In 2010, many members of the theater community contacted LA STAGE with concerns and ideas about the current state of LA Theater. In response, LA STAGE hosted 20 roundtables throughout the summer, with 10-20 community members at each. The community came up with a vast list of thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc, but there were two statements that the vast majority all agreed on:

1. The Theater Community of Greater LA needs an articulated vision for where it wants to go.

2. The Theater Community of Greater LA needs some sort of Leadership Body (oft referred to as a ‘Producer’s Council’) that has buy-in from the bulk of the theaters and theater artists, and who can identify issues and lead the community in taking concrete action to move the community towards the Vision.

It was clear that to accomplish these two major objectives, leaders from all sectors of the theater community would need to get together and work with each other. LA STAGE spent the rest of 2010 and the first half of 2011 meeting with many  leaders in the community, and seeking peer recommendations from all sectors to find who the ‘community-approved’ leaders might be.

This has led to a group of 20-30 leaders who are meeting on September 10, 2011, for a Theater Vision/Council Task Force Day, to create a draft of a vision and a council structure for the Greater LA Theater Community. The results of this task force will be broadly distributed in the community so that everyone will have an opportunity for feedback and input before final versions are settled on.

The Task Force meeting on 9/10/11 includes the following participants. Note that there are a number of other leaders who are already engaged in this process, but who were not able to attend on 9/10/11.

Terence McFarland – LA STAGE
Douglas Clayton – LA STAGE
Neal Spinler – LA STAGE
Crystal Diaz – LA STAGE
Barbara Beckley – Colony Theatre
Brian Kite – La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, LA STAGE Board
Bruce Lazarus – Law Office of Bruce Lazarus
caryn desai – International City Theatre
David Elzer – DEMAND PR and DEMAND Productions
Gedaly Guberek – Coeurage Theatre
Greg Abbott – Kentwood Players
Jay McAdams – 24th Street Theatre
John Flynn – Rogue Machine
Jon Cohn – KPCC, Mutineer Theatre
Jon Dorf – Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights
Jose Luis Valenzuela – Latino Theater Company
Marissa Chibas – CalArts
Matt McCray – Son of Semele
Michael Betts – Musical Theatre West
Michael Seel – Theatre @ Boston Court
Neel Keller – Center Theatre Group
Patrick Owen – Center Theatre Group, LA STAGE Board
Shari Barrett – Kentwood Players
Sheldon Epps – Pasadena Playhouse
Simon Levy – Fountain Theatre
Suzi Dietz – LA STAGE Board
TJ Dawson – 3 D Theatricals
Wayne McWorter – Broadway LA
Wren Brown – Ebony Repertory Theatre
Lindsay Allbaugh – Elephant & Center Theatre Group