A Roadmap to Innovation: Pushing the Boundaries of Making Theatre

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A ROADMAP TO INNOVATION:

Pushing the Boundaries of Making Theatre

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Dear colleagues, artists, and audiences, Shortly after arriving at Center Theatre Group in 2005, I was invited to attend a convening of nonprofit arts leaders in Dublin, Ireland, that was aimed at encouraging greater intersection between presenting and producing organizations and ensemble-based artists. There it became even more clear to me that the future of nonprofit theatre, particularly at an institution as storied and important as Center Theatre Group, would rely on embracing our tradition of breaking boundaries and expanding the public’s perception of what “live theatre” represented. I was inheriting a legacy boldly established by our founder, Gordon Davidson, and what it had come to represent both in the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and across the country.

I also was arriving at the organization at a time of evolution for our greater art form. I felt it vital to our future that we broaden the artistic scope and challenge our L.A. audiences by inviting them to experience the work of artists that were already redefining theatre across the globe. Luckily, Center Theatre Group possessed a unique platform to begin thinking of ways to complement the important work already taking place across our three theatres—the Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and Kirk Douglas Theatre—by putting our institutional weight behind bold new programming that was not bound by our mainstages or traditions.

The organization and I were fortunate to have a boundless artist, Diane Rodriguez, on staff as an Associate Artistic Director. It was at her urging that I attended that convening in Dublin, and it has been with her continued sense of exploration that we’ve been able to create and present bold new works across the vast locales of Los Angeles and work with a diverse group of extraordinarily remarkable artists, both local and international. I’ll freely admit, there have been times I wasn’t quite sure what we were getting ourselves into, but I knew that it was important to use our position and our resources to experiment and explore new ideas.

I want to thank not only Diane for her ongoing and unflagging spirit in helping us all take this journey, but also the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for funding and supporting this vital exploration of art, artistry, and collaboration. These values and ideas are now part of Center Theatre Group’s DNA and will continue with us as we move ahead into our next 50 years.

Sincerely,

Michael Ritchie ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CENTER THEATRE GROUP

Untitled Project by Phil Soltanoff and Jim Findlay. Photo by Phil Soltanoff.

A Note from Center Theatre Group Associate Artistic Director and Program Director Diane Rodriguez In 2005,I had been Co-Director of Center Theatre Group’s Latino Theatre Initiative, a program that developed Latino playwrights and audiences, for 10 years. It was a monumental effort under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson. That year, as Gordon retired, I was ready to throw out a wider net. I wanted to open the organization’s doors for independent, wildly diverse artists from around the globe who needed more support to make their work together in a rehearsal room. It was a new direction for me, but it also took me back to my roots. After all, I had started my artistic path as an ensemble member of one of the most seminal American theatre companies, El Teatro Campesino. My experiences touring internationally there shaped my belief in the importance of collaboration and of connecting artists and audiences from different countries and backgrounds.

I was thinking about all this as Michael Ritchie entered the picture as Center Theatre Group’s new Artistic Director, eager to shake things up and explore new ways of approaching commissions and producing, including partnerships and international work. It was a perfect alignment. We created a new play production strategic plan that resulted in a program aligned with his curiosity and the staff’s; I was to lead and become the program director.

We knew that mixing the systems of American producers and contemporary theatre and dance presenters was not going to be an easy task.

Moreover, we didn’t have a model—a roadmap— pointing the way. So we by and large figured it out as we went. We hope the journey we took might serve as an inspiration and even a guide for others looking to carve their own paths in this exciting artistic space.

While it involved some improvisation, our program was not formed in a vacuum, nor did it exist in one.

We remain profoundly grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, both for its support of this

project and for its investment in innovative fieldwide initiatives, including the Leading National Theatres Program (a partnership with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation) and the National Theatre Project (a partnership with the New England Foundation for the Arts). The Mellon also funded HowlRound, which has proven to be an innovative champion of independent artists outside of the regional theatre format and helped to position our work at Center Theatre Group.

In addition to the Foundation’s financial investment in innovative artists and theatre-making, we benefited greatly from the Mellon staff’s personal investment in us and this work. Of note was former Mellon Programs Officer Diane Ragsdale, who went above and beyond what we expected.

Ultimately, hyper-collaborative work achieved the necessary momentum because the ideas at its core were field-led. The Foundation listened to what was happening in the field and responded.

We watched the Foundation staff develop strong relationships with artistic thought leaders. Their Foundation portfolio funded a movement.

Over the years, there have been numerous regional, contemporary theatre festivals that have grown and flourished, including The TBA Festival in Portland, Philly Fringe, Austin’s Fusebox Festival, and the Under the Radar Festival in New York City. Hyper-collaborative artists and ensembles could tour their work to these venues, thus creating a U.S. circuit for many of Center Theatre Group’s commissions. In addition to these performance platforms for our work, our staff scouted these festivals and sat on adjudicating panels in order to familiarize ourselves with artists who were “making” work versus “writing” work.

These festivals became the inspiration for Center Theatre Group to collaborate with New York’s The Public Theater and REDCAT, our neighbors in Downtown L.A., to create the RADAR L.A. Festival in 2011 and 2013.

Lastly, I spent 10 years meeting with a scrappy ad hoc group of international Artistic Directors, presenters of contemporary theatre work and dance, and producers under the watchful eye of Under the Radar Festival Director/Founder Mark Russell, and inspired by conversations started by Olga Garay when she was a Programs Officer for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation back in the early 2000s. This group, which we called the Directors Circle, was a game changer. The goal of the Directors Circle was to further explore the development of professional and trusting relationships between presenters and producers.

The Directors Circle has included artistic leaders from the Guthrie Theater, The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, and Center Theatre Group, whose staff was introduced to many an artist through these convenings. The Directors Circle represents a span of over 15 years of conversations and partnership.

This document is Center Theatre Group’s effort to share how all this work impacted a LORT company that was forced to create new systems to embrace a different kind of artist. We made room for artists whose vision was to make new work together as a group of collaborators because their work speaks to us and our audience.

We hope you can do the same. Onward.

Diane Rodriguez ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR CENTER THEATRE GROUP

(Center, L–R) Paul Soileau, E. Jason Liebrecht and Jenny Larson in the World premiere 2011 DouglasPlus production of Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Table of Contents I. Introduction

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II. About Center Theatre Group

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III. Field Context

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IV. The Project: An Overview

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Development

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Production

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Case Studies

Ensemble-Generated Work

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Participatory Work

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Hyper-Collaborative Work

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VI. Key Learning & Accomplishments

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VII. Staff Reflections

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Appendix 1: Complete Project List

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Appendix 2: Project Productions

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Acknowledgements 54

Mia Barron in Lars Jan’s The White Album. Photo by Maria Baranova.

Playwrights’ Arena’s 2017 production of The Hotel Play. Photo courtesy of Playwrights’ Arena.

I. Introduction In 2009, Center Theatre Group was awarded a significant grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to explore how to develop hyper-collaborative theatre at an institution that had built its legacy on the well-made play. There was a movement afoot that acknowledged there were other ways of making new work outside of the regional theatre format. Intrigued and inspired by the new conversations and possibilities in our field, we asked the big question: what if we experimented with using some of these models for commissioning, presenting, contracting, and notions of ownership inside our theatre?

