Luis Alfaro News

Three decades after its 1993 World premiere at the Mark Taper Forum, Anna Deavere Smith's “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” returns to L.A. as part of Center Theatre Group's 2022-2023 season at the Taper. Originally performed solo by Smith, “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” has been reimagined for a cast of five performers. Casting and the director for “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” as well as the rest of the plays in the upcoming season will be announced later.

1st Stage is delighted to announce our next season of brilliant and innovative performances. The Logan Festival of Solo Performances will run between July 28, 2022 and August 7, 2022. Specific shows and dates are to be announced!

Yale Repertory Theatre has announced its 2022–23 season of four plays. The season will begin with Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, running October 6–29. James Bundy, who directed Albee’s A Delicate Balance at Yale Rep in 2010, will stage this new production of the explosively comedic and harrowingly profound masterpiece. 

On June 4, 2022, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, the Ojai Playwrights Conference will celebrate its 25th Anniversary Season with a Benefit Gala to be directed and produced by OPC Artistic Director/Producer Robert Egan.  

The 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.K. playwright Benedict Lombe for her debut play Lava. In a special presentation at Shakespeare's Globe in London, the Blackburn Prize judges presented Lombe with a cash prize of $25,000, and a signed limited-edition print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the Prize. 

The UIS Performing Arts Center is announcing the creation of Our Stage / Our Voices, a new on-going program to address the many barriers to full participation faced by members of historically underrepresented groups within the regional performing arts community. These groups include, but are not limited to, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC); people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ); people who face economic disadvantages, and persons with disabilities (both visible and invisible). Barriers include lack of representation, stereotyping, inequity of opportunities to participate or lead, and cost.

Change is coming for the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Artistic Director/Producer Robert Egan has decided to step down at the end of 2022, OPC’s 25th Anniversary Season. Egan has led the organization for 21 years, bringing the Ojai Playwrights Conference to national attention and making it one of the leading new play development programs in the U.S.

Southwest Shakespeare Company has announced that their award-winning production MOJADA: A MEDEA IN LOS ANGELES will be coming to the famed Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West Pavilion Theater in Scottsdale. It will run in Scottsdale from April 28th to May 8th.

Soho Rep, in partnership with The Sol Project, will present Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members, written by Mara Vélez Meléndez, in her Off-Broadway debut, and directed by David Mendizábal.

National LatinX Playwriting Award winner Benjamin Benne’s stunning nee play, ALMA, launches the new theater season at the Kirk Doulas Theater and it is triumphantly resonant.

The world premiere of 'Alma' opens Sunday, March 13, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre and continues through April 3, 2022. Written by up-and-coming playwright Benjamin Benne and directed by Juliette Carrillo, this new work will reopen the Douglas after more than two years. Produced in cooperation with American Blues Theater, the cast of 'Alma' features Sabrina Fest as daughter Angel and Cheryl Umaña as mother Alma.

Playwright Benjamin Benne’s Alma (already in previews) will world premiere March 13, 2022, at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre, produced in cooperation with American Blues Theater. Juliette Carrillo directs Cheryl Umaña in the title role with Sabrina Fest as her daughter Angel. I had the most delightful Zoom interview with Cheryl before she had to go to her rehearsals.

L.A.’s Latino Theater Company returns to in-person performance with a vengeance in 2022, offering four world premieres and a West Coast premiere; the presentation of a guest company from Spain; and the 20th annual presentation of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin Christmas pageant spectacular. Earlier this year, the company announced its new “IMPACT” community engagement initiative that sees the company partnering with the Los Angeles Community College District to provide students district-wide with a world-class education in dramatic arts and to bring students into the company’s home at The Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Casting has been announced for the world premiere of up-and-coming playwright Benjamin Benne's new work “Alma” coming to Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre March 6 through April 3, 2022. Directed by Juliette Carrillo, “Alma” opens March 13, 2022, and is produced in cooperation with American Blues Theater.

Advancing to their second World Premiere this season, live performance returns to the stage at Skylight Theatre on March 12th, in partnership with Playwrights' Arena. Award winning playwright Boni B. Alvarez captures the pulse of the times we’re living in as he gives audiences a bird’s eye view of Apartment Living.

Chairman David Epstein and President Sharon Malt, on behalf of The Huntington’s Board of Trustees and Advisors, announced today the appointment of acclaimed stage director, producer, and community builder Loretta Greco as The Huntington’s next Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize today announces 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights - now in its 44th year .

In partnership, Skylight Theatre Company and Playwrights' Arena have launched the first of four World Premiere productions for the 2021/2022 Season with Inda Craig-Galván's play A HIT DOG WILL HOLLER. Read my interview with her about the process of bringing the play to life onstage at the Skylight Theatre.

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris' has announced that his Tony-nominated hit Slave Play will once again arrive on the west coast next year as a part of Center Theatre Group's new season.

Magic Theatre has announced the titles and dates for the Company’s upcoming in-person 2021-2022 season. Early 2022 will feature the long-delayed World Premiere of Miranda Rose Hall’s THE KIND ONES (Feb 2 – 20, 2022*), followed by the World Premiere of Sam Chanse’s MONUMENT, OR FOUR SISTERS (A SLOTH PLAY) which will perform May 11– June 5, 2022*.