Michael Ritchie News

Miranda Wright, a Los Angeles-based producer of experimental theatre, has been selected as the recipient of Center Theatre Group's 2014 Richard E. Sherwood Award.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 15th season with the World Premiere of SIDEWINDERS by Basil Kreimendahl. M. Graham Smith makes his main stage directing debut at Cutting Ball with SIDEWINDERS, featuring DavEnd, Sara Moore, Donald Currie, and Norman Muñoz. SIDEWINDERS plays tonight, October 18 through November 17 (Press opening: October 24) at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the star below!

Jim Royce, Center Theatre Group's longtime Director of Marketing, Communications and Sales, will be leaving his position with the Los Angeles theatre company in February 2014 to further expand his arts consulting business.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 15th season with the World Premiere of SIDEWINDERS by Basil Kreimendahl. M. Graham Smith makes his main stage directing debut at Cutting Ball with SIDEWINDERS, featuring DavEnd, Sara Moore, Donald Currie, and Norman Muñoz. SIDEWINDERS plays October 18 through November 17 (Press opening: October 24) at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the star below!

'Humor Abuse,' the hilarious and heartfelt story of growing up in a circus, created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, directed by Schmidt and featuring a tour de force performance by Pisoni, will be presented at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, today, September 17 through November 3, 2013. The opening is set for September 21. Get a first look at Pisoni onstage below!

Emmy award-winning director/writer Larry Charles (Borat, Religulous, Bruno, Seinfeld) and his son Francesco DeSantis join forces for the first time to pen the world premiere of 'Treason or Reason'. 'Treason or Reason' is part of HERO Theatre's Classic Film Project, world premiere scenes inspired by classic films performed live on a historical soundstage today, September 7th, 2013 in Los Angeles for two shows only.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 15th season with the World Premiere of SIDEWINDERS by Basil Kreimendahl. M. Graham Smith makes his main stage directing debut at Cutting Ball with SIDEWINDERS, featuring DavEnd, Sara Moore,Donald Currie, and Norman Muñoz. SIDEWINDERS plays October 18 through November 17 at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets ($10-50) and more information, the public may visitcuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205.

Emmy award-winning director/writer Larry Charles (Borat, Religulous, Bruno, Seinfeld) and his son Francesco DeSantis join forces for the first time to pen the world premiere of 'Treason or Reason'. 'Treason or Reason' is part of HERO Theatre's Classic Film Project, world premiere scenes inspired by classic films performed live on a historical soundstage on September 7th, 2013 in Los Angeles for two shows only.

A new season rich with laughter and compelling drama was announced today for the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum by Michael Ritchie, CTG Artistic Director.

Charlie Hofheimer, also known as Abe Drexler on AMC's 'Mad Men' joins the cast of HERO Theatre's 'Classic Film Project'. Hofheimer will star in 'Non Mi Scordo...with a Shmear' written by Danny Hoch. Ric Salinas of 'Culture Clash' will also star in the event in 'Treason or Reason' written by Larry Charles. The 'Classic Film Project' consists of scenes inspired by classic films.

Cutting Ball Theater opens its 15th season with the World Premiere of Basil Kreimendahl's SIDEWINDERS, beginning Oct. 18 and running through Nov. 17. SIDEWINDERS owes as much to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot as it does to SF Pride. In this absurdist-Western romp through gender queerness, Dakota and Bailey find themselves lost, possibly upside down, in a strange world with even stranger characters. Their journey to getting right side up provokes questions of sex anatomy, transgenderism, and who we really are from the inside out. M. Graham Smith makes his main stage directing debut at Cutting Ball with SIDEWINDERS, featuring DavEnd, Sara Moore, Donald Currie, and Norman Munoz.

On September 7, 2013 for two benefit performances, HERO Theatre presents "The Classic Film Project." "The Classic Film Project" consists of scenes inspired by classic films. They will be presented live and written by Quiara Alegria Hudes (Pulitzer winning "Water By the Spoonful" and "In the Heights"), film/TV director and writer Larry Charles (Borat, Bruno, Curb Your Enthusiasm), Colman Domingo (Public Theater's "Wild With Happy"), Susan Blackburn Award-Winner Jennifer Haley, Luis Alfaro, Ricardo A. Bracho, Juri Henley-Cohn, Francesco DeSantis, Tamar Halpern, Danny Hoch, Carmen Rivera, Ethan Sandler, Candido Tirado and Annie Weisman. Directors include Michael-John Garces, Yetta Gottesman, Diane Rodriguez and Tina Sanchez. The scenes will be performed by members of HERO Theatre's acting ensemble alongside special guest artists.

Center Theatre Group (CTG) has been awarded a four-year, $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will make possible a program focusing on collaboratively created contemporary work from ensembles, devisers and writers, supporting the creative arc from commissioning through development and production; the program will build on the work generated by a multi-year 2009 Mellon Foundation grant supporting the development of non-text based work.

Three world premieres, seven productions in all, are scheduled for the 10th season at the Douglas. The works range from a new rock musical to a sweeping new drama to a masterful interpretation of the works of Beckett, plus the bonus option of The Second City's one-of-a-kind Christmas show. In addition, three Los Angeles solo artists will be presented in the popular DouglasPlus program, and will represent CTG in the Radar L.A. festival.

Val Kilmer, famous for his portrayals of iconic characters such as Jim Morrison (The Doors), Doc Holliday (Tombstone) and Batman (Batman Forever), inhabits the spirit of yet another legendary figure: Mark Twain. Kilmer continues to develop Citizen Twain, a solo show about the man considered to be the world's greatest storyteller, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, June 28 to July 28 for a limited five-week engagement, followed by this fall by performances in London's West End.

Rehearsals have started for 'A Parallelogram,' the riveting new play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Bruce Norris. Directed by Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, 'A Parallelogram' will be presented at the Taper, July 10 through August 18, 2013. The opening is scheduled for July 21. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast and creative team in rehearsal below!

'Humor Abuse,' the hilarious and heartfelt story of growing up in a circus, created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, directed by Schmidt and featuring a tour de force performance by Pisoni, will be presented at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, September 17 through November 3, 2013. The opening is set for September 21.

"Humor Abuse," the hilarious and heartfelt story of growing up in a circus, created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, directed by Schmidt and featuring a tour de force performance by Pisoni, will be presented at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, September 17 through November 3, 2013. The opening is set for September 21. Get a first look at Pisoni onstage below!

Val Kilmer, famous for his portrayals of iconic characters such as Jim Morrison (The Doors), Doc Holliday (Tombstone) and Batman (Batman Forever), inhabits the spirit of yet another legendary figure: Mark Twain. Kilmer continues to develop Citizen Twain, a solo show about the man considered to be the world's greatest storyteller, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, June 28 to July 14 for a limited three-week engagement, followed by this fall by performances in London's West End.

'Joe Turner's Come and Gone' opened last night, May 8, at CTG's Mark Taper Forum, directed by Phylicia Rashad. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!