Shakespeare Center of LA Wins 2011 Rosetta Lenoire Award

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) has been named the recipient of Actors' Equity Association's (Equity) 2011 Rosetta LeNoire Award. The Award will be presented in a special ceremony to SCLA Founder and Artistic Director Ben Donenberg on Friday, April 8th in the Union's Western Regional office in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be held prior to the start of Equity's National Membership meeting.

The Rosetta LeNoire Award, established in 1988, recognizes outstanding artistic contributions to the universality of the human experience in American Theater. The Award is given to an individual, theater or producing organization with an exemplary record in the hiring or promotion of ethnic minorities, female actors and actors with disabilities through multi-racial and/or non-traditional casting.

In 1986, The Shakespeare Center, operating as Shakespeare Festival/LA, presented its first professional, union-contracted festival. Throughout its 25 year history, SCLA creates accessible theater that reflects the people, history and landscape of Los Angeles and follows a casting policy that reflects the rich diversity of Los Angeles. The SCLA demonstrates that such casting is critical to its mission by providing Actors of color the opportunity to perform in roles that are diverse and non-traditional while also providing the audience to an opportunity to see themselves reflected in and make meaningful connections to classical texts.

In addition to its stage productions, The Shakespeare Center offers The Will Power series that provide youth enrichment and engagement programs. The Will Power to Youth is an academic enrichment program that combines hands-on artistic experience with paid job training, specifically created to provide arts education to at-risk youth. The Will Power to Schools program provides middle and high school teachers innovative, proven methods that improve literacy, change the way they teach classical literature and makes Shakespeare accessible to urban public school students. The Will to Lead provides advanced leadership and job readiness training and The Will to Work places 5 to 10 alumni into internships with SCLA's mainstage/repertory actors and technicians.

Actors' Equity Association represents more than 49,000 professional stage actors and stage managers nationwide. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions.

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