That same year, Pasadena Playhouse, under the galvanizing leadership of producing artistic director Danny Feldman, won the Regional Theatre Tony Award<\/a>. It was an astonishing turnaround for a theater that had long been in a state of financial (and therefore artistic) turmoil. <\/p>\n The L.A. theater scene seemed poised for a renaissance, but the last two years have proved remarkably challenging. Post-pandemic woes \u2014 rising costs, fickle audiences, revenue conundrums \u2014 have persisted longer than anyone imagined. And intensifying headwinds, both political (a White House that has the arts in its crosshairs) and cultural (digital options rewiring how we entertain ourselves), have only compounded the economic hardships.<\/p>\n Before the ink had dried on Desai\u2019s contract, the Taper, beset by budgetary shortfalls, announced<\/a> that it would be suspending <\/a>programming for what turned out to be more than a year. (The long hiatus was ameliorated by special events, most notably stand-up comic Alex Edelman\u2019s acclaimed solo show \u201cJust for Us,\u201d<\/a> but the pause was nonetheless painful.) Layoffs reduced the staff by approximately 10%. Particularly damaging was the dismissal of several key associate artistic directors, veterans with discriminating taste and institutional know-how, which dealt a serious blow to CTG\u2019s capacity to develop new work. <\/p>\n The programming at the Geffen Playhouse has become refreshingly diverse, aesthetically as well as demographically, under McCraney, who has been making the most of his position as playwriting professor at Yale by opening the door to a new generation of dramatists. There\u2019s life at the Westwood venue when a new dramatic voice is commanding one of the stages or a classic is speaking to audiences as if it had been written expressly for them. But this doesn\u2019t happen as often as one might hope. The gaps in the calendar are even more conspicuous when artistic possibility loses out to managerial timidity. <\/p>\n After taking a big swing with the Sondheim Celebration, a six-month festival honoring the legacy of Stephen Sondheim in 2023, Feldman has appeared to have scaled back on ambitious programming. He\u2019s made a concerted effort to use local artists whenever possible, but not always to their best advantage. What happens in planning meetings happens in private, but the work of late has felt like it has been muscled into existence via executive mandate. The urgency that arises when artists are working to fulfill long-held dreams has been missing. <\/p>\n Recognizing the jeopardy of the moment, all three artistic directors are thinking outside the box to broaden and diversify their audiences. In addition to creating a more equitable and accessible environment, they have been experimenting with a wider array of genres (including horror), performance modes (such as alternative stand-up and concert cabarets) and schedules able to incorporate limited runs and sprightly pop-ups. <\/p>\n Theaters across America are holding on for dear life, so it might not seem fair to evaluate the artistic records of these leaders when the primary goal right now is survival. But there are better and worse ways of staying alive. And a reckoning with trade-offs can help clarify the values driving decision-making.<\/p>\n Snehal Desai, Center Theatre Group<\/p>\n Of CTG\u2019s three theaters, the Ahmanson has been making the biggest splash. Desai is ultimately responsible for programming across the company\u2019s portfolio of venues. But producing director Douglas C. Baker, who is supervised by managing director and CEO Meghan Pressman, has long been the key curator of the company\u2019s biggest theater. Three productions from 2025 made my Top 10<\/a> list: \u201cLife of Pi,\u201d<\/a> \u201c& Juliet\u201d<\/a> and \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d<\/a> (a horror play that received a thrillingly sharp production). I might have included the holiday concert, \u201cBen Platt: Live at the Ahmanson,\u201d if the show hadn\u2019t opened past my deadline. <\/p>\n But the recent strength of the Ahmanson has thrown into relief weaknesses elsewhere at the company. The staffing reductions have clearly cut into CTG\u2019s artistic muscle. Valuable expertise in the area of artistic development has been lost. The issue isn\u2019t personnel numbers so much as experience and gravitas. A theater of CTG\u2019s size can\u2019t thrive in an autocratic mode. A collaborative art like the theater requires the give and take of a wide array of artistic perspectives uninhibited by internal politics. <\/p>\n Although I haven\u2019t seen every offering at the Douglas, the venue seems even more of an afterthought since the company started its \u201cOne CTG\u201d initiative. Treating the three separate theaters as part of a unified bill under Desai\u2019s stamp makes sense in an era of reduced programming. But the work at the Douglas has had a grab-bag feel. <\/p>\n The powerful, disturbing 2023 production of \u201cOur Dear Dead Drug Lord\u201d <\/a>now seems