Geffen Playhouse

Last updated

Geffen Playhouse
GeffenPlayhouse01.JPG
Geffen Playhouse
Address10886 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, California
United States
Coordinates 34°03′49″N118°26′41″W / 34.0636°N 118.4447°W / 34.0636; -118.4447
Owner UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
OperatorGeffen Playhouse Inc.
Type Regional theater
Capacity Gil Cates Theater: 512
Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre:149
Construction
Built1929
Opened1970s
Reopened1995
Rebuilt2005
Website
geffenplayhouse.com

The Geffen Playhouse (or the Geffen) is a not-for-profit theater company founded by Gilbert Cates in 1995.

Contents

It produces plays in two theaters in Geffen Playhouse, which is owned by University of California Los Angeles. The Playhouse is located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named for donor David Geffen. The current executive director is Gil Cates Jr. [1]

Venues, performances

The Geffen Playhouse offers five plays per season in the Gil Cates Theater and three plays per season in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, as well as producing special events in both venues.

The Playhouse is known for performances by film and television actors, including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Idina Menzel, Andy Garcia, Dulé Hill, Jason Alexander, Debbie Allen, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Dana Delany, Roma Downey, Peter Falk, Ginnifer Goodwin, Neil Patrick Harris, David Hyde Pierce, Carrie Fisher, Jane Kaczmarek, Alfred Molina, Rebecca Pidgeon, Amber Chardae Robinson, George Segal, Martin Short, Alicia Silverstone, Rita Wilson, James Van Der Beek, and Bryan Cranston.

History

The Geffen Playhouse was built in 1929 as the Masonic Affiliates Club, or the MAC, for students and alumni at UCLA. One of the first 12 structures built in Westwood Village, it was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements. [2]

Its courtyard fountain is a piece from Malibu Potteries; the two patterns can be seen on and in Malibu Potteries founder Rhoda May Knight Rindge's daughter's house, the Adamson House, which Clements designed [3] (the same year he designed the Geffen) and for which Rindge provided the tile. The pattern on the lower tier of the Geffen's fountain appears in the Adamson House dining room, while the pattern on the upper tier can be seen on the east exterior face of the dining room, bordering a Moorish arch window.

Originally named the Contempo Theatre, and later the Westwood Playhouse, [4] the property was purchased by UCLA in 1993. UCLA's then-chancellor, Charles E. Young, appointed Gil Cates, founder and former president of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, as its producing director.

The theater was renamed in 1995 after media mogul David Geffen donated $5 million, one of the largest philanthropic donations ever made to an already constructed theater. [5]

In 2002, the David Geffen Foundation made a $5-million lead gift towards an eventual $17-million capital campaign to renovate the theater, which was originally a Masonic lodge. The renovation gutted the theater while keeping its historical character. The Geffen reopened on November 16, 2005 with the main 500-seat theater retained and a new 125-seat Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater added. [6]

In March 2010, the Playhouse's board of directors named the main stage the Gil Cates Theater. [7] Geffen Playhouse founder Gil Cates Sr. died in October 2011. [8]

Gil Cates, Jr. was appointed executive director in 2015. Two funding drives followed, the Geffen Playhouse Legacy Fund and the Innovation Fund. [9]

Matt Shakman was appointed artistic director in August 2017, followed by Tarell Alvin McCraney in September 2023. [10]

