The Los Angeles Theatre Center

5/10 – SP!T: The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World

chantal — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:00:29 +0000

Join us on ART WALK THURSDAY as Urban Theatre Movement Proudly Presents:

SP!T: The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World

Directed by Essence Brown, Caitlin Miller, Samantha Parks

Thursday, May 10th, 2012 @ 8pm

The LATC – 4th floor

$10.00 at the door

Featuring:

A.L.Pharaoh

Samantha Parks

Caitlin Miller

Julian Acosta

Essence Brown

Rudy Francisco

KasiTeYana

Elisa Noemi

Michelle Jackson

Jasmin Iraheta

CHARITY: Part III of A Mexican Trilogy *Starring Ofelia Medina

marlon — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:48:45 +0000

Charity: Part III of A Mexican Trilogy

Written by Evelina Fernández
Directed by José Luis Valenzuela
Produced by the Latino Theater Company

Starring Ofelia Medina

May 11 – June 3

Previews May 5, 6, 10

Set before the backdrop of the death of Pope John Paul II and the Papal conclave in 2005, Charity is the humorous and poignant story of three generations of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States. War, religion, loss and ancient traditions collide as the matriarch great grandmother, born before the Mexican Revolution, refuses to die.

Ofelia Medina – Nana
Evelina Fernandez – Gina
Rudy Ramos – Rudy
Esperanza America – Valentina
Sam Golzari – Emiliano
Sal Lopez – Johnny
Lucy Rodriguez – Betty
Geoffrey Rivas – Bobby
Jonathan William Cruz – Juan Francisco

Understudies:

Dyana Ortelli – Nana (5/17 & 5/18)

Dianna Miranda – Betty ( 5/5, 5/6, & 6/1, 6/2, 6/3)

Thursday – Saturday 8pm | Sundays at 3pm

General admission: $40 | Students, Seniors & Veterans: $20 | $10 Thursday

To purchase tickets:
Call our Box Office Today! 866-811-4111
Customer service hours: 6am – 6pm M-F / 7am – 3pm Sat + Sun

Click here to purchase tickets to Charity

Writing the Score of The Vault: Bankrupt in Three Days

marlon — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:59:47 +0000

Writing the Score of The Vault: Bankrupt in Three Days

by JASMINE ORPILLA | March 28, 2012

The cast of “The Vault: Bankrupt”

There it is. The adrenaline rush. The sudden spike of energy jolting up from my stomach, then sounding off the following urgent message to my brain — OK babe, you have 72 hours to compose a new conceptual musical piece for the theater! Do it. Don’t think. Just do it. It’s due Thursday.

Ah, welcome to the Vault Ensemble and its signature three-day theatrical creation process. What with my back up against a wall of 72 hours, I have only my instincts to rely upon. No time to intellectualize. I have my muscle memory and my theatrical/musical toolbox from which, with a deadline like that, I must pull all the stops. Do it. Compose.

Pictured: Jasmine Orpilla

The result is that, when the curtain goes up three days later, the amalgamated musical characters I perform onstage are suffused by the particularly raw and visceral energy that brought them to life during this creation process in the first place.

“WHAT?!” I hear the audience rumors following the show. “She did all the music? The scary actor wearing the leather and chains and wielding a whip?” “Her? The opera singer who was playing with food onstage?” “But I thought she was a hip-hop artist from Paris — she was the one rapping, too?” “I thought she was a performance artist, she was billed at the Hammer Museum, wielding a shotgun.” “But I heard also she’s a Ninja in a big punk band?” “Isn’t she a percussionist? The one dressed up like a panda onstage at the TED Conference.” “She plays the theremin, too.” “She’s the tap dancer.”

“Well, she’s the musical director of the Vault.”

Why three days, Ms. Jasmine Orpilla? Are you OK? Certainly you need more time? Especially when it comes to music that informs an entire environment onstage?

