MISSION

The Latino Theater Company's (LTC) mission at The Los Angeles Theatre Center (the LATC), is to provide a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; a place where the convergence of people, cultures, and ideas contribute to the future.

HISTORY

Latino Theater Company (LTC) operates the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), a Historic Landmark, and five-theater performing arts complex, in the revitalized Historic Core District of Downtown Los Angeles. We believe the theater creates empathy and educates, has the power to provoke dialogue by illuminating the social issues of our times, and can awaken the collective consciousness of a community to act in creating a better tomorrow.  

LTC was founded in 1985 with the goal to establish a theater company dedicated to contributing new stories and novel methods of expression for the American theater repertoire and to increase artistic opportunities for underserved communities. As the company has evolved, our role as the lease-holder of the LATC has become critical to our mission. As we continue to explore the U.S. Latina/o/x experience in bold and contemporary terms, we program our Fall and Spring Seasons with work by local playwrights that speaks to important issues and highlights new voices within the Latina/o/x, First Nation, Black, Asian American, Jewish American and LGBTQ+ communities.

In 2007 LTC reopened the LATC after being awarded a 20-year lease, which has been extended until 2056, from the City of Los Angeles with multicultural programming that reflects the demographics of the city. The LATC houses five theaters and has a total of 80,000 square feet of performance, office and gallery space. Since running operations at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in 2007, we have produced 155 plays, created over 4,125 local jobs, and have helped 938 nonprofit organizations by providing space and the resources of our theater.

Dedicated to both serving the Latina/o/x community and reflecting the diverse cultural experiences of Los Angeles, recent highlights from our producing seasons include critically acclaimed and award-nominated productions, including three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Ted Schmidt Award-winners for Outstanding New Play: Evelina Fernandez’s multigenerational study of the Mexican American experience "A Mexican Trilogy: An American Story," Fernandez’s Boyle Heights set magical realist anti-war play, “The Mother of Henry,” and a co-production with Belle Reve Theatre Company of Academy Award Nominee Alessandro Camon's prison reform themed "Time Alone," featuring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins. Other highlights include a touring production presented for free in underserved Latina/o/x communities throughout Southern California “La Victima,” an ensemble production made up of young local Latina/o/x artists about the immigrant experience of undocumented Mexican Americans, the Los Angeles premiere of “The Happiest Song Plays Last”, by Quiara Alegria Hudes in partnership with Center Theatre Group and world premiere productions by two native Angelinos, Latinx playwright Oliver Mayer’s “Members Only” and Choctaw Nation member Nate Rufus Edelman’s “Desert Rats” which received an Ovation Recommendation for Best Original Play. LTC recently presented Los Angeles Playwright Jonathan Caren’s Ovation Nominated study of white privilege in L.A. juxtaposed against the undocumented Latina/o/x experience in “Canyon,” Nancy Ma’s Chinese American coming of age play, “Home,” and Elaine Romero’s Spanish language “Revoluciones,” about revolutionary cycles of violence. Every winter, LTC presents "La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzín," a spectacular Spanish-language pageant play, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Los Angeles in Downtown Los Angeles. It features a local cast of over 100 professional and community actors, dancers, musicians, singers, children, and seniors. The event has no admission charge and attracts an audience of over 6,000 from across Los Angeles County, including low-income working families who cannot afford to regularly attend theater. 

To connect our audience to a national and international Latina/o/x experience the LTC produced two three-week long theater festivals. In 2014 LTC launched Encuentro Festival, inviting companies from around the US and Puerto Rico to the LATC to present work and share methodologies, and building a professional network between the participating Latinx theater companies. In 2017, LTC expanded our vision and invited companies from around the western hemisphere-- from the US, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean, to participate in a transnational theater festival, Encuentro de las Americas, which also featured dozens of local Latina/o/x artists.

The LTC’s programming at the LATC and beyond (ie, touring free productions into underserved communities) represents a mosaic reflection of the city itself. The Latino Theater Company, over its 35-year history, has developed and hone its own theatrical style to develop plays that reflect the US Latina/o/x experience and speak to the Latina/o/x community, as well as presenting work that reflects the demographics of the city. Our impact as a cultural institution has been profound to the community.