like a distant memory. The Douglas, on those rare occasions when it\u2019s in use, has become the place to import projects that might appeal to a new audience, such as the \u201cThe Enormous Crocodile\u201d (ages 3 and up). \u201cGuac,\u201d<\/a> Manuel Oliver\u2019s rousing one-man show honoring his son, who was killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, almost got lost in the eclectic trickle. <\/p>\n Desai reopened the Taper in 2024 with a Deaf West Theatre co-production of \u201cAmerican Idiot,\u201d <\/a>the musical derived from Green Day\u2019s album. To anyone who had loved the original production of \u201cAmerican Idiot\u201d or the way Deaf West Theater and director Michael Arden had reimagined the contemporary musical \u201cSpring Awakening,\u201d<\/a> the production seemed like an ideal way to inaugurate a new era for this historic theater. <\/p>\n But the staging needed more time to gel, and it was no favor to Desai that his directing debut seemed so chaotic and poorly shepherded.<\/p>\n The cast of Green Day\u2019s \u201cAmerican Idiot\u201d at the Mark Taper Forum. Produced in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre. <\/p>\n (Jeff Lorch)<\/p>\n Larissa FastHorse\u2019s \u201cFake It Until You Make It,\u201d<\/a> which was postponed when the Taper went on emergency hiatus, may not have benefited from more time. But it definitely could have used stronger dramaturgical input and perhaps some rethinking of the creative team. The less said about Robert O\u2019Hara\u2019s \u201cHamlet,\u201d <\/a>the better. But it was shocking to me that this half-baked play made it out of a workshop lab. <\/p>\n Tellingly, the best play at the Taper in the last couple of years \u2014 Jocelyn Bioh\u2019s \u201cJaja\u2019s African Hair Braiding\u201d <\/a>\u2014 was a touring production.<\/p>\n The issue isn\u2019t the judgment behind the programming but the care in readying the work for presentation. CTG is desperately trying to find a sustainable path forward, but the theater must replenish its artistic brain trust to regain lost stature.<\/p>\n Grade: B<\/p>\n Tarell Alvin McCraney<\/p>\n The McCraney era at the Geffen Playhouse started in earnest with a mesmerizing revival of his play \u201cThe Brothers Size.\u201d <\/a>The work felt like a brand new piece in Bijan Sheibani\u2019s percussive production, which transformed the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater in such a way that the theater\u2019s second stage no longer feels secondary. <\/p>\n A potent revival of \u201cWaiting for Godot,\u201d <\/a>starring Rainn Wilson and Aasif Mandvi, was another standout offering in 2024. (Indeed, this encounter with Samuel Beckett\u2019s absurdist masterwork left a much deeper impression than the recent Broadway production starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.) But a miscast Steppenwolf Theatre Company co-production of Michael Frayn\u2019s ingenious backstage farce \u201cNoises Off\u201d<\/a> last winter was a lumbering affair, proving that a great play and a storied theatrical partner aren\u2019t enough to guarantee success. <\/p>\n McCraney\u2019s sometimes counterintuitive choice of which of the Geffen Playhouse\u2019s stages to use can pay dividends. The world premiere of Rudi Goblen\u2019\u2019s \u201clittleboy\/littleman\u201d<\/a> followed the example of \u201cThe Brothers Size\u201d and made the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater seem like the most dynamic venue in town. But both Sara Porkalob\u2019s \u201cDragon Lady<\/a>,\u201d a musical built around its playwright-performer, and Roxana Ortega\u2019s solo show \u201cAm I Roxie?\u201d<\/a> seemed lost on the Gil Cates Theater main stage. <\/p>\n Tarell Alvin McCraney\u2019s \u201cThe Brothers Size\u201d at the Geffen Playhouse. <\/p>\n (Jeff Lorch)<\/p>\n \u201cFurlough\u2019s Paradise\u201d by a.k. payne was the most exciting new play I saw in Los Angeles in 2025. The playwright, like Goblen, was one of McCraney\u2019s former students. The Yale professor clearly has a keen eye for writing talent. But that\u2019s what made the inclusion of Jake Brasch\u2019s hackneyed and hyperactive recovery drama, \u201cThe Reservoir,\u201d a touring co-production that occupied a precious slot on the main stage last year, such a head-scratcher. <\/p>\n Questions have been raised about McCraney\u2019s commitment to Los Angeles and his connection to the local theater community. (Yale is on the other side of the country, and Miami, he\u2019s said himself, is his \u201cspiritual home.\u201d) I wish that the plays wouldn\u2019t start so late on opening nights and that the music pouring out of speakers was a decibel or two lower so that conversation might be attempted before the show and during intermission. House management needs new marching orders. But there\u2019s no denying that McCraney has made the Geffen Playhouse a more vibrant, dynamic and inclusive place.<\/p>\n Grade: A-<\/p>\n Danny Feldman, Pasadena Playhouse<\/p>\n A 2023 profile <\/a>I wrote of Feldman carried the headline: \u201cThe best theater in L.A. right now? It\u2019s in Pasadena.