Over the following nine years of artistic innovation, we supported 85 artists and 33 projects through our partnership with the Foundation.These years of experimentation and expansion produced outstanding artistic results as well as tremendous learning that contributed in a meaningful way to the organization’s overall artistic efforts. We have compiled this roadmap of our experience and learning to recognize the diverse range of exceptional, groundbreaking artists and theatrical work that were part of this fruitful partnership, and to offer a useful resource and inspiration for artists and theatremakers to continue pushing the boundaries of our art form and to collaborate in new and innovative ways.

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SETTING A DESTINATION

Our ultimate goal was to increase the diversity of artists and audiences served by Center Theatre Group, and with this in mind, we identified the following project guideposts in 2009, at the outset of our journey: • Provide opportunities for artists and ensembles to create collaborative work in a regional theatre setting • Create new employment opportunities for national and Los Angeles-based artists from various theatrical disciplines • Place commissioned work on a production track • Build a higher national profile for artists engaged in the creation of collaborative contemporary work, as well as the art they create • Expand the reach of Center Theatre Group’s programming to include more adventurous audiences of all ages • Advance field-wide discussion about the collective creation of work in a regional theatre setting

WE ENTERTAIN.

II. ABOUT CENTER THEATRE GROUP

At our three Los Angeles theatres—the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre—we invite audiences to experience the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country. We produce and present the most celebrated shows straight from Broadway, thoughtprovoking and lively stories that help us understand our complicated world, and adventurous new plays from fresh voices.

WE CREATE.

Over the past decade, we’ve commissioned over 65 shows and produced approximately 40 World premieres, making us one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works. We cultivate artists of all generations, contributing to the cultural scene in and beyond Los Angeles by hosting workshops, nurturing playwrights, supporting local theatres, and creating art by and with the community.

WE ENGAGE.

We encourage our audiences and our community to take a play off the stage and into their lives. Our interactive programs—from community-based art and digital content to donor experiences and preand post-show events—reach across generations, demographics, and circumstance.

WE INSPIRE.

Our award-winning education programs support the next generation of theatregoers, artists, and artisans, encouraging them to learn more about themselves, the world, and the arts.

Our partnership with Mellon Foundation built on a tradition that began in 1967 of using the art of theatre to broaden horizons and illuminate new perspectives. Center Theatre Group’s mission is to serve the diverse audiences of Los Angeles by producing and presenting theatre of the highest caliber, by nurturing new artists, by attracting new audiences, and by developing youth outreach and arts education programs. This mission is based on a belief that the art of theatre is a cultural force with the capacity to transform the lives of individuals and society at large.

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Through magical moments at the Ahmanson, daring new perspectives at the Taper, captivating experiences at the Douglas, transformative educational programs, and artistic initiatives that help feed Los Angeles’s vibrant theatrical community, we put theatre at the center of it all.

A workshop for Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s The Good Book in the Center Theatre Group rehearsal room.

III. Field Context Center Theatre Group’s hyper-collaborative program was part of a field-wide initiative to take a more multi-faceted approach to the creation of new work.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was the primary funder of this shared innovation. Prior to the generous support described here, the Foundation partnered with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) in the early 2000s to form the Leading National Theatres Program, of which Center Theatre Group was a participating theatre. The DDCF already provided extensive funding to presenting organizations focused on contemporary dance, performance, and ensemble theatre. The partnership with the Mellon Foundation expanded their portfolio to also include leading nonprofit producing theatres.

The operative words here are presenting and producing.

The presenting model commissioned work, but did not dramaturg it. This was left to the artists, who brought the production in its entirety to the venue to be presented, generally over a three- to four-day run. In contrast, producing theatres like Center Theatre Group typically commission and develop work over a two- to three-year span, paying for readings and workshops. If choosing to produce a commission, the theatre will then build the production in-house to be seen over a four- to six-week run. The Doris Duke-Mellon partnership launched an investigation of how to bridge the gap between presenting and producing theatres in order to give artists more resources to make and show work. It proved to be akin to mixing oil and water. Both models had capacity limitations and systems that proved difficult to combine.

When our project began in 2009, hyper-collaborative work was an art form that had been honed for over 40 years, but had not yet intersected in a substantive way with the American regional theatre. We therefore sought to increase access for hyper-collaborative artists to the financial and intellectual resources that regional theatres provide, such as a higher level of compensation for artists

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and administrators, increased funding for sets and other production elements, and a literary office that can support research and development. We believed that expanding Center Theatre Group’s modes of developing new work would not only contribute to the continued evolution and vibrancy of the art form, but also support organizational stability by attracting and nurturing a more adventurous and inquisitive audience.

During our nine-year investigation, a variety of other key players and initiatives worked in tandem with ours.

These included numerous regional contemporary theatre festivals, the HowlRound knowledge commons by and for the theatre community, and grant initiatives such as the National Theatre Project, which remains in place today for ensembles and hyper collaborators creating and touring new work. The project initially sparked interest from other regional theatres, and was even touted as an example for the field on the HowlRound podcast. Ultimately, however, concerns around the economic feasibility of developing hyper-collaborative work in a regional theatre setting became more pronounced in the years following the 2008 financial crisis and its deepening impact on the field.

At the same time, we were bolstered by Los Angeles’ growth into more of an international theatre town, and a steadily developing site-specific and immersive movement that embraces boundary-pushing work. There is a growing appetite for bringing international theatre to Los Angeles, and for putting artists here in an international context. There certainly is no shortage of talent here to showcase. The Los Angeles region has the largest creative industry in the world and is bursting with talented actors, writers, and directors. We have more theatre companies than any other city thanks to a thriving, intimate theatre scene. With the convergence of these trends, there are new opportunities for Center Theatre Group and other arts organizations to forge unconventional partnerships that continue the global dialogue and exchange created by many of the projects described here.

DEFINING HYPER-COLLABORATION

One of the most challenging aspects of this initiative was giving it a name. Staff bandied about a few terms at the program’s inception. The two that rose to the top were “ensemble-generated work” and “devised theatre.”

We were certainly interested in ensembles, but also knew that we were excited about bringing together independent artists to work together on a singular project. And devised theatre carried the perception, true or not, that a group of people created the work without the involvement of a writer. For Center Theatre Group, a longtime home for playwrights, this was incongruous. Nearly 10 years ago,

HERE Founding Artistic Director Kristin Marting used the term “hyper-collaborative work” on a panel at the Prelude Festival at CUNY University. This term resonated. We felt it was the best description of our focus and intention because, while of course all theatre is collaborative, when the work is not the sole vision of a playwright but rather a group of people, it becomes a hyper-collaboration. We found that hyper-collaborative work often, but not always, incorporates performance, technology, imagery, the physical, music, and heightened text to create a unique theatrical experience.

DEVELOPMENT The project explored new models for both developing and producing a wide range of hyper-collaborative work that involved multiple independent creators or a company creating work together.

IV. The Project: An Overview 85 35 33

WOMEN

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Center Theatre Group Productions

Presented in RADAR L.A.

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TOTAL PROJECTS SUPPORTED

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PRODUCTION COMMISSIONS were given to ambitious, hypercollaborative projects that had undergone minimal to no previous development. From 2009–2018, we commissioned and developed six Production Commissions.

TOTAL ARTISTS

ARTISTS OF COLOR

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We experimented with two models for developing hyper-collaborative work: Production Commissions and Completion Commissions.

TOTAL COMMISSIONS

“Center Theatre Group’s vision is more polished than the Rudes—which is a hard thing to recognize and manage in real time. It was a little like having Brian Wilson produce a shitty punk album. Brian Wilson clearly knows what he’s doing! But I think when we produce I’ve Never Been So Happy again, we will make it more hand-made and low-fi.”

