After leading Center Theatre Group for more than 16 years, Michael Ritchie will retire as Artistic Director on December 31, 2021, following the long-awaited return to live, in-person performances after a devastating year-and-a-half shutdown of its three historic theatres.
In 2004, the neon lights sitting atop a once historic movie house in Culver City flickered on to illuminate a new name and mark a new chapter for one of the country’s most prolific nonprofit theatres. The Kirk Douglas Theatre became Center Theatre Group’s third permanent venue in Los Angeles, albeit far across town from its roots of the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center. The Douglas’s grand opening was a manifestation of
Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson’s vision to push boundaries and expand the company’s offerings to include exciting new works in a more intimate setting.
But there was an even bigger change to come just a few months later as Gordon soon passed the baton to a new artistic director after having led Center Theatre Group since its founding in 1967. Michael Ritchie, who started his professional career in theatre running a follow spot in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1979, began as Center Theatre Group’s Artistic Director in 2005 with a literal splash—his first play at the Ahmanson, Dead End, featured a swimming pool filling the orchestra pit in which actors would dive into from the stage. It was an auspicious beginning that included bold new works by powerful artists like Culture Clash (Water & Power), Roger Guenveur Smith (The Watts Towers Project), and Robert Schenkkan (Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates), plus a pre-Broadway premiere of The Drowsy Chaperone starring Sutton Foster.
It has been through that dynamic range and sincere love of the craft of theatre that under Michael’s leadership, L.A. audiences have experienced celebrated world premieres including the musicals Soft Power (Pulitzer finalist), 13 and Sleeping Beauty Wakes, and the plays Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (a Pulitzer Prize finalist which moved to Broadway), Water & Power, Yellow Face (Pulitzer finalist) and Marjorie Prime (Pulitzer finalist). He also produced many notable productions, including Black Rider, Clybourne Park (which moved to Broadway), Red, the revival of Zoot Suit (which also had its world premiere with Center Theatre Group) and
such celebrated musicals as The Drowsy Chaperone and Curtains, a reimagined production of Pippin with Deaf West Theatre, as well as Leap of Faith, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and 9 to 5: The Musical, all of which moved to Broadway.
And just as important, Michael invested in artists beyond the mainstage, having inaugurated Center Theatre Group’s Artistic Development program designed to foster the creation of new works and to nurture the field’s existing and next generation of theatre artists. Through this program, Center Theatre Group formed many long-standing relationships with leading artists. Recent Associate Artists include Sir Matthew Bourne, Danai Gurira, Casey Nicholaw, Phylicia Rashad, Anna D. Shapiro and Paula Vogel. More recently, Ritchie formed the CTG Creative Collective, which includes Luis Alfaro, Culture Clash, Elephant Room, Lars Jan, Daniel Alexander Jones, Miwa Matreyek, Dominique Morisseau and Kristina Wong. Ritchie also launched the Edgerton Foundation Playwrights Initiative in 2017, establishing individual co-commissioning partnerships with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and New York’s Second Stage Theater as well as London’s Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre to develop multiple works over the next decade from artists including Jon Robin Baitz, Will Eno, Young Jean Lee, Lynn Nottage, and Paula Vogel.
For more than 16 years, Michael has led Center Theatre Group through some of the most significant moments in the powerhouse organization’s 55-year history. 266 productions. Four Pulitzer Prize finalists. 59 Tony Award nominations. 49 World premieres. An illustrious 50th Anniversary Celebration. And, perhaps most devastatingly, an unprecedented shutdown of more than a year and a half in the face of COVID-19.
Now, as Center Theatre Group reemerges from the pandemic and looks to reimagine the role a regional theatre must play in the rebuilding of community, it is also looking for its next artistic leader(s). In June, Michael announced that he would depart as Artistic Director at the end of the year, once in-person performances were finally able to resume at the Ahmanson.
“With so much vital attention and focus being placed on the future of theatre leadership across our field, I recognize the need for new and diverse voices,” Michael said while announcing his departure. “I’ve had the incredible opportunity to run major regional theatres for the past 25 years and have always believed that our art form has the power to transform society. I’m absolutely certain that Center Theatre Group’s next Artistic Director will expand that vision in ways that will enrich Los Angeles and the American canon of theatre.”
I wrote this article for Center Theatre Group’s program.