Luis Alfaro News

Tune in right here at 7:30pm to watch The 65th Annual Drama Desk Awards and check back for a full list of winners, updating live!

Center Theatre Group is announcing panelists for 'L.A. Playwrights: Writing for a Changing World,' on Thursday, May 21 at 3 pm PT, including local writers Luis Alfaro, Bekah Brunstetter, Aleshea Harris, Molly Smith Metzler and Dominique Morisseau. They will be joined by one-time Los Angeles resident Jeremy O' Harris whose Broadway debut 'Slave Play' was recently announced as part of the upcoming season at the Mark Taper Forum.

Victory Gardens Theater has announced Your World Off Stage, an online conversation series with artists from the upcoming 2020/2021 season and members of the VG Playwrights Ensemble.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Conservatory Director Melissa Smith announced today that honorary Master of Fine Arts degrees will be conferred upon playwright Lydia R. Diamond and Magic Theatre's outgoing artistic director Loretta Greco. Both recipients will receive their degrees at a virtual graduation ceremony for the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2020 on Monday, May 18 at 12 p.m.

Today, we're checking in with Victory Gardens Theater, with Erica Daniels, Executive Director.

The 65th Annual Drama Desk Awards has partnered with 'Stars in the House' to live stream this year's Nominations. Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, the hosts of the virtual daily series benefiting the Actors Fund, will announce the nominees.

Magic Theatre has announced a new Monday-through-Friday daily podcast series, Far Apart Art, beginning Monday, March 30 and lasting for four weeks. The series is composed of brief, daily audio journals from a host of Magic's family of playwrights.

The Ojai Playwrights Conference is coming to Los Angeles for the first time with a benefit celebration, a?oeImagining America,a?? to take place on Saturday, May 2, 2020, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. 

Magic Theatre (Loretta Greco, Artistic Director and Kevin Nelson, Interim Managing Director) announced today that the Company's 2020 Gala Fundraiser, Magic Masquerade: Spring Forward, will be held at Gallery 308 (Fort Mason Center, Landmark Building A, 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94123) on Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

The Alfred Molina-starrer THE FATHER, currently in previews, will have its official opening night February 11, 2020 at the Pasadena Playhouse. Playwright Florian Zeller (translated by Christopher Hampton) illuminates the internal struggles of a very proud man cursed with dementia. Two versions of André's (the father) memory play out on stage that will keep the audience guessing as to which is André's reality. Jessica Kubzansky directs a seasoned cast including: Sue Cremin, Michael Manuel, Pia Shah, Hugo Armstrong and Lisa Renee Pitts. I had the chance to interview Michael Manuel, whom I last saw in his stunning portrayal of The Creature in A Noise Within's FRANKENSTEIN.

Expeditiously paced and featuring a talented ensemble, The Rep's Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles is an unflinching look at the underbelly of immigration that continues this season's focus on offering intriguing dramas filled with complex characters.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that Bay Area natives and provocateurs, Culture Clash, are returning with their latest production, Culture Clash (Still) in America. The play, written and performed by Culture Clash and directed by Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson, marks the fifth time the satirical group has performed at Berkeley Rep.

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) and Teatro Público de Cleveland (TPC) have announced updated plans for the 2019/2020 Season Spanish Language production. CPT and TPC will present Marisol, by José Rivera, translated by Aurora Lauzardo y Waldemar Burgos, and directed by Julia Rosa Sosa. The play will be performed in Spanish with English subtitles and will run March 5 a?" 21 in CPT's historic Gordon Square Theatre.

Pasadena Playhouse, The State Theater of California, has completed casting for The Father, written by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jessica Kubzansky, that comes to the Playhouse February 5 to March 1, 2020.

The Victory Gardens Theater Board of Directors and Artistic Director Chay Yew today announce plans for Yew's departure from Victory Gardens at the end of the 2019-20 Season. An internationally renowned stage director and playwright, Yew has been the Artistic Director of Victory Gardens since July 2011. Yew will finish his ninth and final season through June 2020, and will pursue personal projects upon leaving the theater.

Loretta Greco, Artistic Director of Magic Theatre, has announced that she will depart the organization after twelve years as its artistic leader. Greco will leave at the end of the 2019-2020 season. a?oeIt has been a spectacular honor to lead the storied Magic Theatre,a?? said Greco. a?oeI am proud of the extraordinary array of groundbreaking writers Magic has launched and supported over time, who have bravely led our cultural conversation forwarda?"and the way those voices and the work we have premiered have elevated the field as a whole.

To celebrate the culmination of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Latinx Play Project (LxPP), OSF will host a panel discussion featuring five veteran Latinx playwrights as they discuss the joys and challenges of working in professional theatre today, finding artistic home, and making work that speaks to the times we are in. The discussion will take place on Sunday, September 29 at 10 a.m. at Carpenter Hall and also be livestreamed by Howlround. 

The World Premiere of Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias, written and performed by Oscar Emmanuel Fabela, is headed the largest Solo Performance Festival in the world: The United Solo Festival in New York City, celebrating its 10th anniversary. The production plays October 25 at 7:30 pm at Theatre Row.

Goodman Theatre and the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) present the Midwest premiere of Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary, written and performed by L.A.-based artist Marissa Chibas, October 8 -13.