THE WAR CYCLE Receives Special Recognition at 2011 LA Weekly Awards

On April 4th, 2011, the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble was awarded a Special Citation at the LA Weekly Awards at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. The award, which was created specifically for the Ensemble's War Cycle plays, was award for "breadth of vision and clarity of purpose by an ensemble".

"The War Cycle plays were not only beautifully conceived, directed and acted," says LA Weekly Theatre Editor Steven Leigh Morris, "in combination they displayed a breadth of vision that combined intellectual precocity and passion that comes from the bones. For these reasons, we're presenting the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble with a special citation for excellence, for its technical accomplishments and its breadth of vision."

Several Ensemble members were in attendance to accept the award, including Artistic Director and writer of The War Cycle plays, Tom Burmester. In addition to thanking the LA Weekly and Steven Leigh Morris, Burmester explained that the War Cycle was never intended to be a trilogy, but that the Ensemble set out to create theatre about the "War on Terror" until the United States was no longer engaged in combat. "We hope The War Cycle will not spawn many more plays," Burmester said.

Burmester also announced at the awards that Gospel According to First Squad, the third play in The War Cycle and only a workshop production in last summer's repertory presentation, will enjoy its world premiere this July.

The Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble is dedicated to staging theater works of high artistic integrity while endeavoring to remain broadly accessible and genuinely entertaining. The Ensemble holds fast in its commitment to strike a balance between providing a venue for emerging artists and veteran artists; between the works of new playwrights, and revisiting timely and important classics.