Center Theatre Group has announced its 50th anniversary season for the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The 2017-18 slate will feature world premieres by Rajiv Joseph and David Henry Hwang; Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Water By the Spoonful; MacArthur Genius Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Off-Broadway hit Head of Passes with Phylicia Rashad; and a revival of Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit.
The season will kick off with Valdez’s work, which debuted at the Forum almost 40 years ago. The play, which examines the clash between generations in a Chicano family and racism in America, was originally commissioned and developed by CTG where it first played in 1978. It went on to have a Broadway production and was turned into a major film. Performances of Zoot Suit, directed by Valdez, are set to play January 31 through March 12, 2017.
Next spring, CTG will stage the world premiere of Joseph’s Archduke, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The theatre bills the new work by the Pulitzer finalist as an “insightful and darkly comic play.” Set in Belgrade in 1914, it follows three young men who, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, become the perfect recruits for a terrorist mission. Performances will run April 18-May 28.
Read More: A Showmance Between Joseph and American Psycho Actress Morgan Weed
Next up at the Taper, Rashad will reprise her acclaimed performance as the matriarch in McCraney’s Head of Passes, directed by Tina Landau. The play, which is inspired by the Book of Job, garnered favorable reviews when it premiered at the Public Theater. Performances are scheduled for September 13-October 22.
Read More: Tarell Alvin McCraney, Featured in Playbill Pride's Who's Next
The 50th anniversary season will come to a close with the world premiere of Tony winner Hwang’s Soft Power, directed by Leigh Sliverman. His newest work is billed by the Taper as a “time and genre-bending play,” which slowly develops into a play with music set 150 years in the future.
In March, CTG will also present Remote L.A., an immersive theatre piece written and directed by documentary theatre artist Rimini Protokoll, with a script and direction by Stefan Kaegi and co-direction by Jörg Karrenbauer. Remote L.A. will take audiences on an audio tour through the streets of the city.
Tickets for the Mark Taper Forum’s 50th season are currently available by season ticket membership only. To purchase season memberships online, visit CenterTheatreGroup.org/Taper.
Take a look at more photos of Rashad in the Off-Broadway production of Head of Passes
