Three of L.A. County's premier theater companies, three world premieres: Moving Arts, Circle X Theatre Co. and The Ghost Road Company present an adventurous season of new plays at [Inside] the Ford in 2008-09.
The Ford Theatres complex, operated by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, is best known for the May to October summer season of music, dance, theater, film and family events in its 1,245-seat outdoor amphitheater. The majority of the 100 plus performances in the Ford Amphitheatre are produced through the Summer Partnership Program; Los Angeles County-based producers and performing arts organizations, chosen through a competitive application process, receive significant promotional and technical support to present their events and keep the lion's share of the box office.
Now, for the first time, this successful formula is being applied to presentations at [Inside] the Ford, the 87-seat indoor space that is one of L.A.'s most surprising small theaters. Embedded within a 1929 historic structure, [Inside] the Ford boasts 21st Century lights and sound, comfortable seats, and a decades-long history of nurturing new theater.
"This program addresses the dearth of affordable spaces for small theatre companies. It makes it possible for three theater companies without permanent performance spaces to present in a state-of-the-art venue," said Adam Davis, Managing Director of the John Anson Ford Theatres. "The productions that are premiering are theatrically compelling and timely. We are proud to help bring new challenging work to the public in our first [Inside] the Ford Winter Partnership Season."
A company of resident theater artists committed to producing only new and original work, Moving Arts kicks off the[Inside] the Ford 2008-09 Season on November 7 with Song of Extinction (winner, 2008 Ashland New Plays Festival). In E.M. Lewis's ode to the science of life and loss, the relationships between fathers and sons, Cambodian fields, Bolivian rainforests and redemption, Max Forrestal, a musically gifted high school student, is falling off
The Edge of the world and his biology teacher, Khim Phan, is the only one who's noticed. Trying to help Max pushes Khim into a magical journey of his own - from the Cambodian fields of his youth into the undiscovered country beyond. (November 7-December 14)
On January 17, award winning Circle X Theatre Co. unveils the newest play by Jim Leonard (The Diviners): Battle Hymn, about an American Mother Courage, her epic pregnancy, her past, her future - and her incredible search for the meaning of motherhood and love. On the eve of the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Martha finds herself pregnant and ostracized. As Martha travels through and fights in the Civil War, she settles on one incontrovertible fact: she will not raise her baby in a blood-soaked, violent country. Martha stays pregnant for over a century, until she arrives in San Francisco in 1967. For a moment Martha thinks she's landed in heaven, but before she knows it, half the world is at war once again. (January 17-February 21)
Capping the season, a trilogy more than 10 years in the making becomes complete beginning March 26. Inspired in part by The Oresteia, The Ghost Road Company's Home Siege Home is a highly theatrical multi-media piece that explores the intimate lives of one powerful family bent on vengeance for past wrongs. Conceived and written by Katharine Noon and developed in workshop by the entire ensemble, this powerful drama is played out against the backdrop of an unpopular war overseas and the social, political and emotional impact of such a war on those left at home. See all three parts (Clytemnestra, Elektra and Orestes) in one day or over the course of two evenings. (March 26-May 3).
The indoor theater space at the Ford has a history of serving intimate theater in Los Angeles. For decades it was rented by numerous groups, most notably the
Mark Taper Forum which made it the home of its second stage Taper, Too from 1972 to 1997. In 1998 the space was extensively renovated and renamed [Inside] the Ford, following which a season of three productions was presented under the Los Angeles County Art Commission's subsidized rental program designed to help theater companies without permanent facilities. From 2000-01 through 2003-04, [Inside] the Ford hosted "Hot Properties," seasons of new plays and musicals produced by County-based theater companies and supported by A.S.K. Theater Projects and the James Irvine Foundation. Finally, from 2005-06 to 2007-08, [Inside] the Ford was the home of the Ensemble Theatre Collective, known as ETC@ITF, a collaboration of five L.A.-based theater companies that was supported in part by the Flintridge Foundation.
[Inside] the Ford is located in the Ford Theatres complex at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068, just off the 101 Hollywood Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of
Universal Studios. On-site, non-stacked parking is free.
Single tickets for Song of Extinction, Battle Hymn and Home Siege Home are priced at $20 with a special price of $12 for full-time students with ID. Subscription packages range from $45 to $60. For information and to purchase subscriptions or individual tickets, go to the Ford Theatres website at www.fordtheatres.org or call 323.461.3673.
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Laura Zucker, Executive Director, provides leadership in cultural services of all disciplines for the largest county in the United States, encompassing 88 municipalities. In addition to programming the John Anson Ford Theatres, the Arts Commission provides leadership and staffing to support the regional blueprint for arts education, Arts for All; administers a grants program that funds more than 300 nonprofit arts organizations annually; oversees the County's Civic Art Program for capital projects, funds the largest arts internship program in the country in conjunction with the Getty Foundation, and supports the Los Angeles County Cultural Calendar on ExperienceLA.com. The Arts Commission also produces free community programs, including the L.A. Holiday Celebration broadcast nationally, and a year-round music program that funds more than 50 free concerts each year in public sites. The 2008-09 President of the Arts Commission is Betty Haagen.