Yes. But this process is actually a tradition two years in the making in the Vault Ensemble. In its inception, I was pushed to present new work to audiences on a grueling weekly basis, in order to eliminate any of the intellectual over-analysis that can accompany the theatrical research done while collaboratively writing an original script. We’d agree upon one concept, just one theme for the week, i.e. “The Story of Greed.” Then I’d just go for it and write my new score. The body of musical work I amassed in the end would serve as a jump-off point for the next season’s full run.

Pictured: The cast of “The Vault: Bankrupt”

In terms of the music I compose, I always have my voice. My piano. My splintered pair of 7A Vic Firths. My copy of Bertolt Brecht’s Uber Lyrik (for good measure). Oh, and my trusty metronome (gotta have a metronome). Absolutely no programming, no recording sessions until the score is written on paper, by the way. Because I’m old school.

In an adrenaline rush, I envision the characters onstage. I experience how they would feel to me if they suddenly rolled up beside me in the climax of their story and looked me in the eye to say ‘Hi, Jasmine. Whassup.” How would I capture the tone of their voices, their characters’ intentions, in a sound? And then, how would any specific character’s sound — once it exploded into a relationship with other characters — dictate rhythm within the arc of the story, until the whole created a world of its own? Then, what would the sound of that full world feel like, in your gut? Now, go. Compose it.

This latest creation at the LATC is entitled The Vault: Bankrupt. Pulling from a research-base of real-life stories in downtown Los Angeles, the show is a satirical observation of today’s banking systems, the fluctuating value of currency vs. counterfeiting, and the human relationship we choose to entrust with money.

Pictured: Jasmine Orpilla

For Bankrupt, along with a fresh arrangement of my original Vault score, I also wrote music updating the American Depression era, whose standards I harmonically dismantled, then subliminally tucked away in musically thematic layers throughout the story. To show the protagonist’s awkward evolution, I was inspired by the second movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Ginger Rogers in Gold Diggers of 1933, Cabaret, Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M”, Skrillex and Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, D. 929, to name a few.

I was inspired by the Vault Ensemble’s physical theater improvisations around the Seven Deadly Sins as mentored by producer Jose Luis Valenzuela during the creation process. I was inspired by the absurdity of pop culture’s insidious prevalence in art, and how I, as a performer, am not necessarily immune to its result-oriented pressure. Don’t think, just do it. But that pressure inspires me, because of my knee-jerk reaction to it. I kick back because I am alive. As theater is alive. My adrenaline during the countdown to lights and curtain is absolutely honest and unapologetic. And so my music, as a result, hits you back, deep in the gut, long after the rush has subsided.

The Vault: Bankrupt, presented by Latino Theater Company. Opens March 29. Plays Thurs.- Sat. 9 pm. Through April 21. Tickets: $20. Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street, LA. 866-811-4111 . www.thelatc.org orwww.thevaultdtla.com.

***All The Vault: Bankrupt production photos courtesy of The Vault Ensemble

Jasmine Orpilla is an award-winning world theater and musical performance artist.www.NinjaMamaLickum.com

Café Vida by Cornerstone Theater Company

marlon — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:08:54 +0000

THE LATINO THEATER COMPANY presents a CORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY production created in partnership with HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES and HOMEGIRL CAFE

CAFÉ VIDA

WRITTEN BY LISA LOOMER DIRECTED BY MICHAEL JOHN GARCÉS

APRIL 26 – MAY 20, 2012

Acclaimed playwright Lisa Loomer pens the first production in Cornerstone Theater Company’s Hunger Cycle with an original work, Café Vida. Chabela and Luz are rival homegirls ready to leave the life and begin anew at Café Vida—the only place in the city that gives young women and their troubled pasts a genuine second chance to start a new life free of violence. It’s here that these former enemies choose la vida over la muerte as they learn to compost, tend a garden, julienne an onion, and rock your lunch order with a smile and a heaping side of transformation.

