Ben Donenberg

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles Will Launch $15 Million Home Improvement Project

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles has announced a transformative renovation of its downtown Los Angeles headquarters that creates a new 299-seat state of the art multi-media and live performing arts and community center.

Hal Linden and Sally Struthers Will Lead World Premiere of THE JOURNALS OF ADAM AND EVE

Hal Linden and Sally Struthers will star in the world premiere of a new play – “The Journals of Adam and Eve” by Ed. Weinberger, with a little help from the authors of Genesis, John Milton, and Mark Twain, for six performances only January 18 to 21.

Review: THE TEMPEST: AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE at After Hours Theatre Company and The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

After the excitement of the participatory pre-show, we are sat down in a hodgepodge of rickety, old chairs and spoon-fed a mediocre staging of The Tempest. The whole evening takes on a feeling that Beil warns against in her program note; the immersive elements become a gimmick, a brief reward for taking our medicine.

Interview: Ben Donenberg, Graham Wetterhahn, And Sara Beil On THE TEMPEST: AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

As a fan of Shakespeare and immersive theatre productions, I was intrigued when I heard that The Shakespeare Center LA and After Hours Theatre Company were set to present the premiere of The Tempest: An Immersive Experience, a fully reimagined audience-participation performance based on William Shakespeare's tale of family members caught up in a storm and shipwrecked on an isolated Mediterranean island. So I decided to speak with the production's director Ben Donenberg, Shakespeare Center LA Artistic Director, Graham Wetterhahn, the Producing Artistic Director at After Hours Theatre Company, and Sara Beil one of the producers for After Hours who created the immersive design, about their vision for an immersive way to include audience members in the experience of Shakespeare's tempestuous play.

THE TEMPEST: An Immersive Experience Comes to The Shakespeare Center LA

The Shakespeare Center LA and After Hours Theatre Company announce the premiere of The Tempest: An Immersive Experience, a fully reimagined immersive performance based on William Shakespeare's The Tempest.  The director is Ben Donenberg, Shakespeare Center LA Artistic Director; Graham Wetterhahn is the Producing Artistic Director at After Hours Theatre Company. 

Al Pacino to Discuss His Career at AL PACINO LIVE ON STAGE Benefit at Gindi Auditorium

The storied career of actor Al Pacino is to be celebrated in a one night only fundraiser Al Pacino Live on Stage, presented on Thursday, June 23 at 8:00 pm at Gindi Auditorium American Jewish University. 

Photo Flash: Al Pacino Headlines Staged Reading Of THE BASIC TRAINING OF PAVLO HUMMEL

Al Pacino headlined the cast of a sold-out benefit staged reading of David Rabe's The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummer, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, in Beverly Hills, CA.  In collaboration with The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, the Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award-winning Pacino reprised the title role of Pavlo Hummel

Al Pacino to Participate in Benefit Staged Reading of THE BASIC TRAINING OF PAVLO HUMMEL

Al Pacino (The Irishman, Scent of a Woman, The Godfather) will participate in a benefit staged reading of award-winning Vietnam veteran playwright David Rabe's The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummer, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, in collaboration with The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 8, 2020, 7 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater.

Photo Flash: Al Pacino, Geoffrey Rush And More Star In SIMPLY SHAKESPEARE: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE At Shakespeare Center of L.A.

Legendary actor Al Pacino joined fellow Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush for Simply Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice.

Al Pacino Joins Geoffrey Rush & More in Shakespeare Center Benefit

Legendary actor Al Pacino joins fellow Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush for Simply Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice, a one-night only staged benefit reading to support The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.

Review: THE TRAGEDIE OF MACBETH �" An Immersive Experience Takes You Inside the Spooky Atmosphere of Shakespeare's Scottish Play

As the tension mounts to its bloody end, audience members, especially the few who get invited into the scene within Macbeth's castle, are drawn into the characters' lives and motives, all the while experiencing the evocative moody atmosphere of haunted, stone-walled castles. Kudos go out to the entire design team from Runco's sets, Avery Reagan and Wesley Chew's lighting design, Joseph a?oeSloea?? Slawinski's sound design, to A. Jeffrey Schoenberg's costume design which work brilliantly together with the talented acting ensemble to transport audiences into a sensory experience none will ever forget.

