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 Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center at the La Jolla Playhouse | |
| Formation | 1947 |
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| Type | Theatre group |
| Location |
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Artistic director(s) | Christopher Ashley |
Notable members | Founders: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Mel Ferrer |
| Website | lajollaplayhouse |
La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.
La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. [1] [2] [3] In 1983, it was revived under the leadership of Des McAnuff. Since then, the Playhouse's repertoire has included 108 world premieres, thirty-two West Coast premieres, and eight American premieres, and has won more than three hundred honors, including the 1993 Tony Award as America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. It is supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the City of San Diego, and the County of San Diego. It was announced on April 10, 2007, that Christopher Ashley would succeed McAnuff as artistic director.
Among the 33 productions that originated at the Playhouse before finding success on Broadway are The Who's Tommy , Matthew Broderick's revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying , Jane Eyre , Dracula, the Musical , Thoroughly Modern Millie , Cry Baby , Bonnie and Clyde , the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, 700 Sundays , Jersey Boys , Memphis , Peter and the Starcatcher , Chaplin , Hands on a Hardbody, Come From Away , for which director Christopher Ashley won the 2017 Tony Award, and Des McAnuff's revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, Zhivago , Big River , SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical , and a musical adaptation of The Outsiders (novel) opening on Broadway in March 2024. [4]
La Jolla Playhouse provides a number of Learning & Engagement opportunities for children, teens, and adults interested in theatre arts, both as performers and behind-the-scenes. In addition, the Performance Outreach Program (POP Tour) annually brings a professional, world-premiere production to schools, libraries, and community centers throughout San Diego. There are additional summer theater opportunities through the La Jolla Playhouse Conservatory, student matinees, teen council, and many other in-school workshops and classes.
La Jolla Playhouse began the Page to Stage Play Development Program in 2001 to facilitate the development of new plays and musicals, offering audiences the rare opportunity to experience the "birth" of a play and take part in its evolution. As a Page to Stage workshop, a production will feature minimal sets and costumes, and will be revised throughout its entire process, including performances. After the performance, audience feedback sessions will provide insight and suggestion for both the creative team and the actors. In the 22 years since the program began, two Page to Stage Productions have gone on to win Tony Awards. Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Leading Actor in a Play (Jefferson Mays); and Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays , a 2004 Page to Stage Production, won the 2005 Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event.
I Am My Own Wife is a play by Doug Wright based on his conversations with the German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The one-person play premiered Off-Broadway in 2003 at Playwrights Horizons. It opened on Broadway later that year. The play was developed with Moisés Kaufman and his Tectonic Theater Project, and Kaufman also acted as director. Jefferson Mays starred in the Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, playing some forty roles. Wright received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work.
Lewis Jefferson Mays is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie Awards.
Anthony Crivello is an American actor, known for his performances on both stage and screen He appeared in the original cast of several Broadway shows, including playing Grantaire and Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, Valentin in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Eddie Fuseli in Golden Boy, Dante Keyes in Marie Christine, and the Killer in The News. He also originated the title role in The Phantom of the Opera: The Las Vegas Spectacular and stayed with the cast through its closing six years later. He played the Mysterious Man in the star-studded production of Into the Woods at the Hollywood Bowl and starred as Che in the closing cast of the original Broadway production of Evita. In 1993, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as Valentin in Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Desmond Steven McAnuff is the American-Canadian former artistic director of Canada's Stratford Festival and director of such Broadway musical theatre productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.
A Walk in the Woods is a 1988 play by Lee Blessing. The play depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over a year of negotiations.
Howell Binkley was a professional lighting designer in New York City. He received the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design in a Musical for Jersey Boys in 2006, and again in 2016 for Hamilton. He died due to lung cancer on August 14, 2020.
Bruce Dow is an American actor, best known for his five featured roles on Broadway, his 12 seasons in leading roles at the Stratford Festival, his Dora Mavor Moore Awards-winning performances at Buddies in Bad Times, the world's largest and longest running LGBTQ theatre, his voicing the character of Max for Total Drama Pahkitew Island and his appearances on the Rick Mercer Report and Murdoch Mysteries. He also appeared on Corn & Peg as Captain Thunderhoof's arch enemy, the Bad Bronco. He also voices Sir Topham Hatt and Harold the Helicopter (US) in Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
Alice Ripley is an American actress, singer, songwriter and mixed media artist. She is known, in particular, for her various roles on Broadway in musicals, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal and Side Show. She most recently played three roles in the short-lived Broadway musical, American Psycho. Alice Ripley has released albums with her band, RIPLEY, including the single, "Beautiful Eyes", released in February 2012. She also performs as a solo artist, while in February 2011 she released Alice Ripley Daily Practice, Volume 1, a stripped-down collection of acoustic rock covers.
Claudia Shear is an American actress and playwright. She was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Play and Best Actress for her play Dirty Blonde.
Charlaine "Charlayne" Woodard is an American playwright and actress. She is a two-time Obie Award winner as well as a Tony Award and Drama Desk nominee. She was a series regular on the hit FX TV series Pose. She played the title role in the Showtime movie Run For The Dream: The Gail Devers’ Story. Starring as Cindy in the ABC Movie of the Week, Woodard was the first black Cinderella portrayed on TV or film. She is in Marvel Studios' miniseries Secret Invasion as Priscilla Fury, which premiered on June 21, 2023.
Susan Hilferty is an American costume designer for theatre, opera, and film.
Thomas Robert Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey. He has also won two Tony Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Next to Normal, as well as Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations for If/Then and SpongeBob SquarePants. He has been nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning one, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Jagged Little Pill in 2021.
Christopher Ashley is an American stage director. Since 2007, he has been the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse.
700 Sundays is an autobiography written by Billy Crystal. The title refers to the number of Sundays shared by Billy and his father, Jack Crystal, who died when Billy was 15.
Little Miss Sunshine is a musical adapted from the 2006 film of the same name, with music and lyrics by William Finn and book and direction by James Lapine. The musical premiered in San Diego, California at the Mandell Weiss Theater, La Jolla Playhouse on February 15, 2011 and began performances Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in October 2013. The musical opened Off West End at the Arcola Theatre in 2019.
Chaplin: The Musical, formerly titled Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, is a musical with music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis and book by Curtis and Thomas Meehan. The show is based on the life of Charlie Chaplin. The musical, which started at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2006, debuted at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2010, and then premiered on Broadway in 2012.
Paloma Young is an American costume designer.
Miss You Like Hell is a musical with book and lyrics by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and music and lyrics by Erin McKeown. The show follows a troubled teenage girl who embarks on a cross-country road trip with her estranged mother, who is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico.
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is a jukebox musical with book by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary, and Des McAnuff and music and lyrics Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, Paul Jabara, and others, based on the life of Summer.
Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures is the live show, stageplay and musical production arm of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company forms a part of Warner Bros., one of the major business segments of Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures is led by Mark Kaufman.
32°52′15.18″N117°14′28.77″W / 32.8708833°N 117.2413250°W
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