The Hunger Cycle is a series of nine world premiere plays exploring hunger, justice, and food equity issues, spanning six years. Community Partners for The Hunger Cycle include: Homegirl Café, Homeboy Industries, Hunger Action Los Angeles, Solano Canyon Community Garden & Urban Environmental Policy Institute – Occidental College. More information at www.CornerstoneTheater.org

TIMES & DATES

April 26 – May 20, 2012

Previews APRIL 26 – 29, May 3-4

Opening Saturday May 5th @ 8pm

Thursdays – Saturdays @ 8pm, Sundays @ 2 pm

** Additional performances added: Wednesday May 16th at 8pm AND Saturday May 19th at 2pm**

LOCATION:

Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) – Theatre 3

514 South Spring Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

(Between 5th Street and 6th Street, one block east of Broadway.

Secured parking is available in five private facilities just south and east of LATC)

TICKETS:

$20 advance sales online. Pay-What-You-Can tickets will be available at the door.

Running time is 2 hours with 10 minute intermission.

Recommended for 13 years and over due mature language and content.

To purchase tickets:
Call our Box Office Today! 866-811-4111
Customer service hours: 6am – 6pm M-F / 7am – 3pm Sat + Sun
Group Services: 213-613-1700 ext. 120

Click here to purchase tickets to Café Vida

Girl Most Likely To | Extended until May 20th!

marlon — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:26:49 +0000

The Girl Most Likely To – EXTENDED until May 20th!

World Premiere!
Written by Michael Premsrirat
Directed by – Jon Lawrence Rivera
Produced by Playwrights’ Arena and The Latino Theater Company in association with PAE Live

April 20 – May 20!

Thursday – Saturday 8pm and Sundays at 3pm General: $30 | Students, Seniors & Veterans: $20 | $10 Thursday

A Filipino boy wants nothing more than to be accepted for who he is. Forget that he likes wearing girl’s clothes to school and breaks out to do impromptu Christina Aguilera songs. That’s nothing compared to the trouble he is headed for. A funny, heart-wrenching, sweet play about owning yourself.

Recommended for audiences 16+ due to mature language and sexual content

To purchase tickets:
Call our Box Office Today! 866-811-4111
Customer service hours: 6am – 6pm M-F / 7am – 3pm Sat + Sun
Group Services: 213-489-0994 ext. 110

Click here to purchase tickets to The Girl Most Likely To

Torn : multimedia play + film | February 29th – March 11th

marlon — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:14:37 +0000

Performances at the Los Angeles Theater Center
514 South Spring St., Los Angels, CA 90013.

Wednesday February 29th, 2012,   8:00 pm
Saturday March 3rd                       8:00 pm
Sunday March 4th                         6:00 pm
Saturday March 10th                     8:00 pm
Sunday March 11th                     6:00 pm

$35 General Admission
$50 VIP Orchestra and VIP Balcony

Who is Willie Lynch?

Willie Lynch was a West Indies slave owner that came to the shores of the James River, Virginia in 1712 and delivered a speech and instructions on how to enslave the African. This particular brand of enslavement was to break the spirit and will of slaves to the point that they would submit to the white population and hate themselves. This intentional act of training to self hate and self degrade is a code that was embedded within the developing African American culture.

Today, African Americans still suffer the remnants of such training. The demoralization of the Willie Lynch letter still exists in many enclaves of the African American community. Willie Lynch’s letter guaranteed a minimum of 300 years of mental enslavement.
1712 + 300 = 2012

This is the year that Black Family United enacts a year-long “Reclaiming our Heritage” campaign. One of the efforts is the multimedia play + film “TORN”, which educates young generations about the effects of slavery on today’s people. The stage play takes place during the period of slavery (1619-1865), the film takes place in 2012. We exhibit certain taught values in 1712, and show how African Americans are still living with the same values today. TORN links direct correlations from slavery to today’s culture, as well as concluded with a powerful message of self-reliance and specific instructions of the needed cultural paradigm shift required to free ourselves from the 300 year grip of Willie Lynch. Join us and witness how we shall “Reclaim our Heritage”

For more information and tickets:
http://www.blackfamilyunited.org/index.php/torn-the-play-and-movie.html

