Sutton Foster and More Named to Center Theatre Group Board of Directors

Center Theatre Group has added ten new members to its Board of Directors: Stephen Cheung, Nancy Dennis, Sutton Foster, Jennifer Lewis, Karla Pita Loor, Rick Miramontez, Jeanne Newman, Tom Safran, Gina Torres, and Rob Wade. With the addition of these dedicated and distinguished supporters of CTG, the company grows its Board of Directors to 56 members.

Center Theatre Group is governed by a dedicated Board of Directors comprised of business and entertainment leaders, philanthropists, and arts advocates who share a common passion for theatre and a commitment to the community. The Board also serves as a champion of the theatre arts in the Los Angeles community. It is dedicated to raising the profile of Los Angeles theatre, supporting the development of new work, and igniting interest in the theatre among the community’s youth. 

ABOUT THE NEW BOARD MEMBERS

STEPHEN CHEUNG

is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and its subsidiary, the World Trade Center Los Angeles (WTCLA). As CEO of the LAEDC, Mr. Cheung brings together the capabilities of LAEDC’s mission-delivery department areas, including the Institute for Applied Economics (Research), Business Assistance, Industry Cluster Development, Workforce Development, World Trade Center Los Angeles (International), Strategic Relations, Communications & Marketing, and Public Policy, into a single team that delivers the LAEDC’s critically important, public-benefit mission – Reinventing our economy to collaboratively advance growth and prosperity for all.

In 2023, Cheung was elevated to President and CEO after serving as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of LAEDC and continues in his concurrent role as President of World Trade Center Los Angeles, a title he has held since coming to the organization in 2014. Prior to that, Cheung was the Secretary General and Managing Director of International Trade and Foreign Affairs for Los Angeles Mayors Eric Garcetti and Antonio Villaraigosa and was responsible for managing policies and programs related to the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, International Affairs, Global Trade and Clean Technology. In these roles, he was the lead organizer for the Mayors’ previous international trade missions to Mexico, China, Korea, Japan, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. Furthermore, Cheung implemented the city’s strategic plan to make Los Angeles a global capital of clean technology by building the infrastructure to support research, development, and manufacturing with key partners.

Concurrently, Cheung was the Director of International Trade for the Port of Los Angeles – the busiest container port in North America and was responsible for developing programs to increase trade through the Port of Los Angeles and facilitate goods movement through the Southern California region.

NANCY DENNIS

is a retired family law attorney and former Partner at Buter, Buzard, Dunaetz & Fishbein LLP. She served as a member on the GLAZA Board of Trustees and chaired the GLAZA Beastly Ball. She currently serves as a member of the UCLA Health Advisory Board and on the Board of Directors of the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law. Nancy earned her J.D. from Southwestern Law School and her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Sutton Foster

Broadway: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Music Man (Drama League Distinguished Performance Award), Anything Goes (Tony Award), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), Violet, Shrek (OCC Award), Young Frankenstein, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Les Misérables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Grease. Stage: Once Upon a Mattress (City Center Encores!), Anything Goes (Barbican), Sweet Charity (The Pershing Square Signature Center), The Wild Party (City Center Encores!), Trust (Second Stage), Anyone Can Whistle (City Center Encores!). Television: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Younger, A Million Little Things, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Elementary, Psych, Bunheads, Royal Pains, Law & Order: SVU, Flight of the Conchords, Sesame Street. Author: Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life. Honorary doctorate from Ball State University, where she also teaches. 

Jennifer Lewis

is General Counsel for the LA Clippers, Intuit Dome, Kia Forum and LA Clippers Foundation. Additionally, she is the founder and principal of Axis Rights, a consulting firm. Previously, she was the general counsel of Redbud Brands, and prior to that, The SpringHill Company. Before SpringHill, she was the Managing Vice President of Business Affairs at Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products with a specialty in complex business transactions and media rights acquisitions, talent and athlete sponsorship and promotion negotiations. Earlier in her career, Jennifer worked as an executive at Live Nation, MGM, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Fox Family Worldwide.

KARLA PITA LOOR

is the chief strategy officer of Hyphenate Media Group, a content studio and media holding company founded by Eva Longoria and Banijay Americas chair Cris Abrego. It is known for producing the film John Wick (2014), and the television series Ready for Love, Telenovela, and Grand Hotel. In October 2023, the company acquired Longoria's production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, which was founded in 2005, and became a subsidiary of the company. Karla Pita Loor leads growth activities on behalf of the company and serves as a thought partner and strategic advisor to the co-founders and executive team. In addition to providing oversight and strategic counsel across investments and driving business development opportunities and partnerships, Pita Loor also has oversight of brand development across the enterprise and its subsidiaries, including corporate communications and public relations. 

Prior to her role at Hyphenate, Karla served as executive vice president of enterprise inclusion and social responsibility at Banijay Americas.  Currently, she continues to advise Banijay Americas on communications strategy, brand identity, and corporate social responsibility initiatives as an executive consultant. Previously, she worked in development, holding roles at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Rolling Hills Preparatory School, and Marlborough School.

Rick Miramontez

is the president of DKC/O&M, a public relations agency that represents Broadway, Off-Broadway, festivals, non-profits, and more, currently in its 20th year. He is also the recently appointed Chairman of the Fundación Kahlo for Mexican Art and Culture, a new non-profit organization promoting the legacy of the iconic artist.  O&M’s current roster includes some of the theater’s most noteworthy plays and musicals including Death of a Salesman, MJ, Operation Mincemeat, Ragtime, Proof, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Hadestown, and Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Additionally, DKC/O&M represents Lincoln Center Theater, Andrew Lloyd Webber, famed designer and architect David Rockwell, Broadway legends Harvey Fierstein and Joel Grey, The Entertainment Community Fund, and Black Theatre Coalition, among many others. A complete list of current clients can be found here, and information on the Fundación and Museo Casa Kahlo, Mexico City, can be found here.

