Theatre In LA

Start spreading the news...wait, wrong coast. But a coast. In fact, TheatreInChicago is making like the three men Don McLean admires most and catching the last train for the Coast, with a capital "C". TheatreInChicago has decided that it's time to do what all the members of Steppenwolf do who get famous...go Hollywood! Not that we're leaving Chicago, mind you. Just...expanding our horizons...

TheatreInChicago is announcing the launch of a brand new website, www.TheatreInLA.com. Designed to be a virtually identical companion website to TheatreInChicago, TheatreInLA will offer the same array of features found on its sister site while serving the greater Los Angeles theatre industry. "L.A. seemed to me to be a logical step for a new theatre web site," says editor Mark Meyer. "Not only is there a great theatre scene out there, but some productions and theatre companies that have been working in Chicago are expanding to L.A. as well. There's a burgeoning scene out there."

The productions and companies that Meyer is referring to include "The Ballad of Emmet Till", which was first staged at the Goodman in 2008 and is now receiving a production at the Fountain Theatre in L.A. The production company Breadline Productions was founded here and has since moved west, and the recently formed Route 66 Theater Company intends to complement the reputation of its namesake road by literally serving as a theatrical conduit between Chicago and L.A.

Other aspects of the L.A. scene seemed to invite an easy expansion with similarities to Chicago as well. Foremost among these was L.A. theatre's Ovation Awards, which function as a nearly identical counterpart to Chicago's Jeff Awards, right down to the industry lingo: well-received productions are judged by a committee and deemed "Ovation Recommended." In addition, there is the same myriad assortment of theatre types and sizes found here in Chicago, from roadhouses like the Pantages Theater (where the L.A. franchise of "Wicked" played) to nationally renowned resident companies like the South Coast Repertory to small storefront spaces like the Attic Theatre.

Los Angeles is a city full of actors, of course, where movies and television are still king of the (Hollywood) hills. Far from being intimidated by this, the L.A. theatre scene has used it to their own advantage by offering the thousands of working actors in L.A. an opportunity to hone their craft (and just maybe get noticed), as well as providing theatre audiences with a chance to see some high-watt Hollywood names in person. The larger venues in particular are known for putting A-list actors with some theatrical chops on stage, everyone from Martin Sheen to Tim Robbins to Annette Bening, much as the Goodman has done with Brian Dennehy, or Steppenwolf with William Petersen.

Even if you have no interest whatsoever in West Coast theatre, TheatreInChicago urges you to check out TheatreInLA.com. Feel free to email with comments or questions. You may find an opportunity for yourself or your theatre company to "go Hollywood" that you would never have otherwise known about. Heck, John Malkovich did it.

Luke Heiden
Contributing Writer