Spoken Word Series: Don’t Censor my SP!T! | March 6th, 2012, 8PM

marlon — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:02:21 +0000

Urban Theatre Movement and the Latino Theater Company present:
Spoken Word Series: Don’t censor my SP!T!
Directed by Alex Alpharaoh and Amery Ken Thao
TUESDAY, MARCH 6TH, 2012, 8PM AT THE LOS ANGELES THEATRE CENTER THEATER 4

A.L.Pharaoh – SP!T Slam Team
Aileen Alfaro
Ashley Catharine – Brass Knuckles LA Slam Team
Brian “SuperB” Oliva – IE National Slam Team
Candace Nicholas-Lippman – Spoken Word Ministries
Caroline Chang – Uncultivated Rabbits
Cris D’Annunzio
Eddie “Edgar Allen Swole” Rojas
Eddy M. Gana Jr – ForWord
Essence Brown – SP!T Slam Team
Marissa Pitts
Mark Rolston
Samantha Parks – SP!T Slam Team
Stephanie Sajor – ForWord

Tickets are $10 at the door only
For more information regarding ticket sales please contact Paul Tully:
ptully.utm@gmail.com

Urban Theatre Movement | www.UrbanTheatreMovement.com

CAMP LOGAN by Robey Theatre Company

marlon — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:50:28 +0000

Camp Logan
West Coast Premiere!
Written by Celeste Bedford Walker
Directed by Alex Morris Produced by The Robey Theatre Company, Sparkling City Entertainment and Juvee Productions in association with The Latino Theater Company

April 28 – May 27

LATC – Theater 4 Previews: April 26 -27

Thursday – Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm General: $30 | Seniors: $20 | Students: $20 | Groups: (10+): $20 | Veterans: $20

Synopsis: 1917 – Texas, the Black 24^th infantry are bivouacked nearby and after constant conflict and confrontation with the white civilians and Houston police the 24^th marches on the town. What happens next is history…

To purchase tickets:
Call our Box Office Today! 866-811-4111
Customer service hours: 6am – 6pm M-F / 7am – 3pm Sat + Sun
Group Services: 213-489-0994 ext. 110

LACHSA Live!

marlon — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:21:40 +0000

LACHSA Live!

All-day Visual and Performing Arts Festival

Saturday, February 25 from 3 pm – 11 pm

LACHSA Live! – an all-day festival of visual and performing arts — is coming to Los Angeles Theatre Center Saturday, February 25 from 3 pm – 11 pm. Showcasing LA’s most talented emerging young artists – the award-winning students of the LA County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) – as well as its faculty of professional working artists and guest performers, LACHSA Live! will feature over 30 live theatre, music, and dance performances, and art exhibits, debut film screenings, and open workshops.

Program highlights: scenes from the musical Hairspray, a full production of Mary Zimmerman’s contemporary staging of Homer’s The Odyssey; chamber, orchestral, jazz, gospel and indie rock performances (from Rimsky-Korsakov’sCapriccio Espagnol to Winton Marsalis’ Delfeayo’s Dilemma); dance recitals from the work of choreographer Jiri Kylian; artwork from the acclaimed Art of Tolerance exhibit; screenings from the Moondance Film Festival; and workshops from LA opera stars Suzanna Guzman and Stacy Brightman, comedian actor Jeremy Guskin, dancers Anindo Marshall and Erica Robson, artist David Schoffman, and more. Tickets are $15. For info: www.lachsaLIVE.com.

Free Playreading | Wild in Wichita by Lina Gallegos

marlon — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:13:22 +0000

FREE PLAYREADING – Wed. 2/29 | 7:30pm | Theater 2

Wild in Wichita by Lina Gallegos

Directed by Denise Blasor

Featuring Denise Blasor & Sal Lopez

Produced by The Latino Theater Company

An elegant Puerto Rican woman and an irreverent Mexican man fall in love when they meet at an assisted living center in Wichita Kansas. Despite their children’s disapproval, the couple embarks on their newfound love. The play is a touching and romantic comedy that highlights, with music, two beautiful Latino cultures proving at the same time that “it’s never late ” to fall in love.

Lina Gallegos won the MetLife Nuestras Voces competition with this script and the 2012 ACE awardsin NY.