—Lana Lesley/Rude Mechs, I’ve Never Been So Happy

“Our rehearsal and devising methods are a far cry from those used in a more conventional theatre context. Rather than see this as a problem, Center Theatre Group embraced our methodologies and worked alongside us.”

TOTAL PROJECTS PRODUCED*

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Co-Presentations in Los Angeles

Produced outside Center Theatre Group

PERCENTAGE OF COMMISSIONS WITH PRODUCTIONS*

*Note: Three of the 20 projects produced were not commissions; both received extensive development support from Center Theatre Group.

—Gob Squad, Western Society and Creation (Pictures for Dorian)

“Center Theatre Group’s commitment to fostering the work and lives of artists across the spectrum of aesthetics and process models is unparalleled.”

—Deborah Stein, The Wholehearted

SCALING THE WORK Many of our partner artists, particularly those who received our first Production Commissions, weren’t accustomed to coming into a theatre with the level of resources Center Theatre Group provides. They scaled their work and expanded production values up such as utilizing various design technologies and working with a robust production staff team. As a result, if we passed on the project, our partner artists often could not afford to continue or mount it elsewhere. This was particularly troublesome because many ensembles and hyper-collaborators possess knowledge of self-producing or touring. Therefore, an important lesson in this project, which contributed to the success of our later commissions, was to align development budgets with the ensemble’s aesthetic and scale.

(L-R) Carlton Byrd, Brian Dykstra, and David McKnight in a 2015 public reading of Brian Dykstra’s Used To Was (Maybe Did) at Inner-City Arts in Downtown L.A. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

“The whole thing was a mind-blowingly wonderful experience. The support from [Center Theatre Group] is EXACTLY what any playwright would be lottery-winning level lucky enough to get.”

—Brian Dykstra, Used to Was (Maybe Did)

COMPLETION COMMISSIONS were given to work that had begun the development process elsewhere and needed funding and additional support to be completed. These commissions are designed to help artists at a crucial moment: when they are in the middle or nearing the end of the development process and resources are wearing thin. They have also bridged the gap between presenting organizations that commission work they cannot develop and regional theatres with the infrastructure to develop new work but a limited familiarity with artists creating contemporary collaborative work. From 2009–2018, we commissioned and developed 23 Completion Commissions.

“The Hotel Play was a big project for Playwrights’ Arena.

The production, performed in an actual hotel, was one of our most memorable productions. And we could not have done it without Center Theatre Group’s support.

They were instrumental in shaping the production: attending several readings, giving notes, addressing dramaturgical concerns, providing resources, and moral support when needed.”

—Jon Lawrence Rivera/Playwrights’ Arena, The Hotel Play

THE ROLE OF THE PLAYWRIGHT

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Originally, we anticipated that most of the new work we developed would be non-text based and instead rely almost entirely on imagery, technology, or the physical. However, the staff found that text actually remained an important element in the clear majority of pieces we developed. Rather than excluding writers, hyper-collaborative artists often include them as a member, but not the lead, of the creative team.

In some cases, writers contribute to the creation of work as part of an ensemble structure or design team.

“I had an amazing experience working with Center Theatre Group on Straight White Men. They were the perfect balance of supportive, flexible, and determined.”

—Young Jean Lee, Straight White Men

(L–R) Young Jean Lee in rehearsal.

Richard Riehle, Gary Wilmes, Frank Boyd, and Brian Slaten in the 2015 West Coast premiere ofStraight White Men at the Douglas. Photos by Craig Schwartz.

STRAIGHT WHITE MEN In July 2018, Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, a Completion Commission, opened on Broadway, making her the first Asian American woman playwright produced there. Generated from interviews and a devised process, Straight White Men subverted identity and privilege while challenging the notion of who has the right to tell what story. Straight White Men had its West Coast premiere in 2015 at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, presented in collaboration with the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. “Straight White Men is a family drama that on the surface looks fairly standard, but the play transcends psychological realism,” wrote Los Angeles Times theatre critic Charles McNulty in his review. “Lee is wrestling with the meaning of straight white male privilege through characters who are self-conscious beneficiaries of an identity increasingly out of favor in 21st century America yet still, like it or not, in control.”

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PRODUCTION A primary goal of the project was moving commissions to production. We did this in a number of ways, including expanding our producing models and outlets for production.

as a springboard for participating artists. Its success confirmed our theory that there was an appetite and solid artistic infrastructure for hyper-collaborative work in Los Angeles.

RADAR L.A. international festival was the first new production outlet established through the project. A collaboration of Center Theatre Group, REDCAT, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Theatre Communications Group, and The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, RADAR L.A. was presented in 2011 and 2013, showcasing a wide and exciting range of ground-breaking contemporary theatre from the Western states, Latin America, and Pacific Rim. The festival successfully expanded the theatrical range and opportunities available for audiences locally, and served

In cases where a commission would be better served by a smaller venue, or was a particularly good fit with another theatre company’s audience base, we supported co-presentations with local companies including REDCAT, Playwrights’ Arena, Burglars of Hamm, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, and Los Angeles Performance Practice. This model proved to be so successful that we created Off Center as the umbrella brand for collaborations with partners at venues around town.

“International and local came together through Off Center in our 2018/2019 Season in the form of Gob Squad, a Berlin company who finds their muse in Los Angeles, and Lars Jan, a local artist whom we’ve helped make a profile nationally and internationally. Audiences will have an opportunity to see their work in Los Angeles this year thanks to presenting partnerships with REDCAT and UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.”

—Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez

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(L–R) Dylan Jones, Caitlyn Conlin, and Kendra Chell in Theatre Movement Bazaar’s Track 3. Photo courtesy of Shannon Rodriguez.

“I loved the intimate setting of the upstairs performance space. For a play in which the set is almost a character in itself, it was truly ideal!!”

—Audience Member, How to be a Rock Critic

PRODUCTION (CONT.) We created three Micro-Tours that gave us an opportunity to share the work. In the Micro-Tour model, smaller productions travel to theatres in close proximity for short, consecutive runs to help artists forge relationships and build the region’s taste for collective work. In addition, collaborating companies are able to expand their production outlets by sharing production expenses.

Our first two Micro-Tours—Guillermo Calderón’s Neva with English translation by Andrea Thome, and Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s How to be a Rock Critic—were staged environmentally in the Kirk Douglas Theatre rehearsal room. Both were Completion Commissions and co-productions with South Coast Repertory and La Jolla Playhouse. For The Wholehearted, our third Micro-Tour, the Douglas house was reconfigured so that most of the seating was on the stage, arranged around a boxing ring. The Wholehearted was produced in collaboration with La Jolla.

In each of these models, we were able to support maverick approaches to theatre and risk-taking by making strategic investments from our Innovation Fund. The Fund encouraged and rewarded bold experiments and daring creativity by offering more flexibility and resources to artists who were pushing boundaries aesthetically. It provided a financial cushion that enabled us to bring this genre of work to audiences who were used to more traditional fare, and allowed artists to fully realize their vision in the areas of technology and audience engagement. The Innovation Fund supported the immersive audience engagement activities for Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy; the unique technological demands and sound design elements of pieces such as Rimini Protokoll Remote L.A. and Lars Jan’s The White Album; and the development of magic elements in Elephant Room (developed as Next Stop Amazingland) by Trey Lyford, Geoff Sobelle, and Steve Cuiffo, among other creative endeavors.

