Kirk Douglas News

Even though I was very young, I still remember the tension in the air at school and at home during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. And just today, news of the current Cold War going on between Russia and the rest of the world regarding Ukraine, with even Elon Musk warning the world about possible nuclear war breaking out. So it seems very fortuitous that Peter Knell and Stephanie Fleischmann have created a heart-stopping experience set in a submarine during the crisis of 1962. Their new opera ARKHIPOV is based on the true story of the man who saved humanity from nuclear annihilation during a tipping point between Russia and the United States in the Cuban Missile Crisis. But what motivated them to create an opera about such a terrifying moment in world history? I decide to speak with them and find out.

Center Theatre Group is launching Ticket Drop Tuesdays, a new ticketing option for its audiences, starting on October 18. Created to encourage everyone to come to the theatre, this new initiative will make shows at Center Theatre Group more accessible to everyone in Los Angeles.

Center Theatre Group is hosting an open casting call for the two child lead roles of Mary and Colin in “The Secret Garden” playing at Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre February 19 through March 26, 2023.

Mark Rylance and Sean Foley are to appear in special one-off performance at Old Vic of I Am Shakespeare as part of the 100th anniversary of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust. 

“Breathe In” is a stripped-down, psychedelic track full of introspection. It begins with a military-style drum roll and lithely picked melodic guitar and orchestral strings, in-part performed by Peter Readman. The idea came to Kirk during the height of of the pandemic, as an ode to self-meditation as he sings on the chorus.

The legendary Prue Leith announced New York and Los Angeles work-in-progress performances of her first live show, Nothing In Moderation, October 24 & 25 at the Daryl Roth Theatre in NYC and November 2 & 3 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. 

The Colony Theatre in Burbank (Heather Provost, Producing Artistic Director) has announced a new production of the musical Calvin Berger with preview performances beginning on February 16, 2023. Opening is set for Saturday, February 18, at 8pm.

Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner’s re-imagined The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe has opened at the Mark Taper Forum to audience and critics’ raves. Leigh Silverman directs this one-woman show starring Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong. I got to chat with Leigh while she was making her way home amidst the hustle and bustle of the New York City streets.

Casting has been set for the U.S. premiere of “2:22 – A Ghost Story” playing at Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre this fall. Get the scoop on the cast!

Senate Bill 1116, a measure introduced by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) which seeks to create a payroll fund to support small nonprofit performing arts venues (SNPAOs), was signed into law September 29, 2022 by Governor Newsom. 

The acclaimed concert series Jacaranda continues its quest to inspire audiences with the long-awaited concert premiere of ARKHIPOV, an opera by composer Peter Knell and Stephanie Fleischmann, winner of Opera America’s 2022 Campbell Librettist Prize.

Captain Kirk Douglas might spend his days as the guitarist for one of the most prolific modern hip hop groups around, but the Hundred Watt Heart sound siphons elements from 60’s psychedelic rock and Afrobeat, and more. New Unknown is primed to be a culmination of influences, that uniquely pin Kirk as a frontman in his own right. 

It is International Day of Sign Languages and Disney and Deaf West Theatre have teamed up to celebrate. Check out a video of an ASL Interpreted version of 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' from the hit film, ENCANTO.

Winner of the first Los Angeles New Play Project Award, Carla Ching's Revenge Porn or The Story of a Body” makes its world premiere on Friday, September 23, 2022 at The Pico. Directed by Bernardo Cubría for Ammunition Theatre Company where it was part of the 2021 Ammo Writers' Lab, the play takes a very public look into the private lives of people who hurt the ones they love most.

Rogue Machine presents the Southern CA premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's “A GREAT WILDERNESS”, opening September 24, 2022.

The Los Angeles premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! directed by Daniel Fish opens Thursday, September 15 at 8 p.m. at Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre. The tour will mark the first time a First-Class Equity production of Oklahoma! has toured North America in more than 40 years. This bold interpretation will play through October 16.

AMA Theatre Company has announced its 2022-23 15th anniversary “Jubilee” season: two world premieres at the company’s new, permanent home at Atwater Village Theatre; a production to be announced at a later date; and a West Coast premiere, presented in association with Center Theatre Group, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

Center Theatre Group’s co-artistic director playwright Luis Alfaro curates and leads CTG’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival taking place over the course of two weekends, September 9-11 and September 16-18, 2022 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. I had the chance to obtain a few answers from this very busy, multi-tasking man.

“Saturday Night Live” star Cecily Strong will perform in Jane Wagner's one-woman show “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” at Center Theatre Group / Mark Taper Forum this fall.

Performances of Getty Museum and Los Angeles’s Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre’s thrilling fresh take on Sophocles’ Oedipus begin Thursday, September 1st at 8:00pm PT, featuring a bilingual production in American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English.