Current season
 | This article needs to be updated.(February 2022) |
- A New Brain, by William Finn & James Lapine. Directed by Khanisha Foster. April 29, 2023 - June 23, 2023
| Formation | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Type | Theatre group |
| Purpose | LGBT theatre |
| Location |
|
Notable members | Chris Maikish, Executive Director Brittney S. Wheeler, Artistic Director Nathan Frizzell, Associate Artistic Director |
| Website | www.celebrationtheatre.com |
The Celebration Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theatre company in Los Angeles, founded in 1982. The company is located in West Hollywood, on the west end of Theatre Row, and specializes in works representing the LGBTQ+ experience.
Celebration Theatre was founded in 1982 by Charles Rowland, who leased a storefront in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, to start a company dedicated to producing gay-themed material. [1]
In 1993, Robert Schrock took over as artistic director and moved the company to a 99-seat Equity waiver space in West Hollywood. [1] After 6 years of service, Schrock resigned from the position on April 1st, 1999. [2] Since then, the theatre has seen numerous individuals assume its role of artistic director. In June of 1999, Celebration Theatre announced that Richard Israel from the West Coast Ensemble Theatre would serve as its artistic director. [3] From December 2000 to 2005, the role was filled by Derek Charles Livingston. [4] [5] In 2005, it was passed onto Michael Matthews who held on to the position until 2008. [6] In 2008, Michael A. Shepperd became artistic director. [7] In August of 2011, the theatre announced that its associate artistic director, John Michael Beck would succeed Shepperd as artistic director. [8] By early January 2013, the theatre announced the return of two executives, Michael Matthews and Michael A. Shepperd, who would share its role of artistic director and become 'co-artistic directors'. [9] In May 2021, the Board of Directors at Celebration Theatre terminated co-artistic director Michael A. Shepperd, following allegations of sexual misconduct which were raised by an actor who had a role in one of Shepperd's productions. [10] [11] Following this, Ann James served the theatre as its interim artistic director. [12]
As of September 2023, the artistic director position is held by Brittney S. Wheeler, alongside Nathan Frizzell who is its associate artistic director. [13]
In recent years, Celebration Theatre has continued to produce significant works. In the 2023-2024 season, it operates as a guest resident at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The theatre's commitment to the community extends beyond performances, involving educational and developmental programs aimed at fostering new talent and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. [14]
| This article needs to be updated.(February 2022) |
Julie Taymor is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for her direction and costume design. Her 2002 film Frida, about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Original Song nomination for Taymor's composition "Burn It Blue." She also directed the 2007 jukebox musical film Across the Universe, based on the music of the Beatles.
Deaf West Theatre is a non-profit arts organization based in Los Angeles, California, US. It is most well known for its Tony Award-nominated productions of Big River and Spring Awakening.
Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. Best known as Herb Kelcher in My Two Dads (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), Joe Heffernan in The King of Queens (1998-2007), and as Reverend Sikes in Desperate Housewives (2004–2012).
Michael Jerrod Moore, known professionally as Michael Arden, is an American actor, singer, musician, and theatre director. Arden won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2023 for the revival of the musical Parade.
The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winners are selected by a voting committee of Los Angeles area theater professionals who are selected through an application process every year. The Ovation Awards ceremony has been held at different theatres throughout the Los Angeles area, including the Ahmanson Theatre and the Orpheum Theatre. Hosts for the ceremonies have included Nathan Lane, Lily Tomlin, and Neil Patrick Harris.
John Newport Caird is an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was for many years a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and is the principal guest director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm (Dramaten).
Jeff Calhoun is an American director, choreographer, producer and dancer.
The Fountain Theatre is a theatre in Los Angeles. Along with its programming of live theatre, it's also the foremost producer of flamenco on the West Coast.
Stephen Sachs is an American stage director and playwright. He is the co-artistic director of the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, which he co-founded in 1990.
Douglas Hughes is an American theatre director.
Matt Shakman is an American film, television, and theatre director, and former child actor. He produced and directed WandaVision and has directed episodes of The Great, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fargo and Game of Thrones. He is the artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, California.
Brian Kite is a producing artistic director, theater director, actor, professor, and academic administrator. He is the dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television. Kite has served as chair and theater directing professor at the UCLA Theater Department for five years prior to becoming the interim dean at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
Christopher Ashley is an American stage director. Since 2007, he has been the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse.
The Bacchae is an independent film adaptation of Euripides' play The Bacchae, produced by Lorenda Starfelt and John Morrissey, and directed by Brad Mays.
Kim Weild is a Drama Desk Award-nominated American theatre director, educator, writer, actor and choreographer.
Vanessa Claire Stewart is an American actress, producer, and writer.
Gilles Chiasson is an American producer, director, composer, writer and actor. While he first came to prominence as an actor, particularly in the original cast of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning RENT, Chiasson went on to work in film and television development, then theater administration and operations, and now works in education. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Sherri Parker Lee and their two sons. He is a theater teacher at a high school in Los Angeles.
Ross Jacob Golan is an American songwriter, record producer and playwright.
The Sacred Fools Theater Company is a Los Angeles–based theatre company and nonprofit organization. Founded in January 1997, the company is a member organization of the LA Stage Alliance.
John Allee is an American actor, singer and songwriter, best known for playing the role of Pasha on the Golden Globe nominated Starz limited series Flesh and Bone (2015), and for his stage work in Los Angeles, CA.