AMERICAN IDIOT Becomes Highest Grossing Musical at The Mark Taper Forum

Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre have joined together for the all-new production of global rock superstars Green Day's legendary rock opera, American Idiot, directed by Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Snehal Desai.

Now the best-selling musical in Mark Taper Forum history, American Idiot must close on Saturday, November 16.  Remaining tickets are available at centertheatregroup.org.

The Tony and Grammy Award winning musical re-opened the Mark Taper Forum, as the first offering of Center Theatre Group's One CTG. One LA. Season, as previously announced by Desai, CTG's Managing Director/CEO Meghan Pressman, and its Producing Director Douglas C. Baker. 

The show is produced in collaboration with the Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre, headed by Artistic Director DJ Kurs, and features an ensemble of both Deaf and hearing actors, performing simultaneously in American Sign Language and Spoken English. CTG and Deaf West have a long history of bold and exciting collaborations, including Pippin, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, and Big River—which went on to have an acclaimed run on Broadway followed by a National
Tour.

American Idiot features music by Green Day; lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong; and book by Billie Joe Armstrong & Michael Mayer. Jennifer Weber (Broadway: & Juliet, KPOP) is the choreographer; Colin Analco (Deaf West: Fidelio) is the ASL choreographer.

The cast includes Steven-Adam Agdeppa (TV: Parallel, CTG: A Christmas Story); Will Branner (Broadway: Back to the Future: The Musical, National Tour: Mean Girls); Jerusha Cavazos (Broadway: The Prom); Lark Detweiler (TV: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist); Daniel Durant (Broadway: Spring Awakening, Film: CODA, TV: Dancing with the Stars, Deaf West: Fidelio); Kaia T. Fitzgerald; Brady Fritz; Landen Gonzales; Otis Jones IV (Deaf West: Fidelio); Milo Manheim (Film: Disney's Zombies, TV: School Spirits, Dancing with the Stars); Josué Martinez; Giovanni Maucere (Deaf West: Fidelio); James Olivas (CTG: The Secret Garden); Patrick Ortiz; Monika Peña; Mars Storm Rucker (Broadway: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, A Strange Loop); Mia Sempertegui; Angel Theory (TV: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, The Walking Dead); Ty Taylor (CTG/Deaf West: Pippin, TV: HBO's Vinyl, lead singer of the soul-rock band Vintage Trouble),  and Ali Fumiko Whitney (Film: Find Me Falling, AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead).

The set is by Takeshi Kata (Broadway: Water for Elephants); costumes by Lena Sands; lighting by Karyn Lawrence; sound by Cricket S. Myers (Broadway & CTG: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo); projections by David Murakami; Wig, Hair, and Make-up Design by Shelia Dorn; music is supervised and conducted by David O (Broadway: Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night), music arrangements and orchestrations by Tom Kitt; casting by Beth Lipari, CSA; and the Production Stage Manager is David S. Franklin. Lindsay Allbaugh is the Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group, and Jeff Perri is the Managing Director of Deaf West.

Center Theatre Group

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation's preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles' leading not-for-profit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman, and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, programs the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Center Theatre Group is one of the country's leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstances to serve Los Angeles. Founded in 1967,  Center Theatre Group has produced more than 700 productions across its three stages, including such iconic shows as Zoot Suit; Angels in America; The Kentucky Cycle; Biloxi Blues; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Children of a Lesser God; Curtains; The Drowsy Chaperone; 9 to 5: The Musical; and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. CenterTheatreGroup.org

Deaf West Theatre 

Founded in Los Angeles in 1991, Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre led by Artistic Director, David Kurs and Managing Director, Jeff Perri, engages artists and audiences in unparalleled theater experiences inspired by Deaf culture and the expressive power of sign language, weaving ASL with spoken English to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice. Committed to innovation, collaboration, and training, DWT is the artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds. Recent and past productions include the groundbreaking production of Beethoven's only opera  Fidelio (2022) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel; a new adaptation of Oedipus (2022) at the Getty Villa Museum directed and adapted by Jenny Koons; Our Town (2017), in a co-production with The Pasadena Playhouse; Spring Awakening The Musical (2015), which transferred from Inner-City Arts to the Wallis and then to Broadway (three Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical); Big River The Musical  (2004, Tony Award nomination and four Drama Desk Awards on Broadway); Pippin (2009), produced at the Mark Taper Forum in a co-production with Center Theatre Group; Sleeping Beauty Wakes, also a co-production with Center Theatre Group, presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; Oliver! (2000, Ovation Award for Best Musical); and A Streetcar Named Desire (2000, Ovation Award for Best Play). DeafWest.org

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