La Jolla Playhouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.

It was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under the leadership of Des McAnuff. Since then, the Playhouse’s repertoire has included forty-one world premieres, twenty-four West Coast premieres, and seven 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.

La Jolla Playhouse provides a number of educational opportunities for children, teens, and adults interested in theatre arts, both as performers and behind-the-scenes. In addition, the Performance Outreach Program brings professional productions to schools, libraries, and community centers throughout San Diego.

Among the productions that originated at the Playhouse before finding success on Broadway are Big River, 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, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays and Jersey Boys.

La Jolla Playhouse has been home to many up-and-coming performers early in their careers, including Amy Aquino, Stephen Bogardus, Phoebe Cates, Kim Cattrall, Dann Florek, Sutton Foster, John Goodman, David Marshall Grant, Neil Patrick Harris, Linda Hunt, Holly Hunter, Laura Innes, Bill Irwin, Laura Linney, Jon Lovitz, Jefferson Mays, Marin Mazzie, Cynthia Nixon, Peter Paige, Amanda Plummer, Alice Ripley, Wynn Harmon, Campbell Scott, Helen Shaver, Gary Sinise, Nancy Travis, Vivian Vance, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Sherie Rene Scott and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

[edit] Page To Stage New Play Development Program

The Playhouse began Page To Stage 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 five 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.^[1]