“I love theatre in the round. The multimedia was super cool. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

—Audience Member, The Wholehearted

“We love and appreciate that the Douglas brings us non-traditional theatre!”

—Audience Member, Next Stop Amazingland

Erik Jensen in Jessica Blank and Jensen’s 2015 production of How to Be a Rock Critic in the Douglas rehearsal room. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

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“After a relatively sleepy summer, the theater scene was jolted back to life in September by a barrage of exciting productions, 18 of them under the Radar L.A. banner. Few cities in the world could rival the breadth, depth and, yes, audacity of performance offerings marching through town last month.”

—Los Angeles Times, 2013

A PLATFORM FOR COMMISSIONED WORK RADAR L.A. included three Completion Commissions: Neva by Guillermo Calderón with English translation

by Andrea Thome (2011)—a site-specific drama set in a St. Petersburg rehearsal room in 1905, where Anton Chekhov’s widow, actress Olga Knipper, huddles with fellow actors as striking workers are being gunned down by the tsarist regime in the streets outside.

You Should Have Stayed Home, Morons!, or ¡Haberos quedado en casa, capullos! by Rodrigo Garcia with English translation by Andrea Thome (2013)— an immersive, site-specific piece raising universal questions about parenthood, education, and individual responsibility.

Track 3 by L.A.-based company Theatre Movement Bazaar (2013)—an interdisciplinary performance piece that riffs with humor, insight, and physical comedy on the desperation and wit that infuses Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters.

Our production of Rude Mechs’ The Method Gun at the Kirk Douglas Theatre was also part of the 2011 RADAR L.A. festival. The Method Gun explores the ecstasy and excesses of performing, the dangers of public intimacy, and the incompatibility of truth onstage and sanity in real life. By presenting the piece shortly before the World premiere of Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy at the Douglas, Center Theatre Group “provided a soft entry to the L.A. community, let us meet the production staff under more controlled circumstances, and let us get to know the venue so we could plan I’ve Never Been So Happy with first-hand knowledge,” recalled Lana Lesley of Rude Mechs.

(L–R) Sue Cremin, Ramón de Ocampo, and Ruth Livier in 2011’s Neva, written and directed by Guillermo Calderón with English translation by Andrea Thome, at the Douglas. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

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V. CASE STUDIES ENSEMBLE-GENERATED WORK Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy, a Completion Commission, explores the collision between a West that has been manufactured for tourists and the true wilderness that theme parks and movie sets bulldoze and develop into submission.

Our audiences’ responses were extremely enthusiastic to the “shindig,” which included complimentary chili and cornbread, and the chance to wear costumes during the production and play a variety of highly interactive themed games in the lobby.

Our 2011 production at the Kirk Douglas Theatre was notable for its unprecedented lobby engagement featuring radical hospitality and a “Western musical transmedia shindig.” The lobby was transformed according to Rude Mechs’ specifications, creating a seamless experience both in mood and tone for theatregoers to actively engage with the piece from the moment they entered the building.

As a direct result of this experience, our artistic, education, and production departments began to regularly collaborate on interactive lobby activities at the Douglas that have expanded to our other two venues as well.

“Working with Center Theatre Group on I’ve Never Been So Happy and The Method Gun was fantastic. It allowed us to pay artists fair wages, tour to another city twice, meet new colleagues, and build new audiences. We learned about ourselves and fed our deepest area of artistic study: collaboration. We were better collaborators on subsequent commissions and productions because of this experience, and we are grateful for that too.”

—Lana Lesley/Rude Mechs

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(L–R) Jenny Larson and Meg Sullivan in the 2011 World premiere production of Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy at the Douglas. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

ENSEMBLE-GENERATED WORK (CONT.) Gob Squad’s Western Society, a Production Commission, is an innovative and participatory piece that explores how families relate to each other through technology. Performers from Gob Squad share a meal with extras of different ages and backgrounds, selected from the audience to form an ad hoc family, alongside a live video projection.

We co-presented the U.S. premiere of Western Society with REDCAT in 2014 at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater. Gob Squad’s second Production Commission, Creation (Pictures for Dorian), explores aging, beauty, power, and transformation. Gob Squad brings together a group of local performers, a generation younger and older than themselves, to answer some of the questions raised by Oscar Wilde’s never-aging character Dorian Gray. The piece had its U.S. premiere at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, again co-presented by Center Theatre Group and REDCAT, in 2018.

Western Society and Creation (Pictures for Dorian) were developed in and inspired by Los Angeles. Gob Squad’s development process is highly participatory, and the ensemble’s residencies and local community interviews were extensive. The resulting theatrical work supported a global dialogue catalyzed by reflections on Los Angeles lives and perspectives. Gob Squad’s two Production Commissions are also notable for our REDCAT partnership, which provided the best possible venue and audience for the works’ U.S. premieres. Both productions were warmly received by audiences and critics alike.

“We could not have hoped for a more supportive atmosphere to develop Western Society. We were given the perfect conditions to generate material, develop concepts and try out ideas. Those initial weeks in Los Angeles enabled us to build a solid foundation for the work. Many lines of research and inquiry, which were inspired by our time spent working in L.A. (the beach body, L.A. fashion, Jay Leno live audience, dollar stores...) became the backbone of the final work. Western Society has become one of Gob Squad’s most successful shows, and it is still touring internationally. We were honored and delighted when we were able to continue our relationship with Center Theatre Group during the development of Creation (Pictures For Dorian), which is now also touring internationally.”

—Gob Squad, Western Society and Creation (Pictures for Dorian)

Gob Squad’s Western Society, which Center Theatre Group co-presented with REDCAT in Downtown Los Angeles in 2014. Photo by David Baltzer.

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PARTICIPATORY WORK Rimini Protokoll’s Remote L.A., a Production Commission, was Center Theatre Group’s first-ever traveling sitespecific piece. Drawing from Remote X, which has been performed internationally, the creative team created an entirely original piece for our 2017/18 50th Anniversary Season. Remote L.A. invited audience members to join a group of 50 people on a guided audio tour of Downtown L.A., revealing a “secret Los Angeles” made up of places normally unseen and common areas seen through a new lens. Audience members became the piece itself as they traveled on foot and used public transportation, and were asked to execute particular tasks while listening to a computer-generated voice and soundtrack on personal headsets.

Our production staff became part of the creative team in order to implement new thinking and innovation around various production elements like sound design, community partnerships, permitting, and safety protocols. A security team was present for each performance, wearing street clothes to keep audience members at ease. Ultimately the experiment was very successful. Remote L.A. had a completely sold-out three-week run, with an extraordinarily positive critical response from the local Los Angeles theatre community.

“This was an interesting experiment in blurring lines between audience/ performers/scenery. Bravo to Center Theatre Group for taking a chance and daring to try something different again.”

—Audience Member, Remote L.A.

“Loved the site-specific and interactive nature of the show. The theatre technique was something we had never experienced before.”

—Audience Member, Remote L.A.

“Remote L.A. takes a giant step in the right direction for Center Theatre Group. I can’t recall a new production, at least in Michael Ritchie’s decadeplus of running Center Theatre Group, that focuses on contemporary L.A. as intensely.… Normally, I would hope that something called ‘Remote L.A.’ would be created by L.A. artists. But I didn’t hear anything from [narrators] ‘Heather’ or ‘Will’ that sounded inappropriate for L.A. Perhaps it takes an outsider’s eye to notice certain dramatic qualities of downtown L.A. that most residents might overlook. … I wish that Remote L.A., which accommodates only about 50 people at each performance, could be extended for a much longer run, so that more Angelenos and maybe some tourists, too, might discover this unforgettable urban adventure.”

