Shaila Essley

The 50th Anniversary Celebration of the west coast's renowned Center Theatre Group was a thrilling evening of performances top lined by Academy Award winner and Platinum recording artist Jennifer Hudson at the Ahmanson Theatre Sunday, May 20th in Los Angeles. Fresh off her acclaimed performance in NBC's "Hairspray Live!," Hudson sang the evening's closing number. BWW TV's own Michael Sterling covered the red carpet for the much anticipated event.

Center Theatre Group celebrated its 50th Anniversary Celebration with a performance on Saturday, May 20, 2017, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group, today announced two-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Academy Award-winning actress and newly announced coach on NBC's 'The Voice' Jennifer Hudson will join Center Theatre Group's 50th Anniversary Celebration performance on Saturday, May 20, 2017, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

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Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group, announced today that Matthew Broderick, Tyne Daly, Louis Gossett Jr., Thomas Sadoski, Jimmy Smits, Rene Auberjonois, Jon Robin Baitz, Bill Cain, Anthony Crivello, Culture Clash, Merle Dandridge, Tim Dang, Keith David, Shaila Essley, Davis Gaines, Harry Groener, Clint Holmes, David Henry Hwang, Gregory Itzin, Dale Kristien, Doug LaBrecque, Tzi Ma, Alan Mandell, Dakin Matthews, Christina Saffran, Benjamin Schrader, Shoshannah Stern, Lisa Vroman, Ed Waterstreet and Aryana Williams are set to take the stage at Center Theatre Group's 50th Anniversary Celebration.

From a field of 12 local high school students, Shaila Essley, Philip Patrick Bucknor and Wayne R. Mackins-Harris have been selected to represent Los Angeles in the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) national finals. Contestants this year featured high school students from four Southern California cities, who performed in the regional finals at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, Monday night, March 2, 2015. Scroll down for photos from the competition!

Center Theatre Group has selected 12 local students to participate in the regional finals of the 2015 August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) to be held at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum on March, 2, 2015.