Gary Grossman To Step Down As Producing Artistic Director At Skylight Theatre Company

After four decades of leadership, Gary Grossman will step down as Producing Artistic Director of Skylight Theatre Company in order to devote full time to commercially producing world premiere projects. Grossman has been a central figure in the Los Angeles arts community and has overseen the company’s growth from its early years more than forty years ago into an established home for new work at the Skylight Theatre in Los Feliz.

“I am proudest of the next generation of artists that we've helped to cultivate,” says Grossman. “Skylight has grown into a refuge for creativity and has become an artistic home for emerging voices to find their strength. Our audiences are included in the birth of plays that usually go on to be produced at theaters across the country and beyond. Most recently, Bronco Billy – The Musical had a successful run in London after garnering Ovation awards for music and lyrics; its live cast album was released in October – next stop, New York.”

During his tenure, Grossman led initiatives including SkyLab, a professional playwrights’ collective, and development platforms such as INKubator, designed to support new storytellers. These programs have contributed to the careers of numerous underrepresented actors, writers, directors, and designers.

“The American Theatre doesn't make many producers like Gary Grossman anymore,” says Roger Q. Mason. “When you're a part of Gary's creative family, you know you'll always have a home, a place where you can fail up, inquire wildly, and reach for those parts of your craft that you'd never attain if you didn't have a soft place to land. Gary took a leap of faith and invested in my visions of a historicist, fantastical, metatheatrical writing style that only grows with an audience. That is what teaches a writer what they're made of. Because of Gary, my plays Lavender Men and Hide and Hide are a part of the theatrical world.”

Grossman, recipient of Stage Raw’s 2016 Career Achievement Award, began his career in New York, where he owned two theaters and a theatrical lighting company by the age of 23. His early professional experience included work at the Public Theater, Café La MaMa, and Sheraton Square Playhouse before he moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s. Over his career, he has produced more than 300 stage productions, including more than 100 world premieres. His work includes Rotterdam, which later played the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of Block Party and received multiple Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and Stage Raw Awards; Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Steinberg/National Theatre Critics Citation); El Grande CIRCUS de Coca-Cola; Wrong Man (three Ovation Awards and an Off-Broadway run); Pray To Ball; Church and State; Mad Women; Romeo and Juliet; and Dylan.

Skylight’s 2022 production of Lavender Men is now a completed feature film, and this year’s production of Hide and Hide is being prepared for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As Grossman steps away from his leadership role, he has established a five-season initiative providing free theatre space, technical support, and marketing resources for twelve productions by Los Angeles artists or itinerant companies. Beginning in 2026, residencies will range from four to six weeks, with participants receiving 100% of their box-office revenue. The program will offer mentorship in addition to resources, continuing the company’s mission to support emerging theatre makers. More information about the Legacy Program is available at skylighttheatre.org/legacycampaign.

“Gary has dedicated himself to uplifting writers and directors who call Los Angeles home,” says Snehal Desai, Center Theatre Group’s Brindell & Milton Gottlieb Artistic Director. “He is responsible for over 100 world premiere plays in our great city and has fostered and enriched the lives of countless writers, directors, actors, and arts leaders — I'm beyond fortunate to consider myself one of those. Gary's legacy will live on at Skylight in its reputation for producing bold, adventurous works.”