Having started his career in his native Los Angeles, his first firm, Rick Miramontez Company, represented many of the major arts events on the West Coast from the late-1980s through the mid-1990s. At the same time, Rick served as press director for the Los Angeles Festival in 1987 and 1990. Rick began his career as press director for Center Theatre Group. At CTG, he organized the campaigns for more than 25 major productions, including the RSC’s The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and world premieres of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues, and James Kirkwood’s infamous Legends!.

JEANNE NEWMAN

is owner/partner of Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox LLP which is known as one of the leading entertainment law firms in the industry. She represents creators of scripted and non-scripted television and films, as well as actors and directors.

Jeanne began her legal career as an associate in the entertainment department at Loeb & Loeb. Ms. Newman served as an executive for television business affairs at various companies including MGM Television and then joined her firm in 1988.

Jeanne has also been on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Free Clinic, Direct Relief, Share our Strength, and the Steering Committee for the Santa Barbara Committee of the Human Rights Watch.

TOM SAFRAN

is the Founder & Chair of Thomas Safran & Associates, developers and managers of multifamily residential housing and mixed-use projects, specializing in affordable housing. It owns and manages over 7,000 units of rental housing as well as commercial retail space. Tom has a Bachelor’s Degree from Trinity College and an MBA from UCLA.  Prior to establishing his own company in 1974, he held various positions over a five-year period with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He has been on a variety of boards relating to affordable housing, his local community, and arts organizations ranging from the Music Center of Los Angeles to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Gina Torres

has spent the past thirty years establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the screen. With her fan-favorite character of Jessica Pearson on USA Network’s hit original series Suits, Torres broke boundaries when, in 2019, she became the first Afro-Latina to crate, star in and produce a TV series, Pearson, which saw Jessica take on the world of Chicago politics. The role was a life-changing one, earning Torres an ALMA Award, and Imagen Award (as well as multiple additional Imagen nominations), and the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series and the Visionary Award from the LA Femme Film Festival.  

Included amongst Torres’s most notable television credits are her performances as the Russo-Cuban assassin Anna Espinosa on Alias, the shotgun-toting mercenary Zoe Washburn on Joss Whedon’s Firefly (whom she also played in his feature film Serenity) and the soul-eating Jasmine on Whedon’s Angel. 

Most recently, Torres was seen in FOX’s 9-1-1: Lone Star, which wrapped its 5th and final season earlier this year. On the show, she portrayed paramedic captain Tommy Vega, who answered a call to action and returned to work amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2022, Torres received the Actress Award for Television at the 2nd Annual Critics Choice Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television for her role on the series. Torres also recently portrayed Kepper Yennin in Prime Video’s animated series The Legend of Vox Machina and Ms. Moreno in the Disney+ animated series Kindergarten: The Musical. On the film side, Torres starred as Darcy, a cutthroat fashion mogul, in Netflix’s The Perfect Find. The film follows Jenne (Gabriele Union) as she returns to New York to resurrect her fashion career after a messy public breakup and is hired by Darcy (Gina).  

Torres is accustomed to playing influential women on screen, and translates that responsibility into her personal life. A trailblazer in her own right, Torres speaks often on the importance of diversity and inclusivity in the media, and uses her free time to mentor up and coming Latinx and Afro-Latinx talent. Torres is also heavily involved with charities and regularly donates proceeds to Feeding America and No Kid Hungry. 

Additional television credits include The Catch, Hannibal, Revenge, Huge, The Shield, 24, Pushing Daisies, Flash Forward, Gossip Girl, Boondocks, and The Vampire Diaries. She has also voiced the roles of Vixen in The Justice League series and Superwoman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths opposite James Woods.  

She began her onscreen career with roles on Law & Order, One Life to Live, Any Day Now and La Femme Nikita but it was her collaboration with producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert on four different shows – MANTIS, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Cleopatra 2525 (the latter of which earned her an ALMA Award) – that brought her to the masses and promptly shifted her career.  

Torres’s additional film credits include The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Jam, South of Pico, I Think I Love My Wife with Chris Rock, Hair Show with Mo’Nique, Five Fingers opposite Laurence Fishburne, and Don't Let Me Drown (critic’s choice at the Sundance Film Festival 2009).

Rob Wade

oversees one of the world’s most recognizable media brands and a leading global creator of multi-genre content across broadcast, streaming, digital, and emerging platforms. Appointed CEO in 2022, Wade has guided FOX Entertainment’s evolution into a modern, next-generation studio operating across three core business units: FOX Entertainment Studios, FOX Television Network, and FOX Entertainment Global. In addition to launching recent hits ranging from FOX’s Doc, Best Medicine, Fear Factor: House of Fear, Memory of a Killer, and The Floor to Prime Video’s Hazbin Hotel and Animal Control and Being Gordon Ramsay on Netflix, Wade has also brought FOX into the digital storytelling arena, launching FOX Creator Studios, investing in leading vertical video platform Holywater, and entering experiential storytelling with Chain.  He previously served as President, Alternative Entertainment Specials where he led all unscripted content for the network, creating FOX-owned hits such as The Masked Singer and Next Level Chef, establishing the Studio Ramsay Global partnership, and acquiring TMZ.