Taper Forum to reopen with ‘American Idiot,’ Larissa FastHorse’s ‘Fake It Until You Make It’
8 months, 1 week ago

Mark Taper Forum to reopen with ‘American Idiot,’ Larissa FastHorse’s ‘Fake It Until You Make It’

LA Times  

Larissa FastHorse will see her play “Fake It ‘Til You Make It” have its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum in 2025. “Despite the disappointment of last summer,” FastHorse said, the workshop was a way for CTG Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director and Chief Executive Meghan Pressman and the rest of the group to say, “We’re still behind …

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L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum will reopen, but does Center Theatre Group have a sustainable path forward?
9 months, 1 week ago

L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum will reopen, but does Center Theatre Group have a sustainable path forward?

LA Times  

From the outside, the Center Theatre Group headquarters, a nondescript building across the street from the Music Center, is spectacularly unimpressive, the kind of place your mind wouldn’t even register as existing. But inside, the buzz of puzzle-solving energy might make you think you’ve stumbled onto the set of “Oppenheimer.” CTG Managing Director and Chief Executive Meghan Pressman and Artistic …

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‘A Strange Loop,’ ‘Funny Girl’ lead Center Theatre Group’s 2023-24 season
1 year, 5 months ago

‘A Strange Loop,’ ‘Funny Girl’ lead Center Theatre Group’s 2023-24 season

LA Times  

“A Strange Loop,” the critically acclaimed musical about a Black gay man writing a musical about a Black gay man writing a musical about a Black gay man, is coming to Los Angeles. ‘A Strange Loop’ derives its power from its fearless specificity.” “A Strange Loop” is one of Center Theatre Group’s offerings for the 2023-24 Ahmanson season, which the …

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The theatergoing habit is broken. How do venues get people back in seats?
1 year, 6 months ago

The theatergoing habit is broken. How do venues get people back in seats?

LA Times  

I’m Times theater critic Charles McNulty, filling in this week for Carolina A. Miranda. The play, about the improbable friendship between heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and Hollywood comedian Stepin Fetchit when Ali’s fame was cresting and Fetchit’s career was out of favor with civil rights leaders, is elevated by two extraordinary lead performances: Ray Fisher, who incarnates “the brawn and …

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Calendar Feedback: Readers react to Center Theatre Group’s programming pause
1 year, 6 months ago

Calendar Feedback: Readers react to Center Theatre Group’s programming pause

LA Times  

Dark days for Center Theatre Group As a longtime supporter of the Center Theatre Group, I was distressed to learn of their current problems, but not surprised. Pausing the services that defined us — even in the face of extraordinary circumstances — would have been comparable in my mind to the L.A. Times pausing publication “for the foreseeable future.” I’ve …

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Shocking closure at L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum reflects a crisis at regional theaters nationwide
1 year, 6 months ago

Shocking closure at L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum reflects a crisis at regional theaters nationwide

LA Times  

It was the pause heard ’round the theater world. The Taper canceled, rather than postponed, a touring production of Lauren Yee’s musical “Cambodian Rock Band.” Both FastHorse and people close to Yee expressed profound disappointment on social media, and some theater leaders said confidentially that Center Theatre Group should have called on the financial heft of its well-connected board to …

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Trouble at Center Theatre Group: Company to lay off staff, pause Taper programming
1 year, 6 months ago

Trouble at Center Theatre Group: Company to lay off staff, pause Taper programming

LA Times  

Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum hosted the West Coast premiere of “Clyde’s,” written by Lynn Nottage. “Since we reopened after the pandemic, there have been large operating gaps — and we all understand why that is — but the pieces haven’t fit back together cohesively yet,” said Meghan Pressman, CTG’s managing director and chief executive, explaining that the budget …

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Center Theatre Group is at an inflection point. New artistic director Snehal Desai aims to ‘turn the ship’
1 year, 8 months ago

Center Theatre Group is at an inflection point. New artistic director Snehal Desai aims to ‘turn the ship’

LA Times  

Shortly after Snehal Desai was approved by Center Theatre Group’s board of directors on Wednesday as the company’s new artistic director, he answered questions on Zoom about how he was going to steward Los Angeles’ flagship theater organization into the future. Desai, who has served as producing artistic director of East West Players since 2016, doesn’t have the big-league directing …

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In a watershed moment for L.A. arts, Snehal Desai becomes first person of color to lead Center Theatre Group
1 year, 8 months ago

In a watershed moment for L.A. arts, Snehal Desai becomes first person of color to lead Center Theatre Group

LA Times  

Snehal Desai has been named artistic director of Center Theatre Group, making him the first person of color to hold the job. In a watershed moment for L.A. arts, Center Theatre Group has appointed Snehal Desai artistic director, making him the first person of color to lead the organization. Although Pressman says the Taper and Kirk Douglas Theatre have gained …

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A new 'Secret Garden' rethinks the musical's Indian representation
1 year, 10 months ago

A new 'Secret Garden' rethinks the musical's Indian representation

LA Times  

Welcome to yet another edition of the Essential Arts newsletter — although, it’s actually my first time taking over this esteemed mailing. Vishal Vaidya in Center Theatre Group’s production of “The Secret Garden” at Ahmanson Theatre. It’s really about what can be done so that when people do this show, they’re doing a version that represents India better and that …

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AI-generated paintings that move. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself this weekend
1 year, 10 months ago

AI-generated paintings that move. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself this weekend

LA Times  

Last weekend was quite the whirlwind: Frieze Los Angeles, the British Academy Film Awards and rumors of Kendall Jenner on a secret date with Bad Bunny. Kristina Wong in “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord” at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre. ‘Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord’ The COVID-19-induced quarantine brought whipped coffee, sourdough bread recipes and the origins of Kristina Wong’s latest …