—Don Shirley, LA Observed

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Participants in Rimini Protokoll’s 2017 Remote L.A., a pedestrian-based live art experience on the streets of Downtown L.A. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

“I’m an avid theatergoer, including all sorts of alternative immersive events and I was just blown away by this performance.

I loved that we moved throughout the city and how flawlessly it all worked.”

—Audience Member, Remote L.A.

PARTICIPATORY WORK (CONT.) Lars Jan and Early Morning Opera’s The White Album, a Completion Commission, is an innovative multimedia performance that uses Joan Didion’s seminal essay to approach to the intersection between observation, storytelling, audience participation, choreography, and architecture. Obie Award-winning actress Mia Barron delivers Didion’s essay in its entirety, while behind her a parallel performance unfolds. Separated, two audiences— one, large and seated in the theatre’s house; the other, small and inside the stage performance—experience different but resonant works simultaneously as they confront one another across generational and racial divides and varied perspectives, visually demonstrating stark similarities in the cultural dynamics of 1968 and now.

The smaller audience wears in-ear monitors and follows guided directions that instruct them to enter the set and interact with the performers and each other.

The spring 2019 production of The White Album at the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA represented a confluence of several organizational relationships and artistic programs. Director, visual artist, writer, and founder of Early Morning Opera, Lars Jan is the 2008 recipient of Center Theatre Group’s Richard E. Sherwood Award, given annually to an innovative and adventurous theatre artist working in Los Angeles. The White Album was produced by 2014 Sherwood Award recipient Miranda Wright, an independent producer, performance curator, and founder of Los Angeles Performance Practice. To prepare for the complicated sound design requirements of the production, Jan attended Remote L.A. as research. As Center Theatre Group has grown our incubators for contemporary work, new artistic relationships, and synergy across programs has become possible.

Mia Barron in Lars Jan’s The White Album. Photo by Maria Baranova.

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“The Center Theatre Group commission launched my process of creating The White Album. Center Theatre Group is a Los Angeles institution, so it made a lot of sense—it was a necessity—to have an incredible partner in L.A. for the development and presentation of this work. Center Theatre Group hosted our first real, wide open exploratory workshop, provided massive material support, and has been instrumental in helping us get this really unique set structure that holds a second audience made. Without their support the project would literally be impossible.”

—Lars Jan

COLLABORATION BASED WORK Richard Montoya and Roger Guenveur Smith’s Venice is Dead: A Wake in One Act, a Production Commission, is the story of the founders of Venice, California, their progeny, and the people who live there today. It traces the history of the Reese family, the first African American family to live and work in Venice in the early 1900s. Known as “The Wizard of Venice,” Arthur L. Reese was an inventor, decorator, and businessman who worked with Abbot Kinney to build the Venice canals. The story continues with Reese’s cousin and Kinney’s aide-de-camp, Irving Tabor, who inherited Kinney’s house but was not allowed to live there. The piece radiates from the story of these families to rapidly gentrifying Venice in the 2000s.

Both theatrical anthropologists, Montoya and Smith engaged in an extensive research period that included local tours and interviews with residents, historians, and other experts. Venice is Dead was subsequently developed through various writing and creation sessions, workshops, a residency at Ojai Playwrights Conference, and a 2016 reading and audience dialogue with the artists and a panel of experts at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

“Venice is Dead started out as many things: a tale of many cities by the sea—communities of black and brown nestled in nooks and crannies of the metropolis, at times harmonious and oftentimes a fitful coexistence that can be traced and tracked like stubborn ghosts in an ever growing region. We then became part travelogue and, finally, a wake in one act. A place where folks gather and tell stories to remember and to survive. And this has been the journey of the emerging play and process itself. It has taken faith, patience, resources, and an enduring love of what we do as artists and as citizens. We gratefully found all that precious support and more in our journey with Center Theatre Group.”

—Richard Montoya, Venice is Dead

“They are both strong personalities, larger than life, charismatic, very smart, and very good friends. They respect each other greatly, they listen to each other, and they’ve found a way to manage each other’s visions and trust that their aesthetics will be melded.”

—Diane Rodriguez, Venice is Dead Director and Center Theatre Group Associate Artistic Director

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(L–R) Roger Guenveur Smith and Richard Montoya at a 2016 event at the Kirk Douglas Theatre for their work-in-progress, Venice is Dead.

Photo by Craig Schwartz.

“To get to do the World premiere of our thorny, ambitious play about gender violence at one of the country’s most prestigious regional theatres was a huge career milestone and a truly uncommon opportunity. We felt like we had ‘made it.’”

—Deborah Stein, The Wholehearted

COLLABORATION BASED WORK (CONT.) Stein | Holum Projects’ The Wholehearted, a Micro-Tour that premiered at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2018, is a timely and engrossing one-woman show blending music, video, and physicality. Featuring original songs

by Obie Award-winning composer and sound designer James Sugg, The Wholehearted is set in a boxing gym, and looks past the neatly packaged Cinderella stories of sports coverage into the real world of a woman grappling with lost love and an abusive husband. Presented in association with La Jolla Playhouse, The Wholehearted was written and co-directed by Deborah Stein, and performed and co-directed by Suli Holum. Stein subsequently took part in our L.A. Writers’ Workshop, in which seven local playwrights spend a year researching

and writing a new work with the feedback of their fellow writers and Center Theatre Group Artistic staff.

We created a boxing ring on the Douglas stage and reconfigured the space so that the audience and actor shared the performing and seating area in a theatre-inthe-round configuration. It was our first experiment with this configuration, and the result was extremely effective.

In addition, four screens were mounted above the set, each visible to a quarter of the audience, and displayed recorded footage as well as a live simulcast. In addition to collaborating with La Jolla Playhouse on the production, we partnered with Z Space in San Francisco on the piece’s development.

“Of many moments I will never forget while working on The Wholehearted is the night before our first preview. After our first tech, I sat for notes and after a pep talk and a small batch of eminently do-able tech notes, Diane [Rodriguez] took a breath and said, ‘I have a structural thought that I hesitate to give, because of the timing.’ Of course I asked for the note. And not only was it extremely smart and insightful, making the suggested change literally solved a dramaturgical problem Suli and I had been wrestling with for over three years. It was a brilliant note, and was the product of the kind of thinking that is only possible when a producer is truly invested, over a long period of time, in the life and development of a project. We took the note. We made the change. And suddenly, the play ‘clicked’ together in a way it never had before. I felt how the energy changed in the room.

It was 100% the right thing to do.

I share this anecdote as a way of illustrating the impact of the kind of long-term investment Center Theatre Group made in our project. It speaks volumes of the kind of trust, knowledge, presence, and care that is possible when theatres (and individuals at those theatres) truly commit to artists and projects, not as products but as processes.”

—Deborah Stein, The Wholehearted

Suli Holum in the 2018 World premiere production of Stein | Holum Projects’ The Wholehearted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

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VI. KEY LEARNING & ACCOMPLISHMENTS This initiative took us into uncharted territory, and our learning was both varied and rich, from the tactical to the very concept of the work we were developing.

A. THE AUDIENCE A goal of the project was to build our audience’s appetite for contemporary theatre, and this proved more challenging than anticipated.

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engages audience members, and interactive showspecific lobby activities.