\u201d A little more than a month later the theater was named the recipient of the 2023 Regional Theatre Tony Award<\/a>. The following year, for an L.A. Times series called \u201cL.A. Influential,\u201d I profiled Feldman<\/a> once again. This time the headline read: \u201cDanny Feldman: The man who saved L.A. theater.\u201d<\/p>\n Feldman continues to impress as an institutional leader. Last spring, Pasadena Playhouse announced that it bought back its landmark Elmer Grey building,<\/a> lost in bankruptcy in 1970.<\/p>\n The official State Theatre of California, as Pasadena Playhouse has been designated, seems finally on stable footing. But Feldman has been more cautious artistically since winning so much recognition for his theater. <\/p>\n \u201cLa Cage aux Folles\u201d at Pasadena Playhouse.<\/p>\n (Jeff Lorch)<\/p>\n A disappointing revival of Suzan-Lori Parks\u2019 \u201cTopdog\/Underdog\u201d <\/a> and a hamstrung production of Lucas Hnath\u2018s \u201cA Doll\u2019s House, Part 2\u201d <\/a>have left an unflattering impression of top-down producing. Feldman\u2019s commitment to reinvestigating the American musical canon is laudable, as is his determination to showcase these shows with a full orchestra. But the work, sometimes absent a cogent lead (as was the case with the otherwise sparkling production of \u201cLa Cage aux Folles\u201d<\/a>), doesn\u2019t always seem artist-driven. <\/p>\n Gloria Calder\u00f3n Kellett\u2019s \u201cOne of the Good Ones,\u201d a sitcom about representation striking obvious political and theatrical chords, was a popular hit. But popularity shouldn\u2019t have to come at the expense of artistic quality. I found enough to savor in Martin Crimp\u2019s language-drunk update of \u201cCyrano de Bergerac\u201d<\/a> and certainly thought Jonathan Spector\u2019s \u201cEureka Day\u201d <\/a>hit the satiric bull\u2019s-eye. But having seen both plays done in New York with different companies, I was uncomfortably aware of what L.A audiences were missing. <\/p>\n The postponement of a revival of \u201cAmadeus\u201d left the door open for Julia Masli\u2019s winningly bizarre \u201cha ha ha ha ha ha ha.\u201d <\/a>This interactive show by a genre-blurring comic wasn\u2019t a perfect logistical fit for the Playhouse\u2019s stiff proscenium setup. But it was a worthwhile test of the theater\u2019s flexibility, and it tapped into the vitality of a new strain of comedy, much as Kate Berlant\u2019s show \u201cKate\u201d<\/a> had done in 2023. New audiences have obviously become the holy grail. <\/p>\n The three shows announced for the 2025-26 season \u2014 Peter Shaffer\u2019s \u201cAmadeus,\u201d Lerner and Loewe\u2019s \u201cBrigadoon\u201d and Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson\u2019s \u201cMexodus\u201d \u2014 certainly have my attention. A British play with a pedigree (starring the virtuosic Jefferson Mays), a Golden Age musical, and a hip-hop history lesson that\u2019s been recorded for Audible are all works I\u2019m eager to see. But would anyone mistake this lineup for the vital center of Los Angeles theater?<\/p>\n Grade: B<\/p>\n Finding a sustainable path is clearly the objective of these nonprofit theater leaders. And that means balancing financial responsibility with artistic risk. Ambition mustn\u2019t be squandered. If artistic directors are guilty at times of playing it safe, the public has a role in making the landscape more hospitable for bold ventures. Theater lovers must recognize that their values are a reflection of where they place their attention and invest their time and money. They must also realize that the art form hasn\u2019t a chance of flourishing without their robust support. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles theater world underwent a historic leadership shift in 2023 when two artistic directors of color…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":515468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[202496,1582,276,230187,161585,15456,2961,224,5337,230189,230191,18904,39384,230188,9221,230192,1148,230190,6191,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-515467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-artistic-director","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-ctg","12":"tag-geffen-playhouse","13":"tag-kirk-douglas","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-mccraney","18":"tag-new-work","19":"tag-production","20":"tag-programming","21":"tag-snehal-desai","22":"tag-stage","23":"tag-taper","24":"tag-theater","25":"tag-top-company","26":"tag-venue","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115893436838811075","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768393399_922_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Tarell](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768393400_10_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\""La](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768393401_25_.jpeg\")
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