Nothing about Charles Dillingham’s decision to leave Center Theatre Group after 20 years was planned, nor is it retirement. “I don’t use the ‘R’ word,” says Dillingham, dressed in blue jeans and a blue blazer and sipping coffee outside the Mark Taper Forum. READ MORE
Directors Lab West 2011, Days 3-4
by Doug Oliphant | June 15, 2011
Days 3-4 of Director’s Lab began with back-to-back dual artistic director partnerships, Cirque school, directing a performance piece, and ended with a discussion on the state of American Theater and incredible collaboration with deaf actors. READ MORE
Jennifer Leigh Warren Sings the Shirley Bassey Songbook
by Julio Martinez | June 15, 2011
Having just returned from a series of custom gown fittings for her upcoming concert, Diamonds Are Forever: The Songs of Dame Shirley Bassey, singer/actress Jennifer Leigh Warren is actually flushed with excitement. “Oh my, the gowns are all designed by Ali Rahimi from Mon Atelier and they are simply unbelievable.” READ MORE
The Writing Process for The Bird House
by Diane Glancy | June 15, 2011
After a word enters the page, the words keep growing, much like the mud that grew on the surface of the water in an old Cherokee creation story. Then the play stands on a little clump of mud in the uncertainty of what it’s going to be. As the first draft takes shape, I saw this particular play was about three characters struggling for their survival— Reverend Hawk, his sister, Clovis, and half-sister, Majel. READ MORE
What If…TCG Comes to LA For the Big 5-0?
by Julio Martinez | June 14, 2011
Theatre Communications Group is in town. The nonprofit theater movement’s network and advocacy organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary by holding its 21st national conference in downtown LA. We hear from cherished LA theater icon Alan Mandell, who attended the first TCG conference in 1961, and the group’s current executive director Teresa Eyring. READ MORE
Far Away Builds a Bridge to Cuba at MALDEF
by Sage Lewis | June 14, 2011
Cuba is a place that is very close to us. It is closer to Florida than Angelenos are to Santa Barbara. During the first half of the 20th century, American and Cuban culture shared a very close relationship. George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, Ernest Hemingway, Walker Evans, and two members of the I Love Lucy company, Desi Arnaz and Marco Rizo, were a few of the many Cuban and American artists who used to travel back and forth and collaborate together. READ MORE
Which Play to Write? She Listens to Her Native Voice.
by Susie Silook | June 14, 2011
I was sitting in my home on the former military base of Adak, depressed after my mother had passed on, when my colleague Shelley Niro, an artist and filmmaker, emailed me the Alaska Native Playwrights Project call for applications. READ MORE
Tate Donovan wonders who is the Lobby Hero?
by Pauline Adamek | June 14, 2011
Returning to the role he originated 10 years ago, stage and screen actor (and TV director) Tate Donovan is about to appear in a radio theater production of Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, for a short run at the Skirball Cultural Center. READ MORE
The Times and the Tonys, Gypsy and the Fringe
by Don Shirley | June 13, 2011
Why does the LA Times over-cover the Tonys while barely covering the theater awards ceremonies in LA? What part of LA theater is really under-represented on the Times panel discussion on Tuesday? Why is it important to see Gypsy in the heart of Hollywood, just as the Hollywood Fringe is beginning? And a few comments on 100 Saints You Should Know. READ MORE
Project1Voice Celebrates African American Theater With 1Voice, 1Play, 1Day
by Darlene Donloe | June 13, 2011
A celebration of African American theater will take place nationwide on June 20, as 17 black theater companies across the country light their collective lights for 1Voice, 1Play, 1Day, an inaugural theatrical event spearheaded by Project1Voice. In Los Angeles, Ebony Repertory Theatre was selected to participate with the others in producing a benefit staged reading of Alice Childress’ Trouble In Mind, a provocative and satiric drama based on the conflict of not compromising one’s artistic integrity. READ MORE
Directors Lab West 2011, Days 1-2
by Doug Oliphant | June 13, 2011
All this week LA STAGE Times will present coverage of Directors Lab West 2011 with reports from DLW Production Coordinator Doug Oliphant. Each year the Lab chooses a theme around which all its sessions are based and a play around which many group workshops are organized. For 2011 the theme is “Exploring the Bigger Picture” and the play The Good Person of Szechwan. READ MORE
An OB Nurse Becomes a Playwright
by Holly Stanton | June 13, 2011
In her professional life, Holly Stanton is an OB nurse in rural Alaska. She had always felt the pull and magic of writing and creating, but she had never seen a fully staged play until recently. Now her own play is in a Native Voices reading at the Autry. READ MORE