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Omicron is surging. But for the L.A. Phil and Center Theatre Group, the shows must go on
3 years ago

Omicron is surging. But for the L.A. Phil and Center Theatre Group, the shows must go on

LA Times  

The Grammys have been postponed. But as the Omicron surge worsens in Los Angeles County, many of the region’s largest performing arts organizations, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Center Theatre Group, are going ahead with plans to stage concerts and shows in the coming days and weeks. The Los Angeles Philharmonic — which has a capacity of more than …

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Center Theatre Group makes a big promise to women and BIPOC playwrights
3 years, 2 months ago

Center Theatre Group makes a big promise to women and BIPOC playwrights

LA Times  

Joaquina Kalukango and Paul Alexander Nolan in the Broadway production of “Slave Play.” Its author, Jeremy O. Harris, had threatened to pull the play from the Mark Taper Forum lineup to protest gender inequity. Responding to a torrent of criticism about gender inequality and the potential loss of the acclaimed “Slave Play” as the centerpiece drama of the upcoming season, …

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How playwright Luis Alfaro aims to make L.A. the center of the theatrical universe
3 years, 4 months ago

How playwright Luis Alfaro aims to make L.A. the center of the theatrical universe

LA Times  

Playwright Luis Alfaro isn’t sure how much time he has to transform Center Theatre Group, but he’s not letting uncertainty stand in his revolutionary way. I think it’s important to think about the theater with that kind of fluidity because if you’re going to have a life in the theater, you have to be willing to accept how things move …

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Michael Ritchie will retire from Center Theatre Group and ‘make space’ for a new voice
3 years, 6 months ago

Michael Ritchie will retire from Center Theatre Group and ‘make space’ for a new voice

LA Times  

Michael Ritchie says getting the company’s theaters open again made him think, “Maybe that was my best last task.” As the pandemic ebbs in the United States and live theater inches closer to a full-scale reopening, Center Theatre Group’s longtime artistic director, Michael Ritchie, said he’s certain of two things: The American stage is poised for a post-pandemic rebirth, and …

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Theaters hit the one-year anniversary of shutdown. How are artists keeping afloat?
3 years, 10 months ago

Theaters hit the one-year anniversary of shutdown. How are artists keeping afloat?

LA Times  

No sector of the performing arts has been unscathed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “That’s why we didn’t break up!” Siguenza puckishly jumped in: “Then we have little Latinx theater makers saying, ‘You can’t say that, Herbert. But working in theater on streaming services, first with La Jolla Playhouse and now with Center Theatre Group, has been keeping us alive.” “It’s …

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Review: ‘Kristina Wong for Public Office’ has my vote on the Kirk Douglas virtual stage
4 years, 2 months ago

Review: ‘Kristina Wong for Public Office’ has my vote on the Kirk Douglas virtual stage

LA Times  

No one has to explain to Kristina Wong the theatrical nature of American politics. But she has gained entry to an illustrious venue — the Kirk Douglas Theatre — to share her unusual electoral journey in the streaming solo show “Kristina Wong for Public Office.” Dressed in a suffragist white suit à la Hillary Clinton, Wong bounces around the Douglas …

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Center Theatre Group, facing yearlong closure, creates a Digital Stage
4 years, 3 months ago

Center Theatre Group, facing yearlong closure, creates a Digital Stage

LA Times  

Los Angeles’ largest nonprofit theater company, Center Theatre Group, said at the end of March that it hoped to stage live performances by fall at all three of its venues: the Ahmanson, the Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas. They include playwright Dominique Morisseau; Chicano performance artist, writer and social activist Luis Alfaro; solo theater performer and comedian Kristina …

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Center Theatre Group lays off more than half of its staff
4 years, 4 months ago

Center Theatre Group lays off more than half of its staff

LA Times  

The Mark Taper Forum, one of Center Theatre Group’s three venues to go dark during the pandemic. Less than three months after announcing its stages would have to remain dark through April, Center Theatre Group confirmed Friday that COVID-19 closures have forced the company to lay off 91 previously furloughed employees, a mix of full- and part-timers who account for …

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Coronavirus cancellations hit L.A. Phil, L.A. Opera and Center Theatre Group
4 years, 9 months ago

Coronavirus cancellations hit L.A. Phil, L.A. Opera and Center Theatre Group

LA Times  

Three titans of L.A. performing arts — the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera and Center Theatre Group — confirmed Thursday morning that they are canceling performances in response to the coronavirus. Los Angeles Opera canceled the Saturday performance of “Roberto Devereux.” Center Theatre Group is shutting down all three of its venues and canceling all performances of “The Book …

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Commentary: As Center Theatre Group sputters, L.A. struggles to realize its artistic potential
5 years, 2 months ago

Commentary: As Center Theatre Group sputters, L.A. struggles to realize its artistic potential

LA Times  

The cultural balance of power between Los Angeles and New York has shifted to the West in the eyes of a growing number of artists and aficionados with an intimate knowledge of both coasts. Young Jean Lee’s “Straight White Men” was produced at the Douglas after its run at New York’s Public Theater but before it reached Broadway. This fall, …

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Center Theatre Group names its first female managing director
5 years, 9 months ago

Center Theatre Group names its first female managing director

LA Times  

Center Theatre Group announced Monday that Meghan Pressman will be its next managing director and CEO, making her the first female managing director in the nonprofit company’s 52-year history. Pressman comes to CTG from Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., where she has served as managing director since 2014. Pressman will partner with CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie to …

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