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Geffen Playhouse

American non-profit theatre company

Summary

American non-profit theatre company

Field	Value
name	Geffen Playhouse
native_name_lang
image	GeffenPlayhouse01.JPG
image_size	250
address	10886 Le Conte Avenue
city	Los Angeles, California
country	United States
coordinates
owner	UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
operator	Geffen Playhouse Inc.
capacity	Gil Cates Theater: 512
Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre:149
type	Regional theater
built	1929
opened	1970s
reopened	1995
rebuilt	2005
website

Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre:149

The Geffen Playhouse is a not-for-profit theater company founded in Los Angeles, California by Gilbert Cates in 1995.

It produces plays in two theaters in Geffen Playhouse, which is owned by University of California Los Angeles. The Playhouse is located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named for donor David Geffen. The current executive director is Gil Cates Jr.

Venues, performances

The Geffen Playhouse offers five plays per season in the Gil Cates Theatre and three plays per season in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre, as well as producing special events in both venues.

History

The Geffen Playhouse was built in 1929 as the Masonic Affiliates Club, or the MAC, for students and alumni at UCLA. One of the first twelve structures built in Westwood Village, it was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements.

Its courtyard fountain is a piece from Malibu Potteries. The pattern on the lower tier of the Geffen's fountain appears in the Adamson House dining room, while the pattern on the upper tier can be seen on the east exterior face of the dining room, bordering a Moorish arch window.

Originally named the Contempo Theatre, and later the Westwood Playhouse, the property was purchased by UCLA in 1993. UCLA's then-chancellor, Charles E. Young, appointed Gil Cates, founder and former president of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, as its producing director.

The theater was renamed in 1995 after media mogul David Geffen donated $5 million. In 2002, the David Geffen Foundation made a $5-million lead gift towards an eventual $17-million capital campaign to renovate the theater. The Geffen reopened on November 16, 2005 with the main 500-seat theater retained and a new 125-seat Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater added.

In March 2010, the Playhouse's board of directors named the main stage the Gil Cates Theater. Cates died in October 2011. Gil Cates, Jr. was appointed executive director in 2015.

Matt Shakman was appointed artistic director in August 2017, followed by Tarell Alvin McCraney in September 2023.

References

"Geffen Playhouse". Geffen Playhouse Press Release.
"Geffen Playhouse - Westwood".
(17 October 1990). "STAGE REVIEW : 'Pad': Strong Execution of Inge Drama". Los Angeles Times.
Padilla, Jessica. "New Geffen gift benefits playhouse".
Jones, Kenneth. (March 23, 2010). "Geffen's Mainstage Is Now the Gil Cates Theater". Playbill.
(2011-11-02). "Gil Cates dies at 77; producer, director and showman".
(2015-06-12). "Gil Cates Jr. named executive director of Geffen Playhouse".
(2023-09-12). "Playwright and 'Moonlight' screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney to lead Geffen Playhouse".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

theatres-in-los-angeles university-of-california,-los-angeles-buildings-and-structures university-of-california,-los-angeles performing-groups-established-in-1993 westwood,-los-angeles 1993-establishments-in-california david-geffen

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