The theater world in Fall 2021 isn’t as dark (both literally and metaphorically) as in Fall 2020. It’s finally possible to see live shows other than on Zoom (although there’s still plenty of Zooming). The choices of format and venue are almost as numerous as the themes being presented.
All theaters require masks to be worn during performances and proof of vaccination for entry; some will instead accept a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours. If you’re buying tickets to an in-person show, whether indoors or out, double-check on the theater’s website for rules.
Mondays Sept. 13 through Dec. 20
This fall, Theatre 40 offers readings on Zoom and performances at its theater on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. The series of play readings, followed by Q&A, on Zoom Monday nights. The Monday Night Seminars include both comedies and dramas. The series is moderated by Melanie MacQueen and John Leslie.
Dates are Sept. 27, Oct. 4, 18, November 1, 15, December 6 and 20, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Click here for the Zoom link. Admission is free, but tax-deductible donations are gratefully accepted; click here to donate.
Theatre 40 returns to in-person with the world premiere of As Good As Gold. The comedy, about three female screenwriters who decide to use a male beard to sell their script, is by Marilyn Anderson. It runs from Thursday, Sept. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 17 at Theatre 40’s Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr. Tickets are $38 and can be purchased here. Show times are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays at 2:00. The performance on Friday, September 17 will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 18
The Groundlings Theatre is also back in person, with previews of A Groundling on Elm Street starting on Saturday, Sept. 18 (7:30-9:00pm). Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.
The Groundlings Theatre is located at 7307 Melrose Avenue.
Geffen Playhouse Reopens with The Enigmatist, Tuesday, Sept. 14 through July 24, 2022
The Geffen Playhouse is back in person, too, with The Enigmatist, written and performed by David Kwong, the creator and performer of the hit virtual production Inside the Box. Following a sold-out New York City run in 2019, renowned magician and New York Times crossword constructor David Kwong brings his popular in-person show to the Geffen’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater through Oct. 30.
The Geffen’s reimagined/delayed 25th anniversary season is followed by:
- The West Coast premiere of playwright Dominique Morisseau’s jazz club-set Paradise Blue, the first production on the Gil Cates Theater stage since the theater closed in March 2020. Nov. 9 – Dec. 12. Morisseau wrote the hit Ain’t Too Proud.
- Tony Award winner Bryan Cranston leads the cast of playwright Paul Grellong’s Power of Sail, also featuring Amy Brenneman, Feb. 1–March 13, 2022. Harvard professor Charles Nichols (Cranston) finds himself in hot water after inviting an incendiary white nationalist to speak at his annual symposium.
- Playwright Anna Ouyang Moench’s Man of God, cancelled the day before opening night in March 2020, now set for May 24–July 3, 2022. Man of Godhad its world premiere in January 2019 as an East West Players production at the David Henry Hwang Theatre at the Union Center of the Arts in Los Angeles.
- The West Coast premiere of Trayf by Lindsay Joelle, March 1–April 10, 2022, a “road-trip bromance” set in New York’s Orthodox Jewish community.
- Two additional productions
Learn more and buy tickets to The Enigmatist here. Support the Geffen and subscribe to the whole season here.
Wednesday, Sept. 15 6:00-7:00pm
Actor Trade presents a (virtual) table read for a good cause: Based on a True Story, six short plays written and directed by Robert Galinsky and starring a cast including Gary Cole, Laura San Giacomo, and other established and emerging actors.
“Celebrity Scene Spotlight” is produced by black Hollywood performer/producers Shondrella Avery (Napoleon Dynamite) & Dylan Mooney (“The Family Business”), and New York writer/director Robert Galinsky. The series is a “casting mashup” where some of today’s greatest actors are paired with unfamiliar emerging actors, performing a series of short plays, as a benefit for charity.
The evening is presented as a benefit for Literacy For Incarcerated Teens.
Tickets are available here.
Thursday, Sept. 16 through Saturday, Sept. 25
A Place Called Home, the youth and community center serving South Central Los Angeles, will present the inaugural El Centro Del Sur Latinx Theater Festival, streamed free, to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Each of the six family-friendly productions will include Spanish subtitles and will be followed by live Q&A sessions translated into Spanish in real time. Two of the productions are world premieres.
- Thursday, Sept. 16,7 p.m.: Latino Theater Company presents Solitude, inspired by Octavio Paz’s essay collection The Labyrinth of Solitude,
• Friday, Sept. 17, 7 p.m.: East Los Angeles College presents From the Works of John Leguizamo East Coast to East Los
• Saturday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m.: Company of Angels presents Lolo (world premiere)
• Thursday, Sept. 23,7 p.m.: Teatro Luna West presents The Inbetweens (world premiere)
• Friday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m.:.: Casa 0101 Theater/Chicanas, Cholas, Y Chisme presents Womxn In Herstory
• Saturday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m.: A Place at Home Theater Program and ACT @APCH present Alice in Slasherland
To access the festival’s shows, click here,
Saturday, Sept. 18 through Sunday, October 10
In The Wolfe & the Bird, a young girl struggles to find herself against the backdrop of 1980s small town America. This is the world premiere of a solo play written and performed by Rachel Parker.
