La Jolla Playhouse
Formation | 1947 |
---|---|
Type | Theatre group |
Location |
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Artistic director(s) | Christopher Ashley |
Notable members | Founders: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Mel Ferrer |
Website | http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/ |
La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.
Background
La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer.[1] In 1983, it was revived under the leadership of Des McAnuff. Since then, the Playhouse's repertoire has included eighty-four world premieres, thirty-two West Coast premieres, and eight American premieres, and has won more than three hundred honors, including the 1993 Tony Award as America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. It is supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the City of San Diego, and the County of San Diego. It was announced on April 10, 2007 that Christopher Ashley would succeed McAnuff as Artistic Director.
The Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of the most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, artist residencies and commissions.
La Jolla Playhouse provides a number of educational opportunities for children, teens, and adults interested in theatre arts, both as performers and behind-the-scenes. In addition, the Performance Outreach Program (POP Tour) annually brings a professional, world-premiere production to schools, libraries, and community centers throughout San Diego. There are additional summer theater opportunities through the La Jolla Playhouse Conservatory, YP@LJP summer camps, student matinees, and many other in-school workshops and classes.
Among the productions that originated at the Playhouse before finding success on Broadway are The Who's Tommy, Matthew Broderick's revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Jane Eyre, Dracula, the Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cry Baby, Bonnie and Clyde, The Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, 700 Sundays, Jersey Boys, Memphis, Peter and the Starcatcher, Chaplin, Hands on a Hardbody, Des McAnuff’s revival of Jesus Christ Superstar and Zhivago.
Page To Stage
La Jolla Playhouse began the Page To Stage Play Development Program in 2001 to facilitate the development of new plays and musicals, offering audiences the rare opportunity to experience the "birth" of a play and take part in its evolution. As a Page To Stage workshop, a production will feature minimal sets and costumes, and will be revised throughout its entire process, including performances. After the performance, audience feedback sessions will provide insight and suggestion for both the creative team and the actors. In the five years since the program began, two Page To Stage Productions have gone on to win Tony Awards. Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Leading Actor in a Play (Jefferson Mays); and Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, a 2004 Page To Stage Production, won the 2005 Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event.
Management
Managing Directors
- 1981-1991: Alan Levey
- 1992-2004: Terry Dwyer
- 2005-2008: Steven Libman
- 2009- Current: Michael S. Rosenberg
Artists
Artistic Directors
- 1947-1959: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Mel Ferrer (founders)
- 1983-1994: Des McAnuff
- 1995-1999: Michael Greif
- 1999-2000: Anne Hamburger
- 2000-2007: Des McAnuff
- 2007- : Christopher Ashley
Actors
La Jolla Playhouse has been home to many up-and-coming performers as well as established actors.
- Amy Aquino
- Tallulah Bankhead
- Stephen Bogardus
- Matthew Broderick
- Phoebe Cates
- Kim Cattrall
- James Coburn
- Billy Crystal
- Dann Florek
- Sutton Foster
- John Goodman
- David Marshall Grant
- Neil Patrick Harris
- James Maslow
- Linda Hunt
- Holly Hunter
- Laura Innes
- Bill Irwin
- Laura Linney
- Jon Lovitz
- Groucho Marx
- James Mason
- Jefferson Mays
- Marin Mazzie
- Cynthia Nixon
- Peter Paige
- Jim Parsons
- Amanda Plummer
- Alice Ripley
- Wynn Harmon
- Campbell Scott
- Helen Shaver
- Gary Sinise
- Nancy Travis
- Vivian Vance
- Daphne Rubin-Vega
- Sherie Rene Scott
- Malcolm-Jamal Warner
- BD Wong
- Hunter Foster
Productions
2013-2014 season
- His Girl Friday - by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, adapted by John Guare
- Tribes - by Nina Raine
- Sideways - book by Rex Pickett
- The Tallest Tree in the Forest - by Daniel Beaty
- Side Show - music by Henry Krieger, book and lyrics by Bill Russell
- The Who & The What - by Ayad Akhtar
2014-2015 season
- Chasing the Song - book by Joe DiPietro, music by David Bryan, lyrics by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan
- The Orphan of Zhao - adapted by James Fenton
- Ether Dome - by Elizabeth Egloff
- Kingdom City - by Sheri Wilner
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (musical) - novel by Victor Hugo, music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
2015-2016 season
- Come From Away - book, music, and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein
- Up Here (musical) - book, music, and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
- Blueprints to Freedom - by Michael Benjamin Washington
- Healing Wars - by Liz Lerman
- Without Walls Festival
- Indecent - by Paula Vogel
- Guards at the Taj - by Rajiv Joseph
2016-2017 season
- Hollywood - by Joe DiPietro
- The Last Tiger in Haiti – by Jeff Augustin
- Junk: The Golden Age of Debt – by Ayad Akhtar
- Tiger Style! – by Mike Lew
- Miss You Like Hell – book & lyrics by Quiara Alegria Hudes, music & lyrics by Erin McKeown
- Freaky Friday – book by Bridget Carpenter, music & lyrics by Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey
References
- ↑ "Playhouse Highlights". La Jolla Playhouse. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
External links
- La Jolla Playhouse official website
- La Jolla Playhouse at the Internet Broadway Database
- California Arts Council
- Christopher Ashley, La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing, October 2007
Coordinates: 32°52′15.18″N 117°14′28.77″W / 32.8708833°N 117.2413250°W