Luis Alfaro worked as an usher for The Music Center at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre known as the Center Theater Group, in the early 1980s. Recently, he was named Associate Artistic Director for the Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s most important arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles coming full circle.
Alfaro has collaborated and worked with the Center Theater Group as a playwright as well as the co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum where he worked alongside Diane Rodriguez. Together they were able to introduce and identify new and exciting playwrights and secure a stage to present their theater works to the Center Theater Group stages.
A celebrated, self-identified Chicano artist, Alfaro is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius”. In his new position, Alfaro will work closely with Artistic Director Michael Ritchie and fellow associate artistic directors on overall artistic programming. He will also oversee the L.A. Writers’ Workshop and serve a key role in the expansion of new play development.
“Center Theatre Group has been my artistic home for nearly my entire career, so to return at such a pivotal moment in the history of regional theatre, the organization, and Los Angeles, is quite invigorating,” said Alfaro. I’m looking forward to helping further our shared vision of nurturing more Los Angeles voices and stories and asking important questions, like how we are viewing our role as an anti-racist theatre organization”.
“There’s no denying that our industry is facing a critical moment of self-reflection,” Alfaro went on to say. “I firmly believe that Center Theatre Group is rising to the challenge as it considers its role in the new American theatrical landscape.”
The Center Theatre Group has produced several of Alfaro’s works including “Electricidad” and “Black Butterfly” at the Taper, “St. Jude” at the Douglas and, in 2020, Alfaro brought his trilogy of Greek plays, “Mojada,” “Electricidad” and “Oedipus El Rey,” to Center Theatre Group’s Digital Stage as part of the series Live From the KDT.
“It’s also important to me for Luis to help nurture our next wave of playwrights and consider how we more deeply invest in our Los Angeles community,” said Ritchie. “Luis brings a rich history and understanding of Center Theatre Group and of this great city and its many exciting voices. It’s been an honor working with Luis in various capacities over the years.”
Alfaro is a Chicano writer known for his work in poetry, theatre, short stories, performance and journalism. Luis spent six seasons as the Playwright-in-Residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 2013–2019. Luis spent over two decades in the Los Angeles poetry community and toured for ten years as a performance artist. He is a tenured professor at USC. His play anthology, “The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro,” was released from Methuen Press and is the winner of this year’s London Hellenic Prize. Luis was a participant in Center Theatre Group’s 2018/19 L.A. Writers’ Workshop and is also a member of the CTG Creative Collective, a dozen inspiring, innovative and highly collaborative artists shaping the contours of the theatrical landscape of the future.