Our audiences are accustomed to seeing playwrightdriven work with a straight narrative. The more nonlinear the text, the less successful the piece was with our audiences. Post-show surveys indicated that the greatest resistance to collective contemporary work was found among patrons over 45 years of age, who represent a significant portion of our audience base.

Inspired by the radical hospitality and “shindig” that were part of Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy, our participatory lobby activities have become a lowcost, high-impact way to contextualize and expand the artistic experience of our shows. With a dedicated modest annual budget, the resources we rely on most heavily for this work are the talent and partnership of our staff and the show’s creative team.

This generational aesthetic gap is captured by survey quotes from over-45 audience members such as, “To me, this is not theatre.” “Scattered narrative without a point.” “Didn’t seem to have a plot.” In contrast, quotes from younger audience members, who are primed to hear stories told in a visual and associative way, included, “I always love theatre that includes the audience. It kept me on my toes and made me think.”

“Truly amazing. This is what theatre is meant to be.”

“This is exactly the sort of work L.A. needs more of... not just another piece of bland realism!”

One particularly effective example was for Dael Orlandersmith’s Forever, about her relationship with her late mother, which inspired an organization-wide celebration of Dia de los Muertos. The creative team worked with the staff to install altars in the Douglas lobby so that audience members could leave notes and gifts for the people who had been important in their life. The response was very moving, and this concept became part of subsequent productions, taking a unique form at each theatre depending on the space available.

We continue striving to cultivate a younger, more adventurous audience base without alienating our longtime patrons. A key strategy for this is our audience engagement program, which has consolidated and organized isolated efforts, previously spread across the organization, under the guidance and leadership of a dedicated and focused staff team. Providing multiple points of entry for different audiences to connect to the same piece of art, the program includes pre-show and post-show discussions, digital content including podcasts, a concierge usher position that proactively

After testing the concept of interactive engagement activities at the Douglas, we expanded this practice to our other venues as well. We are continuing

to experiment with new ways to engage our audiences before and after the production, in no small part thanks to the inspiration provided by hyper-collaborative work that invites the audience to participate in the art and brings the performance out of the traditional theatre space.

The lobby shindig at Rude Mechs’ I’ve Never Been So Happy in the Kirk Douglas Theatre lobby in 2011. Photo by Ryan Miller/Getty Images.

“Theatregoers have always had an opportunity to seek out supplemental content before entering the auditorium—maybe by reading about the play’s historical context or the author’s career, or by checking out photos of past productions or design renderings. But now, depending on what’s playing and where, theatre patrons might find themselves sharing a personal secret on a Post-it note, dropping a marble in a jar to vote on a hot-button issue, or even labeling parts of the human anatomy. A variety of U.S. performing-arts organizations—from Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles to Signature Theatre Company in New York City, and many in between—have undertaken informational, sometimes interactive strategies situated in the lobbies of their theatres.”

—American Theatre, January 2015

(L–R) Steve Cuiffo, Geoff Sobelle, and Trey Lyford in their 2012 production of Elephant Room, developed as Next Stop Amazingland, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

“Don’t let your walls limit your creativity.”

—Patricia Garza, Line Producer, Special Artistic Projects

B. BUDGETING FOR ARTISTIC AMBITION When our project began, we sought to encourage artistic ambition and experimentation by dramatically sizing up development budgets. However, it soon became clear that the budgets were out of balance with the resources of most organizations in the field and our own, and were unsustainable. We quickly let the Foundation know and scaled down the budget parameters for individual projects to a more appropriate level. This enabled us to more effectively support our partner artists in creating work aligned with their aesthetic, and develop a greater number of projects in subsequent years. The experience encouraged us to raise all of our commission fees to a higher rate, not just those supported by our grant, and we have been pleased to see that many other companies have done the same. We also engage with other producing theatres on co-commissions that give artists more of a living wage.

Similarly, we found that covering the travel, housing, and expenses for an ensemble of approximately seven company members to develop a piece over a two-week time period within the LORT contractual structures was nearly impossible financially—certainly more than most LORT companies tend to budget for the commissioning and development process. Our solution was to commission the company and provide a fee for development to be done at their space. Later, when we came up against similar challenges around production— covering an out-of-town ensemble’s housing and transportation costs for a four- to six-week run can also be financially prohibitive—our solution was to produce the work during a shorter run or with a co-presenting partner in Los Angeles.

BUILDING ON COMPLETION COMMISSIONS: THE EDGERTON FOUNDATION PLAYWRIGHTS INITIATIVE

As part of a new and formal commitment to approaching the commissioning and development process collaboratively, we launched four separate co-commissioning partnerships with the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Second Stage Theatre in New York City, and the National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre in London under the banner of The Edgerton Foundation Playwrights Initiative. Each theatre has joined with Center Theatre Group to commission at least two shows annually over the next decade. Together we are identifying theatre artists of talent and promise, and supporting them in creating and premiering a diverse range of exciting new work around the country and abroad. This allows us to give artists the time and resources new work requires with an eye toward multiple productions.

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“We hope that other theatres will see what is possible out of this new notion of ownership, and take a more collaborative approach to commissioning and supporting a project’s development.”

NEW ASSOCIATE ARTISTS

Center Theatre Group recently welcomed three Associate Artists to our family of collaborators. They are integral to our continuing efforts to bring internationally renowned theatre creators to Los Angeles audiences and to bolster our city’s reputation as a theatre town:

—Associate Artistic Director Diane Rodriguez

• Anna D. Shapiro is a Tony Awardwinning director and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

For the next five years, Shapiro will work closely with our artistic team to bring new and innovative work from around the country to our stages, and regularly direct new work in our seasons.

C. CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Another key area of learning was around new production outlets and partnership. We found that our particularly adventurous, multi-disciplinary, non-linear projects were most successful as part of a festival, series, or Micro-Tour. One factor was the more focused length of run. Another was the staging of the piece and audience configuration. When programming outside the parameters of a standard subscription slot, we could offer patrons a more intimate setting, such as the Douglas rehearsal room or seating patrons on the theatre’s stage. Also, we found that our buildings themselves reinforced the presenter/ spectator dynamic, and highly participatory pieces were often more effective outside our theatres’ walls. This was particularly evident with Remote L.A. and several of the pieces in the RADAR L.A. festival.

Ideally, an international contemporary theatre festival like RADAR L.A. would have continued to be a flagship program for us and become a continuous outlet for the work we commissioned and developed through this program. Unfortunately, because we lacked an appropriate facility to house most of the festival and local financial support was not available on an ongoing basis, the festival did not ultimately find its legs.

With Off Center, we have been able to encourage our audiences to experience Center Theatre Groupdeveloped work around Los Angeles in those venues most appropriate to the spirit and specifications of the piece. This not only expanded the theatrical experiences available to our audiences, but also brought

new audiences to our partners while providing the best possible production experience and audience for our commissioned artists. These partnerships are crucial to our efforts to raise L.A.’s profile as a theatre destination.

To build on this synergy and further strengthen relationships within the local theatre community, we have begun remounting the work of local theatre companies each season as part of Block Party, a new series launched at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2017.

• Danai Gurira is an actor and playwright whose play Eclipsed became the first Broadway production to feature an all-female, all-black cast and creative team.

She is a recipient of the Whiting Award, a Hodder Fellow, and cofounder of Almasi Arts.

