Redcat's 'Radar LA' Festival Closes Today

REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) announces preliminary program highlights for RADAR L.A., an international festival of contemporary theater running June 14-20. The festival is produced by REDCAT in collaboration with Center Theatre Group and The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival (New York), and a consortium including Theatre Communications Group, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, LA Stage Alliance and the Los Angeles Theatre Center. $50 multi-event passes go on sale in April and will allow audiences to attend performances for as little as $10.

Influential theater ensembles from Australia, Chile, Japan and Mexico are among the companies to be featured alongside Los Angeles artists when REDCAT produces the new international theater festival this summer. REDCAT serves as one of several venues for the groundbreaking festival, which will feature more than 15 productions that are fueling the dialogue about the evolution of contemporary theater, with a special emphasis on artists from Latin America and the Pacific Rim. Additional partner venues include the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and CTG's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

The complete program for RADAR L.A. will be announced in late April, but the exciting preliminary line-up features adventurous International Artists alongside companies from L.A. and elsewhere in U.S., including:

Teatro en el Blanco (Chile), Toshiki Okada and his company Chelfitsch (Japan), visual theater artist Fleur Elise Noble (Australia), Teatro Linea de Sombra (Mexico), Jose Miguel Jimenez and The Company (Chile/Ireland), Los Angeles Poverty Department (L.A.), Rude Mechs (Austin), Latino Theater Company (L.A.), Moving Arts (L.A.) Sekou (tha misfit) & Steve Connell (L.A.), and more.

RADAR L.A. is presented in conjunction with the Theatre Communication Group's national conference, June 16-18. Hosted by LA Stage Alliance, the three-day national conference will bring more than 1,000 influential theater organizers, producers, artists and journalists to Los Angeles on the occasion of TCG's 50th anniversary. RADAR L.A. and TCG will offer a special two-day symposium June 15-16, which will include RADAR L.A. performances as well as panel discussions, workshops and work sessions geared to provide professional development for artistic directors, dramaturgs, theater artists, arts marketing professionals, arts education specialists and theater educators.

"I see this as a great chance for REDCAT and our partners to help provoke meaningful discussion about the evolution of contemporary theater," remarks REDCAT Executive Director Mark Murphy. "It's exciting to have a mix of international and L.A. artists prominently featured in the conversation, and to have so many prominent theater producers be a part of it. It's also an amazing opportunity for LA audiences."

Largely inspired by the success of The Public Theater's Under the Radar festival (New York), RADAR L.A. benefits from the involvement of the two main forces behind that program, Mark Russell, producer of Under the Radar and Olga Garay, Executive Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, as well as Mark Murphy, Executive Director of REDCAT and Diane Rodriguez, Associate Producer of the Center Theatre Group. As co-curators of the festival, Murphy, Rodriguez and Russell aim to highlight influential theater ensembles and artists from South America and the Pacific Rim alongside emerging and established talents in Los Angeles.

"I am excited about bringing the international companies who will join us in June and introducing to the world our great selection of West Coast theater makers," said Under the Radar Producer Mark Russell. "The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival is honored to celebrate the vibrant L.A. theater scene."

"Hosting the national conference of the Theater Communications Group is a big deal in itself, but I'm thrilled that we are making the most of it by presenting such a bold and provocative mix of contemporary theater companies at the same time," adds Diane Rodriguez of Center Theatre Group. "The high impact of the Festival really expands the conference into a large community event of truly historic proportions."

A full schedule of performance and events will be released later this Spring. For interviews and image requests as well as more information about RADAR L.A., please contact REDCAT's media relations manager Diana Wyenn at 213 237-2873 or dwyenn@calarts.edu.

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TICKET & MULTI-EVENT PASS INFORMATION

$50 multi-event passes, good for five admissions, go on sale to the general public in April at the REDCAT Box Office at 631 West 2nd Street; online at www.radarla.org or by phone at 213 237-2800. Single tickets for RADAR L.A. shows will go on-sale in early May. Seating for all RADAR L.A. shows is general admission. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Latecomers are seated at the discretion of house management. Tickets for Partner Venue events should be purchased directly from the venue.

For more information, visit www.radarla.org

RADAR L.A. is produced by REDCAT in collaboration with Center Theatre Group and The Public Theater'sUnder the Radar Office and a consortium including Theatre Communications Group, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, LA Stage Alliance and the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

RADAR L.A. is funded in part with generous support from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the James Irvine Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Boeing Company.

Support for individual productions will be listed online at www.radarla.org

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ABOUT THE PARTNERS

REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater) is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts located in downtown Los Angeles inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Through performances, exhibitions, screenings, and literary events, REDCAT introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT continues the tradition of the California Institute of the Arts, its parent organization, by encouraging experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse. For more information, visit www.redcat.org

REDCAT 2010-11 Season Sponsors include media sponsors Los Angeles Times and KCRW, official hotel sponsor The Standard Hotel Downtown and official piano of REDCAT Yamaha. Full REDCAT Acknowledgments can be found online at www.redcat.org/acknowledgements

The Public Theater'S UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL (UTR) is an annual theater festival that spotlights International Artists ranging from emerging talents to masters in the field. The festival is a wild mix of works by ensembles, solo artists, writers, and creators. The ultimate goal of UTR is to offer a crash course in theater that is exciting, independent, and experimental, created by some of the most dynamic artists working today. In its seven-year history, UTR has presented 107 productions from over 17 different countries. Artists who have collaborated with UTR include Siti Company, Elevator Repair Service, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Superamas, Tim Crouch; Abbey Theatre, Mike Daisey, Reggie Watts, Teatro De Los Andes, and many more. For more information, visit www.undertheradarfestival.com

Founded in 1967, Center Theatre Group (CTG), a non-profit organization, is one of the largest and most active theatre companies in the nation, programming seasons year-round at the 739-seat Mark Taper Forum and the 1,600 to 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center of Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. With the Taper, the Ahmanson and the Douglas, CTG has a combined subscription audience of 50,000 and a total audience exceeding 700,000 a year. Center Theatre Group's mission is to provide Los Angeles, national and international audiences with the greatest range of theatrical entertainment available from one theatre company, from groundbreaking new works to explosive productions of the classics to hit Broadway plays and musicals. CTG believes that the art of theatre is a cultural force with the capacity to transform the lives of individuals and society at large. For more information, visit www.centertheatregroup.org

For 50 years, THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. Founded in 1961, TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; grants approximately $2 million per year to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level and serves as the US Center of the InterNational Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. For more information, visit www.tcg.org.