Awards and nominations

AwardsProductionNominationsWinsNotes
2009 Ovation Awards Louis & Keely, Live at the Sahara53Won for Best Production, Lead Actor, and Lead Actress
2009 Ovation Awards Beethoven As I Knew Him21Won for Sound Design (Erik Carstensen)
2009 Ovation Awards Farragut North 20
2009 Ovation Awards Time Stands Still 20
2009 Ovation Awards 10Nominated for Best Season
2010 Ovation Awards Equivocation 83Won for Best Production, Featured Actor, and Lighting Design
2010 Ovation Awards Through the Night52Won for Lead Actor and Sound Design
2011 Ovation Awards Extraordinary Chambers50
2011 Ovation Awards Superior Donuts 40
2012 Ovation Awards Good People 80
2012 Ovation Awards The Jacksonian10
2012 Ovation Awards Radiance: The Passion Of Marie Curie10
2012 Ovation Awards The Pianist Of Willesden Lane10
2012 Ovation Awards 10Nominated for Best Season
2013 Ovation Awards American Buffalo 20
2013 Ovation Awards Yes, Prime Minister10
2013 Ovation Awards Miss Julie 10
Ovation AwardsGeffen Playhouse10Best Season [11]
Ovation AwardsActually61Award for Best Playwriting for an Original Play [11]
Ovation AwardsThe Legend of Georgia McBride83Awards for Best Choreography, Lighting Design and Costume Design [11]
Ovation AwardsIcebergs10Lucas Verbrugghe nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play [11]
Ovation AwardsBarbecue10 [11]
Ovation AwardsLong Day's Journey Into Night20 [11]
Ovation AwardsGeffen Playhouse10Best Season [12]
Ovation AwardsIronbound41Award for Best Production of a Play [13]
Ovation AwardsSell/Buy/Date11Award for Best Presented Production [13]
Ovation AwardsSignificant Other10 [12]
Ovation AwardsSkeleton Crew71Award for Best Scenic Design [13]
Ovation AwardsLights Out: Nat "King" Cole71Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Daniel J. Watts) [14]
Ovation AwardsCharles Dickens' A Christmas Carol88Award for Best Production, Direction, Lead Actor in a Play, Costume Design, Lighting Design, Scenic Design, Sound Design [14]
Ovation AwardsBlack Super Hero Magic Mama10Nominated for Best Costume Design [14]
Ovation AwardsMysterious Circumstances20Nominated for Best Lighting Design, Scenic Design [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westwood, Los Angeles</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles in California, United States

Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south is Westwood Village, a major regional district for shopping, dining, movie theaters, and other entertainment.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leading university had combined the study of theater, filmmaking and television production into a single administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick H. Rindge</span> American businessman

Frederick Hastings Rindge (1857–1905) was an American business magnate, patriarch of the Rindge family, real estate developer, philanthropist, and writer, of Los Angeles, California. He was a major benefactor to his home town of Cambridge, Massachusetts and a founder of present-day Malibu, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skirball Cultural Center</span> Jewish educational institution in Los Angeles, California

The Skirball Cultural Center, founded in 1996, is a Jewish educational institution in Los Angeles, California. The center, named after philanthropist couple Jack H. Skirball and Audrey Skirball-Kenis, has a museum with regularly changing exhibitions, film events, music and theater performances, comedy, family, literary, and cultural programs. The campus includes a museum, a performing arts center, conference halls, classrooms, libraries, courtyards, gardens, and a café. Although the center has its roots in Jewish culture, it is open to individuals of all ages and cultures.

Gilbert Cates was an American film director and television producer, director of the Geffen Playhouse, a member of Cates/Doty Productions, and founding dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Cates is most known for having produced the Academy Awards telecast a record 14 times between 1990 and 2008.

Wrecks is a one-man play by Neil LaBute, that was commissioned and produced by the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland. The play was a part of the city's Capital of Culture programme in 2005.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarell Alvin McCraney</span> American playwright

Tarell Alvin McCraney is an American playwright. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajiv Joseph</span> American playwright (born 1974)

Rajiv Joseph is an American playwright. He was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and he won an Obie Award for Best New American Play for his play Describe the Night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adamson House</span> Historic house in California, United States

The Adamson House and its associated land, which was known as Vaquero Hill in the 19th century, is a historic house built by Rhoda Adamson and gardens in Malibu, California. The residence and estate is on the coast, within Malibu Lagoon State Beach park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Davis (American actor)</span> American actor and producer

Glenn Davis is an American actor and producer, and the Co-Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company — the first person of color in the company's history to assume this position. Davis is a partner at Cast Iron Entertainment with Sterling K. Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Michael Hill, Andre Holland, and Tarell Alvin McCraney, and the collective is in residence at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. He is also an artistic associate at the Young Vic Theatre in London and the Vineyard Theatre in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malibu tile</span>

Malibu tile is a type of ceramic tile that takes its inspiration from the tiles that were produced at Malibu Potteries in Malibu, California, during the latter half of the 1920s. These tiles reflect a style of design that is referred to as Hispano-Moresque or Arabesque exhibiting bright contrasting glaze colors often in geometric patterns that are reminiscent of tiles produced many centuries ago in the Near and Middle East, North Africa and southern Spain. The Adamson House in Malibu, California, now the Malibu Lagoon Museum, contains the largest and most varied display of Malibu Potteries tile. The Adamson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and became a California Historical Landmark in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malibu Potteries</span> Ceramic tile company operating between 1926–1932