Partnership was also crucial during development. The Completion Commission model was based on the fact that many ensembles and hyper-collaborative artists need multiple commissioners to pay for their new work development. Partnering with other theatres in the development process helped us move more projects to completion, while giving artists the benefit of our dramaturgical expertise—a resource that we felt was lacking in the presenting world’s approach to commissions. Contractually, we asked for U.S. or West Coast premiere rights in return. The benefits of the Completion Commission model became more important than whether Center Theatre Group was the sole commissioner of a particular piece and, at the end of nine years, we have a new context and notion of ownership for developing work that has exciting potential and implications beyond our organization. Multiple theatres can potentially “own” a premiere production because when the sustainability of the artist and the further life of a new work take precedent, it shifts the paradigm from ownership to investment.

• Sir Matthew Bourne is Artistic Director of New Adventures and Re:Bourne. He is the creator of the world’s longest running ballet production, a five-time Olivier Award winner, and the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical.

Danai Gurira in rehearsal for the 2009 production of her play Eclipsed at the Douglas. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

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“Nurturing and supporting the artistic process is an art in itself. The team at Center Theatre Group are experts in knowing how to encourage, facilitate, and empower creative thought.”

—Gob Squad, Western Society and Creation (Pictures for Dorian)

SUMMARY OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS For Center Theatre Group, an organization with a legacy of developing work by playwrights, the past nine years reflect a significant expansion in embracing the collaborative or collective voice. The exceptional caliber of artists and projects coming up through these models proved to be a source of inspiration and momentum for our overall artistic efforts. The project successfully enabled us to forge relationships with new artists—many of whom were women, Los Angeles-based, and/or people of color—and broaden the type of work we develop and produce. Over half of the hyper-collaborative pieces developed were either produced by Center Theatre Group or with our support, expanding the definition of theatre for our organization as well as for our audiences and artistic colleagues.

We introduced international artists to the Los Angeles theatre community, raised the profile of local theatre and artists, and made important professional and audience connections for hyper-collaborative artists creating boundary-pushing and highly participatory theatrical work.

(L–R) Dan Guerreo, Natasha Lui, and Sara Thom in Gob Squad’s Creation (Pictures of Dorian) at REDCAT in 2018. Photo by Vanessa Crocini.

The ripple effect of these efforts is evident in the trajectory and success of artists and work supported as well as the ongoing evolution of our organizational development and producing models. Guided by a new notion of ownership, we are committing ourselves to making bigger, bolder investments through partnerships, co-commissions, and other artistic programs at the local, national, and international levels.

Both Off Center and Block Party reflect our learning about producing and presenting partnerships.

This program has also helped us establish long-term relationships with extraordinary artists from around the world. We are recognizing a growing number of hypercollaborative local artists through our annual Sherwood Award, and are bringing more adventurous artists into our mainstage seasons, including grant-funded artists such as Geoff Sobelle and Nancy Keystone. Meanwhile, the project’s participatory values prompted a new lobby engagement program that invites audiences to be active participants and art-makers in response to the work on our stages.

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VII. STAFF REFLECTIONS Center Theatre Group’s nine-year partnership with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation ignited the imagination, passion, and heightened collaboration of our staff. This was intentional. Many of the commissions included a brown bag lunch with staff to introduce them to the artists and deepen their familiarity with the particular demands of supporting hyper-collaborative work. These lunches prompted important discussions and learning. Staff were also encouraged to attend presentations of works-inprogress and Off Center performances around town. In addition, the projects themselves stretched the staff’s artistic muscles in a variety of important ways, such as inspiring and informing other artistic programs, necessitating new models of contracting and supporting artists, and bringing the production staff in as creative partners in response to new producing models and requirements.

Brad Culver and Jiehae Park in Ripe Time’s Sleep. Photo by Max Gordon from BAM Next Wave 2017.

An Artistic Perspective: Associate Producer Lindsay Allbaugh: “The artists we have worked with on the Mellon projects have infiltrated the mainstream bloodline of Center Theatre Group. We have expanded the walls of our organization to include all types of style, creative processes, and producing models. As the producer of Block Party (a program that brings intimate theatre productions to the Kirk Douglas Theatre), it has been informative to watch Center Theatre Group’s partnership with the Mellon Foundation support local artists, such as Burglars of Hamm’s production of The Behavior of Broadus, outside of Center Theatre Group’s walls. This is a concept that most likely will shape the future of Block Party—producing in the community and bringing our audiences to our peers’ spaces. The future producers of the American theatre have been supported and integrated into the culture of Center Theatre Group through the Mellon Foundation’s support.”

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Former New Play Production Associate Malcolm Darrell provided coordination support for the first four years of the project. He reflected: “The integral work of the Mellon grant at Center Theatre Group has done more than challenge the traditional approach to creative ideation within in a regional theatre; it has advanced my career as a seasoned arts professional and shifted how I examine and create work. While the playwright will always be a vital voice, working on projects where the playwright was not the singular voice helped me to understand collaboration in entirely new and original ways. Additionally, the challenge of composing agreements and budgets for these new avenues of creative discovery was an art unto itself. Crafting these agreements required us to think outside of our traditional management practice.

Yes, there were some similarities to our already robust commission program agreements, but other times we had to challenge ourselves to think strategically for the institution without stifling this new art form we were so thrilled to develop.”

Line Producer, Special Artistic Projects Patricia Garza took over managing our hyper-collaborative projects after Malcolm’s departure. They reflected: “The Mellon initiative showed me that there was an opportunity and a need from the organizational side of things to really begin talking about all of our new work under a unified front. Since I was managing programming that was playwright-led and also hyper-collaborative, we were able to bridge the gap and move from speaking about them as separate ideas to all living under the umbrella of artistic development. From there, our entire artistic development initiative was solidly based in innovation and expanding artistic practice and process as well as working with world-class playwrights. Over the years of directly working on the Mellon projects and programming, I have witnessed the influence and change in the vocabulary around this type of work here at our home base theatre but also more widely in the field. The artists we worked with on this initiative are now becoming

household names at a regional theatre level. The entire way we facilitated the process of theatre-making opened up new possibilities. I have been so fortunate to be part of the entire journey from contract templates, hosting collaborative production meetings with our amazingly adaptable production team, following alongside artists and offering thoughts and suggestions, and then stepping back and being in awe of our fearless audience who not only sits and watches but engages and wrestles with new work. I am also fortunate to be involved in other artistic programming here at Center Theatre Group, and I know the foundational work of the Mellon-funded projects have now infused a broader conversation about what is theatre and more importantly what is NEXT in theatre. It’s ever evolving, and I’m excited to see what’s in store.”

A Production Perspective:

A Management Perspective:

Production Manager Christopher Reardon: “One of the big things I took away from these projects was a reinforcement of the concept of theatre as a collaborative art. When we are producing a ‘traditional’ piece in a traditional space, it is very easy to become focused on only your part of the puzzle. A production manager can just focus on production, a director on directing, etc. When we do site-specific pieces or shows in non-theatre spaces, it forces us to look at the whole process holistically. For instance, on Remote L.A., the Production and Artistic staff were not used to thinking about the ‘front of house’ experience. We all had to pitch in ideas to make it work, and that heightened our teamwork and collaboration. Secondly, I think sometimes Artistic and Production folks are not as aware of the audience experience as we should be, and these types of shows allow us to gain more insight into that, which will allow us to create more impactful performances in our spaces. For me personally, one of the great things about these types of projects is that I feel it gives me a greater voice in the process because we are working so collaboratively, and I greatly enjoy that. I think projects like these can help us to remember why we became theatre artists in the first place.”