SIMPLY SHAKESPEARE Benefit Comes to Gindi Auditorium Starring Al Pacino and Geoffrey Rush

Legendary actor Al Pacino joins fellow Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush for Simply Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice, a one-night only staged benefit reading to support The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. Tony Award winner Dan Sullivan reunites Pacino (Shylock) with his Merchant of Venice Broadway stars Lily Rabe (Portia) and Hamish Linklater (Bassanio). All three actors originally appeared in Sullivan's 2010 production for the New York Shakespeare Festival's summer festival in Central Park that quickly transferred to Broadway for a limited sold-out run. Rush steps in to read the role of Antonio and Keith David will read the roles of the Duke of Venice and Solerio. Simply Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice will take place Monday, October 28 at 8pm at The Gindi Auditorium, American Jewish University.

THE TRAGEDIE OF MACBETH Comes to Shakespeare Center LA

When a director from England's Royal Shakespeare Company and a Disney Imagineer come together, the hottest show of the Halloween season emerges. Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles(SCLA) presents The Tragedie of Macbeth a?" An Immersive Experience is a fast-paced immersive production that moves from the foggy Scottish Heath and the wind-whistling castle in Invernesss to the witches coven and the doomed Macduff's house. The audience moves through SCLA's 22,000 square-foot building encountering floating daggers, tapestries that come to life, and bleeding walls while 9 actors tackle 20 characters. Tickets for #MacbethSCLA shows October 12 through November 3 are on sale now at www.ShakespeareCenter.org.

CA Arts Council Awards Grant To SCLA Veterans In Arts Program

The California Arts Council has awarded a $16,200 grant to the Veterans In Art program at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.  

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles Adds Three New Board Members June 2019

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles announced today the appointment of three new members of its Board of Directors. They are Mark Steven Cohen Phd, Professor-in-Residence - UCLA, Wendy Garen, President and Chief Executive of The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and Judith Parker, writer, producer and development executive. 

Shakespeare Center Of LA Presents THE TRAGEDIE OF MACBETH

With Halloween lurking and the darkness of night falling earlier, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) transforms its 20,000 square foot building into a cursed and haunted castle of multiple performance spaces for an immersive, ninety-minute production of William Shakespeare's The Tragedie of Macbeth. Directed by Kenn Sabberton, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the show plays Today evenings and Sunday afternoons October 20 through November 3. Tickets start at $39 and are available now.

Shakespeare Center Of LA Presents THE TRAGEDIE OF MACBETH

With Halloween lurking and the darkness of night falling earlier, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) transforms its 20,000 square foot building into a cursed and haunted castle of multiple performance spaces for an immersive, ninety-minute production of William Shakespeare's The Tragedie of Macbeth. Directed by Kenn Sabberton, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the show plays Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons October 20 through November 3. Tickets start at $39 and are available now.

Photo Flash: First Look at Tom Hanks in HENRY IV at Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

"Henry IV," staged by Tony Award winning director Daniel Sullivan, features Harry Groener as Northumberland, Tom Hanks in his Los Angeles stage debut as Sir John Falstaff, Hamish Linklater as Hal, Joe Morton as Henry IV, and Tony winner Rondi Reed as Mistress Quickly.

Review Roundup: What Did The Critics Think Of Tom Hanks in HENRY IV at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

This week, the cast and crew of Shakespeare's Henry IV, starring Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks, came together for the first meet and greet of the production. Check out shots from the event below!

Photo Flash: Tom Hanks Begins Rehearsals For HENRY IV at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

This week, the cast and crew of Shakespeare's Henry IV, starring Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks, came together for the first meet and greet of the production. Check out shots from the event below!