Performances are Saturdays at 8:00pm (2:00pm on October 9 only) and Sundays at 2:00pm at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. Purchase tickets ($18) here.
Saturday, September 18 through Saturday, October 9
Check out a musical cabaret-style satire that reflects on our national panic in the face of the pandemic. it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!, conceived and performed by performance artist John Fleck, gets four work-in-progress performances on Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 in advance of a full-fledged opening later in the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s season. Fleck will be joined onstage by a band and two singer/dancers.
Odyssey Theatre is at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Tickets ($25) are available here.
Theatre West Reopens
At 59 years old, Theatre West is emerging newly recharged from a period of challenges that have impacted many local arts groups. An anonymous angel has purchased the company’s building, preserving it for the theatre’s use and even upgrading it. In addition, Theatre West has received more than $205,000 in grants from the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant, the Ahmanson Foundation, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Peter Glenville Foundation, and the California Arts Council and a bequest of $90,000 from the estate of longtime member and noted American actress, the late Elsa Raven, establishing the first operating reserve for the company.
Theatre West commences performances of the world premiere of the play Our Man in Santiago, a comic spy thriller inspired by the true story of a spectacularly botched U.S. attempt to overthrow Chile’s democratically elected leader. The show will run September 24 through October 24.
The company’s award-winning children’s programming begins its 36th season on November 20, with the opening of its Storybook Theatre production of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. All seats are $15. The show runs through June 4, 2022 on Saturdays at 1:00pm. (Dark on Christmas Day.) Birthday parties and school field trips are cheerfully accommodated.
You can see dozens of Theatre West’s original performances on their YouTube channel.
Theatre West is located at 3333 Cahuenga Blvd., near Universal Studios. Parking is available in a lot across the street for $5. Online ticketing for both live shows is at www.theatrewest.org.
Echo Theater Company Reopens Oct. 6
Echo Theatre presents two world premieres. First up is Ascension, an immersive, interactive, sci-fi mystery thriller written by D.G. Watson. Performances take place Tuesdays through Thursdays at 8:00pm, Oct. 6 through Nov. 18 at Atwater Village Theatre.
Poor Clare opens 19 months after its original March, 2020 opening. The play is Chiara Atik’s spin on the medieval story of Saint Clare of Assisi. Poor Clare opens the Echo’s 25th anniversary season with a six-week run, Saturday, October 23 through November 29. Three “pay what you want” previews take place Oct. 20, Oct. 21 and Oct. 22.
Tickets to each show are $34. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, click here. Free parking is available in the Atwater Xing lot one block south of the theater.
Proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours will be required of all patrons, and admittance is limited to ages 12+. All current CDC and local guidelines regarding seating and masks will be followed at each performance.
Skylight Theatre Reopens Nov. 6 with four world premieres 
Skylight Theatre Company and Playwrights’ Arena are joining forces to nurture and develop playwrights and their new works. The new season will feature four world premiere plays:
- A Hit Dog Will Holler by Inda Craig-Galván: A social media influencer and a boots-on-the-ground activist form a complex bond of friendship to help each other survive as American racism manifests as a physical form. Opens November 6.
- Fluff by Sigrid Gilmer: An absurdist “disaster film” play about the dark carnival of our current political climate, the hell of other people and — killer pillows. Opens February, 2022.
- Apartment Living by Boni B. Alvarez: Behaviors change in forced captivity during the pandemic in Los Angeles. Do we like what we learn about the people we love? Opens May, 2022.
- Lavender Men – The Emancipation Play by Roger Q. Mason: Enter the historical fantasia of Taffeta, a self-proclaimed “fabulous queer creation of color,” as she invades the private world of Abraham Lincoln to confront issues of LGBTQ+ inclusion and visibility that still challenge us today. Opens August, 2022.
For more information and to purchase tickets and subscriptions, click here. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., LA 90027
New Offerings from Center Theatre Group
The Ahmanson 2021/22 Season begins with the Old Vic’s magical interpretation of A Christmas Carol. Bradley Whitford will play Ebenezer Scrooge from November 30 through January 1, 2022. Tickets go on sale to the general public October 6, 2021. Subscribers will have access to the full season lineup, including:
- Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
- The Lehman Trilogy
- Hadestown
- Dear Evan Hansen
- The Prom
- Oklahoma!
- Come From Away (an add-on to season packages)
Go and see The WOLFE & The BIRD..!
It’s an incredibly touching story that’s written and performed by Rachel Parker. I could definitely see this being turned into a film and touching a wider audience… Please do yourself a favor and check it out, you won’t be sorry. You’ll laugh, maybe even cry; and in the end you’ll just love her for how it all comes together.
Brava! to her and the entire team behind this show.
– RA