General Manager Nausica Stergiou: “The hyper-collaborative nature of our Mellon projects eventually spread and permeated throughout the theatre, creating for us a new way of making art and of doing business with artists. It has been refreshing and rewarding and eye-opening, and at the same time difficult and frustrating as Center Theatre Group, a 50-year-old institution, embraced some out-of-the-box thinking to get the job done while still adhering to the professionalism and high artistic standards that has made it one of America’s leading theatres. Two of our earliest projects, with artists Dominique Serrand and Steve Epp (Massoud), and Phil Soltanoff and Jim Findlay (Soltanoff/Findlay project), tested us immediately. These non-text-based pieces made it difficult to write a standard new play commission agreement with the authors, challenging us to define the roles and titles of particular artists on the projects along with the conventions of new play ownership. More recent Production Commissions, for example Richard Montoya and Roger Guenveur Smith (Venice is Dead), are now nearly effortless and almost formulaic. We have come a long way. Over the years what we learned and experienced as a theatre company and as individual theatre creators and producers has been enormous. In so many ways we have developed and strengthened new muscles that will continue to make Center Theatre Group a stronger and more vibrant theatre company.”

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Participants in Rimini Protokoll’s Remote L.A. on the streets of Downtown L.A. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Appendix 1: Complete Project List Production Commissions Creation (Pictures for Dorian): Gob Squad* Massoud: Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp Remote L.A.: Rimini Protokoll* Untitled Project: Phil Soltanoff and Jim Findlay Venice is Dead: A Wake in One Act: Richard Montoya and Roger Guenveur Smith Western Society: Gob Squad*

Completion Commissions The Behavior of Broadus: Burglars of Hamm The Biography of a Home: Marike Splint The Convert: Danai Gurira and Almari Arts Alliance The Good Book: Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare You Should Have Stayed Home, Morons/¡Haberos quedado en casa, capullos!

Rodrigo Garcia with English translation by Andrea Thome Hope: Part II of A Mexican Trilogy: Evelina Fernandez and Latino Theatre Company The Hotel Play: Paula Cizmar, Velina Hasu Houston, Nahal Navidar, Julie Taiwo Oni, Madhuri Shekar, Janine Salinas Schoenberg, Laurie Woolery and Playwrights’ Arena How to Be a Rock Critic: Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen* I’ve Never Been So Happy: Rude Mechs* Ladykiller: Jocelyn Bioh and Kamilah Forbes The Light Years: The Debate Society Mariology: Critical Mass Performance Group Neva: Guillermo Calderon with English translation by Andrea Thome Orange Star Dinner Show: Ken Roht and Orphean Circus Party People: Universes Radiate: Daniel Alexander Jones Sleep: RipeTime with Naomi Iizuka Straight White Men: Young Jean Lee* The Space Project: Geoff Sobelle, Trey Lyford, and Steve Cuiffo Track 3: Theatre Movement Bazaar Untitled Project: Josh Kun and Ozomatli Used to Was (Maybe Did): Brian Dykstra, Margarett Perry and Kheedim Oh The White Album: Lars Jan and Early Morning Opera*

Developmental Workshop Presentation Support Works-In-Progress Series in LAX Festival: Los Angeles Performance Practice

Development and Production Support Elephant Room developed as Next Stop Amazingland: Geoff Sobelle, Trey Lyford, and Steve Cuiffo The Wholehearted: Deborah Stein and Suli Holum

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*Received both commission funds and production support.

Hope: Part II of A Mexican Trilogy: (L-R) Evelina Fernandez and Olivia Delgado.

Appendix 2: Project Productions Center Theatre Group Productions*

How to Be a Rock Critic: Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen (2015) I’ve Never Been So Happy: Rude Mechs (2011) Neva: Guillermo Calderon with English translation by Andrea Thome (2013) Elephant Room (Next Stop Amazingland): Geoff Sobelle, Trey Lyford, and Steve Cuiffo (2009) Radiate: Daniel Alexander Jones (2012) Remote L.A.: Rimini Protokoll (2017) Straight White Men: Young Jean Lee (2015) The Wholehearted: Deborah Stein and Suli Holum (2016)

RADAR L.A. Track 3: Theatre Movement Bazaar (2013) You Should Have Stayed Home, Morons/¡Haberos quedado en casa, capullos!: Rodrigo García with English translation by Andrea Thome (2013)

Co-presentations with Los Angeles Partners The Behavior of Broadus: Burglars of Hamm—Sacred Fools (2014) Creation (Pictures for Dorian): Gob Squad—REDCAT (2018) The Hotel Play: Paula Cizmar, Velina Hasu Houston, Nahal Navidar, Julie Taiwo Oni, Madhuri Shekar, Janine Salinas Schoenberg, Laurie Woolery and Playwrights’ Arena— The Radisson Hotel Los Angeles at USC (site-specific) (2017) The White Album: Lars Jan and Early Morning Opera—Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (2019) Western Society: Gob Squad—REDCAT (2014)

Commissions Produced at Other Theatres

Staged reading of The Behavior of Broadus: Burglars of Hamm at Kirk Douglas Theatre (2011) Photo by Craig Schwartz.

The Convert: Danai Gurira and Almari Arts Alliance—Zimbabwe (2013) The Good Book: Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare—Berkeley Repertory (2019) The Light Years: The Debate Society—Playwrights Horizon (2017) Party People: Universes—Berkeley Repertory and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2014) Sleep: Ripe Time and Naomi Iizuka—Brooklyn Academy of Music (2017)

*All Center Theatre Group productions took place at the Kirk Douglas Theatre except Remote L.A., which was staged in the environs around the Mark Taper Forum.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Associate Artistic Director and Program Director: Diane Rodriguez Road Map Writer: Jean Kling Editor: Sarah Rothbard Graphic Designer: Tara Nitz Line Producer, Special Artistic Projects: Patricia Garza Thanks to: Susan Feder, Diane Ragsdale, Hannah Durack, Malcolm K. Darrell, Alejandra Cisneros, REDCAT, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, and the artists for their talent and tenacity.

Special thanks to the Center Theatre Group staff for their openness and ingenuity.

Cover photos: 1. Remote L.A. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

2. Tiffany Lytle in I am a Cambodian Child at LAX Festival. Photo by Gema Galiana. 3. Space Project.

Photo by Maria Baranova-Suzuki.

4. Sal Lopez in You Should Have Stayed Home, Morons at Radar LA Festival. Photo by Gema Galiana.

5. Daniel Alexander Jones in Radiate. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

6. A workshop for Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s The Good Book.

7. Method Gun by Rude Mechs.

Photo by Craig Schwartz.

8. Suli Holum in The Wholehearted.

Photo by Craig Schwartz. 9. Track 3.

Photo by Shannon Rodriguez.

10. Dan Guerrero, Tina Preston and Amanthea Dyllay in Gob Squad’s Creations (Picture for Dorian). Photo

by Vanessa Crocini. 11. Jiehae Park in Ripe Time’s Sleep. Photo by Max Gordon from BAM Next Wave 2017.

12. (L–R) Ramón de Ocampo, Sue Cremin, and Ruth Livier in Neva, written and directed by Guillermo Calderón with English translation

by Andrea Thome, at the Douglas.

Photo by Craig Schwartz.

13. Remedios Varo: La Alquimista.

LAX Festival. Photo by Estela Garcia.

14. CTG Workshop of Massoud.

15. Hope at Latino Theatre Company.

Photo by Grettel Cortes.

Daniel Alexander Jones in Radiate at Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Photo by Craig Schwartz.