La Jolla Playhouse to Host Roundtable for Resident Theatre Program Applicants

La Jolla Playhouse is currently accepting applications for its 2011/12 Resident Theatre Program. As part of the application process, The Playhouse will host a voluntary roundtable event on Tuesday, December 21 at 5:30 pm to provide background information for local theatre companies interested in applying for this prestigious residency. The application deadline is Monday, January 24, 2011. Please contact Marike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@ljp.org for more information or to RSVP for the roundtable.

Spearheaded by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, the Resident Theatre Program encourages the artistic development of up-and-coming theatre companies, while advancing and contributing to the San Diego theatre scene as a whole. The program is also designed to address the city's lack of available, affordable performance spaces by providing a temporary home each year to one of the many local theatre troupes without a permanent venue.

"The Resident Theatre Program has become an integral part of The Playhouse's programming, and we couldn't be more thrilled about its success over the last three seasons. The breadth and depth of the applications we receive each year is extraordinary, continually demonstrating that San Diego is a hotbed of theatrical energy," said Ashley.

Now entering its fourth year, the Resident Theatre Program is an annual appointment at La Jolla Playhouse. In addition to performance space, The Playhouse provides lighting and sound support and is available to offer marketing and development advice. Previous resident theatre appointees include Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company, Moxie Theatre and the San Diego Asian American Repertory Theater.

"Being the inaugural Resident Theater Company at La Jolla Playhouse was a tremendous honor and opportunity for our organization," said Mo'olelo Artistic Director Seema Sueko. "In addition to allowing us to put funds we would have otherwise used on theater rental toward enhancing artist salaries and production values, the Residency provided national visibility, expanded our audience base, and allowed us to leverage new funding sources."

The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who's Tommy, Thoroughly Modern Millie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations and the 2010 Tony Award-winning Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.