Circle X Theatre Co. Announces Change Of Artistic Leadership And Reading Series

Circle X Theatre Co. is pleased to announce that effective May 1, 2019 Jen Kays has assumed the role of Artistic Director. Kays has previously served as the Literary Director since 2006 and the Associate Artistic Director since 2014.

From Kays: "The most important things to me: telling great stories, creating community and upholding our mission. For years, it has been my focus to provide playwrights a creative home and we are proud to continue to champion and develop new work. We are looking to offer programming that helps facilitate more plays leaving the page and getting their legs. I am especially excited about the staff we have gathered. They are an amazing cohort of artists who love making new work that is bound only by the imagination and where there is room for the perfect mistake. The group is compiled of returning staff as well as relatively new players-- together, as a team, we will continue our commitment to making kickass theatre."

Jen Kays is a painter and theatre-maker living in Los Angeles. She joined Circle X in 2003 and has worked on over 40 productions on the west coast as an actor, producer, director, dramaturg and scenic painter. In addition to her work with Circle X, Jen has collaborated with Ghost Road, Boston Court, Teatr ZAR, Temporary Space LA, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Printer's Devil, Shakespeare Festival LA and Center Theatre Group; she has performed at The Broadwater, The Getty Villa, South Coast Repertory, and The Grotowski Institute in Warsaw, Poland.

Outgoing Circle X Artistic Director, Kate Jopson, is forming a new company called ALISO with Courage Theatre Company member and award-winning film director/producer Nardeep Khurmi and NAACP award-winning actor/producer Kacie Rogers. The company is named after "El Aliso," a giant sycamore tree sacred to the Tongva tribe that was claimed by the Spanish when they founded Pueblo de Los Angeles. The 400-year-old tree survived massive floods and droughts, witnessed massacres, and was the center of LA's first vineyard and brewery. In 1892, the landmark tree that reigned over Los Angeles was killed by the city's rapid growth. The history of "El Aliso" captures the company's mission to create film and live performance experiences that explore the gaps and silences in our society, question assumptions, and celebrate the beauty in difference. ALISO will be supported by Circle X as a fiscal receiver as they begin their journey.

More information about their first production will be coming soon to TheAliso.org.