Malibu Potteries was a ceramic tile manufacturer in Malibu, California. Malibu Potteries was founded by Rhoda May Knight Rindge in 1926. A fire devastated the company 30 September 1931, and the company closed in 1932. Tile designs included influences the styles of Moorish, Egyptian, Mayan and Saracen cultures. Many of the tile designs were geometric. The company was known for their tile murals consisting of tiles with peacocks and other birds. The company also produced decorated tiles for floors in the style of a laid-out Persian rug. May Rindge's daughter's house, the historic Adamson House, has many examples of the tile produced by Malibu Potteries.

Choir Boy is a coming-of-age play by American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney. The play premiered in September 2012 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, before going on to play productions at New York City Center, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and many more regional theaters across the United States. The show opened on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on January 8, 2019, after entering previews on December 12, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rindge family</span>

The Rindge family is an American family of British origin that was financially successful in real estate, natural resource development, and insurance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhoda May Knight Rindge</span> American businesswoman

Rhoda May Knight Rindge,, also known as May Rindge or May K., was an American businesswoman. She was known as the Queen of Malibu as well as the Founding Mother of Malibu and L.A.'s first high-profile female environmentalist. She was the first woman to serve as president of a railroad company. Additionally, she founded Marblehead Land Company in 1921, and the Malibu Potteries in 1926, the first business in Malibu. The company originated Malibu tile, and the venture became one of Southern California's most successful of its kind alongside Catalina Pottery, Gladding, McBean, and Batchelder tile.

Rhoda Agatha Rindge Adamson also known as Rhoda Agatha Adamson or simply Rhoda Adamson, was the co-founder and secretary-treasurer of Adohr Farms and Adohr Dairy & Creamery, one of Southern California's largest and most successful dairies. She was the daughter of Rhoda May Knight Rindge and Frederick Hastings Rindge and wife to Merritt Huntley Adamson. She was alleged to be one the leading proponents of excluding African Americans and specifically Nat King Cole's family from Hancock Park, Los Angeles, according to "persistent rumors" reported by The Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper; an Adohr spokesman denied the rumors.

Rufus Bradley Keeler was a master ceramicist and ceramics glaze expert. He was plant superintendent of California China Products, a co-founder of California Clay Products (CalCo), and plant manager of Malibu Potteries. He was married to Mary E. Leary and had three sons and one daughter, including ceramicist Bradley Burr Keeler, who founded Brad Keeler Artwares and who came to be president of the California Art Potters Association and director of the California Gift and Art Association.

References

  1. "Geffen Playhouse". Geffen Playhouse Press Release. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  2. Geffen Playhouse - Westwood , retrieved February 22, 2007
  3. "Welcome to Adamson House". www.adamsonhouse.org.
  4. Loynd, Ray (October 17, 1990). "STAGE REVIEW : 'Pad': Strong Execution of Inge Drama". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  5. Padilla, Jessica, New Geffen gift benefits playhouse, archived from the original on September 1, 2006, retrieved February 22, 2007
  6. Diem, Erica (October 5, 2005). "Geffen nearly set to reopen its doors". Daily Bruin. UCLA students. Archived from the original on February 15, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  7. Jones, Kenneth (March 23, 2010). "Geffen's Mainstage Is Now the Gil Cates Theater". Playbill. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  8. "Gil Cates dies at 77; producer, director and showman". Los Angeles Times. November 2, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  9. "Gil Cates Jr. named executive director of Geffen Playhouse". Los Angeles Times. June 12, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  10. "Playwright and 'Moonlight' screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney to lead Geffen Playhouse". Los Angeles Times. September 12, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The 28th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards Nominees Announced". November 2, 2017.
  12. 1 2 "The 29th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards Nominees Announced". November 19, 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 "The 29th Annual Ovation Award Winners". January 28, 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Ovation Awards for Fountain's 'Cost of Living' and Pasadena Playhouse's 'Ragtime'". Los Angeles Times. January 14, 2020.