Center Theatre Group will stop programing the Mark Taper Forum and lay off 10% of staff.

This is huge, sad, and yet another sign of the perilous times that we live in. The Taper decision is a "pause," so hopefully at some point they can return to programming it when they have the funding to do so.

Of note, they have a new incoming Artistic Director, Snehal Desai.

For those who aren't aware, the Taper is a 739-seat thrust space (think LCT) ideal for plays and midsized musicals. They also operate the 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre.

 

Statement from CTG leadership is below:

Center Theatre Group (CTG)—along with arts organizations across the country—continues to feel the aftereffects of the pandemic and has been struggling to balance ever-increasing production costs with significantly reduced ticket revenue and donations that remain behind 2019 levels. We are still facing a crisis unlike any other in our fifty-six-year history. It is in this environment that we have to take the extraordinary step of pausing a significant portion of CTG programming beginning this summer and continuing through the 2023/24 Season, as well as taking significant restructuring measures to build a vibrant and sustainable organization that can navigate this new paradigm.

CTG will be announcing a 2023/24 Season in the Ahmanson Theatre and select programming at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. CTG will pause season programming at the Taper beginning this July. This pause will include the postponement of the world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It by Larissa FastHorse and directed by Michael John Garcés, which we plan to feature in a future season. Regrettably, we also need to cancel the previously announced tour of Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee and directed by Chay Yew.

However, though we will not be programming a season in the Taper this year, we hope during this time to be able to utilize this beloved theatre space in innovative, non-traditional ways through special events and community-centered programs starting as early as the fall. 



The LA Times also reports that CTG will lay off approximately 10% of its full-time staff and that "programming at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, which soon will be contending with disruptive construction of a planned affordable housing project in an adjacent building, will be limited."

Updated On: 6/15/23 at 04:07 PM

It's crazy because i know someone just hired for FIUYMI

This has been rumored about in LA Theater Circles for a while - very sad to see the official announcement. It really has never been more challenging for non-profit theater companies across the country - anyone who is in a position to, please donate to your favorite local theater company! 

The vast majority of shows playing the Ahmanson in past seasons have been presented tours or shows that originated elsewhere (such as 2:22, which came from London). So they might be doing just 1 or 2 world premieres a year now.

Updated On: 6/15/23 at 05:15 PM

I’m gutted and a bit teary eyed over this. I grew up in LA and my first introduction to the Arts was at the Taper/Ahmenson at the age of 7. In collage, it was the only source of really great and reliable theater in the City. 

I only hope this is a means to gin up donations so that the season can actually happen and if not this season, then next. 

I think the parking at the Music Center is so easy! You prepay, park, and just drive out. I saw My Fair Lady at the Dolby and waited a good 45min after to just pay for my parking before even getting to my car. Really made me love seeing shows downtown. Wish La would invest in downtown it’s such a great space. 

That’s not good. Aside from the larger reasons why this is awful, the production of Cambodian Rock Band was outstanding at the Berkeley Rep. 

But there are touring shows coming in the next year that would fit better in the Taper than the Ahmanson. 

RippedMan said: "I think the parking at the Music Center is so easy! You prepay, park, and just drive out. I saw My Fair Lady at the Dolby and waited a good 45min after to just pay for my parking before even getting to my car. Really made me love seeing shows downtown. Wish La would invest in downtown it’s such a great space."

I hate driving there.  It is a pain to get there.  We switched for a short time to afternoon shows and the metro... But it was such a sketchy experience getting there.  And then Kate got mugged and hit coming home from a Secret Garden performance.  And the parking is also a pain a lot of the time.   But you are right about the Dolby.  

bk said: "Gordon Davidson knew how to program a season. New plays, challenging plays, classics with interesting directors and casts, small musicals, comedies - if you didn't care for one, you'd probably love another. You don't program an entire season of stuff that can be perceived as being niche, whether it is or not."

I agree that there's a disconnect between the programming and the audience, but what you describe is their 22-23 season on paper. New plays and challenging plays, (Clyde's, 2:22, Kristina Wong, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord) classics with interesting directors and casts (Woods, Secret Garden, 1776), small musicals (Transparent), comedies (Cecily Strong in Search for Signs, Play That Goes Wrong). Plus some play revivals (Twilight LA, Soldier's Play).

The tricky part with being a presenter anywhere is you have no quality control. Sometimes you book without seeing the show itself (1776).

The tricky part about developing new works (or revised ones) is that sometimes you get in too deep on a dud, or need more time than you have to develop it (Transparent, Secret Garden).

Hopefully things will improve with their new Artistic Director in place and overhauled business structure.

I’m wondering how much of this problem stems from a loss of season ticket subscribers they never got back after the pandemic. A hot show will still sell, but people may feel less compelled to buy an entire season.

I have seen this dynamic at the Berkeley Rep, which used to hardly ever have shows on TodayTix at cheap discounts. But now that happens much more often. As a non-subscriber who sees many shows there, I had trained myself to buy preview tickets, which are sold at a small but meaningfully discount. But it’s not always necessary depending on the show - even some really good plays I have seen this year by snagging cheap discounts. The theater is still pretty full, but revenue must be down.

Clyde’s, which also was part of the Mark Taper season, seemed to sell very well at the Berkeley Rep. I read someone on another thread saying the theater was only three-quarters full at the Mark Taper, which surprised me a bit given the pedigree of the playwright, its recent Broadway run, and the fact that it’s pretty entertaining.

Is there a mismatch between the expectations of theatergoers (who are still mostly older and white) and the plays and musicals being offered? Did the theater offer up too many weak shows that bombed this season? Are advance sales terrible? This seems like an extreme move that wouldn’t have been taken lightly, and I doubt it’s just because of one bad season.

I blame this:

https://playbill.com/article/jeremy-o-harris-requests-cancellation-of-slave-plays-los-angeles-bow-citing-gender-imbalance-in-ctg-season

They caved to pressure and now program shows based on who’s working on them - not the quality of the piece or appeal to audiences. Now they’re seeing the result. Shame. 

Updated On: 6/17/23 at 10:40 AM

Center Theatre Group productions are lack-luster, at best. Too much "Woke". I come to the theater to be entertained, wooed, and walk away happy. I don't come to the theatre to be informed, educated and conscious of social injustice and racial inequality. I watch the nightly news on TV for that.

They should stop blaming Covid-19.  Broadway in Hollywood, Pasadena Playhouse, S Coast Repertory, Laguna Playhouse, La Mirada Performing Arts Center, and Geffen Playhouse performs to average of 80% attendance capacity, weekly.