Center Theater Group’s new season brings all three of its venues under one breathtaking roof – Orange County Register

Los Angeles’ Center Theater Group’s upcoming season unfolds in a whole new way as the company combines the power of its three iconic venues to bring together for the first time musicals, world premieres, Broadway stars and family shows under the same program. his history.

“I’m happy with the direction we’re going,” said Snehal Desai, artistic director of the Theater Group, who took over as director of the company in August. “It’s just the beginning and it’s a long game and I feel like this season is a road map of what we’re doing, how we want to invite everyone into our spaces, of how we want to offer something to every generation,” he added. .

The renowned Center Theater Group typically schedules separate seasons in its three venues; the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theater (both at the Music Center in Los Angeles), and the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. However, for its 2024/25 season, the respected organization unifies the programming of the three sites under a single season called One CTG. A Los Angeles.

“This is a season that we put together and what we envision is a journey through all of our venues over the course of a year,” said Desai, who joined CTG after working at East West Players, where he served as director artistic for seven years.

“When we did separate seasons in each venue, we wanted to make sure we had drama, comedy and different types of shows, and now we’re bringing them together as one collective thing,” he said.

It was also a business decision made in the wake of the pandemic.

“We’re not operating three independent locations right now, we’re operating one business among three spaces,” Desai said.

Subscription package tickets went on sale May 8 for the multi-show season that opens Oct. 2 with Desai making his CTG directorial debut at Taper with a new version of the musical “American Idiot” by Green Day. It will be a landmark event, not only because it is Desai’s debut at the helm of a production, but also because it will mark the reopening of the 1967 venue, which suddenly closed its doors on last year due to a budget deficit. The production will include a partnership with Deaf West Theater to tell the punk rock musical tale in English and American Sign Language. It runs until November 10.

Other Taper productions this season include the world premiere of “Fake It Until You Make It” by Los Angeles-based writer Larissa FastHorse. This show, which runs from January 29 to March 9, will mark another significant event at the Taper as FastHorse will be the first Native American writer to have a mainline production on the Mark Taper Forum stage.

Other season highlights include “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends” starring Broadway royalty Bernadette Peters, making her CTG debut. It will run from February 8 to March 9, and the Tony and Olivier Award-winning hit “Life of Pi” will run from May 7 to June 1, 2025. Both shows will take place at the Ahmanson.

The Kirk Douglas Theater will offer programming that will appeal to families and young audiences, including “Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical,” a comedy adapted from the “Cat Kid Comic Club” book series (November 22-January 5 ). and “El Otro Oz,” a bilingual adaptation of “The Wizard of OZ.” Dates for this production have not yet been announced.

For Desai, combining seasons is not only a way to create a sustainable model post-pandemic, as it gives the company more flexibility in programming, but he also hopes it will make theater more accessible to people who cannot. be die-hard fans of the theater.

“I want us to be the premier theater home in Southern California,” he said. “I wanted there to be something for everyone in every season at CTG. As the largest theater company outside of New York and the largest on the West Coast, I want us to make sure we are a home for theater and invite as many people to Los Angeles and California as possible. South in our rooms,’” Desai said.

Subscription plans start at $299. For tickets, go to centertheatregroup.org