All stories by Steven Leigh Morris on BroadwayStars

Monday, August 20, 2018

LA STAGE: A Season of Silver Linings by Steven Leigh Morris

Dear Members and Friends, These are exciting times for LA STAGE Alliance. Call it a season of silver linings. As you may have heard, in June our landlord raised our rent 50% on short n…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 07:33AM
Monday, April 9, 2018

Come One, Come All: Funding Available to Help Sustain L.A. Theater by Steven Leigh Morris

By Steven Leigh Morris On Mondays April 16 and April 23, from 7-10 p.m., LA STAGE Alliance is hosting community meet-ups aimed to help guide those interested in participating in funded oppo…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:00PM
Friday, March 2, 2018

Phase I of Sustaining the Los Angeles Theater Community: A Report by LA STAGE Alliance by Steven Leigh Morris

written by Steven Leigh Morris Summary This report is on Phase I of the “Sustaining the Los Angeles Theater Community” program, a three-year, three-phase project conceived by The Ah…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 07:50AM
Thursday, January 11, 2018

Into the Woods: Old sorrows and New Hopes for Theater in 2018 by Steven Leigh Morris

By Steven Leigh Morris But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander again Into the war of the world and the strife of the throng; Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dream…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 03:57PM
Thursday, August 10, 2017

Can We Stand (By) Each Other? by Steven Leigh Morris

by Steven Leigh Morris A Modest Proposal In May of this year, The Ahmanson Foundation approached LA STAGE Alliance and NPO Solutions with an idea to help address and redress the sundry f…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 09:41PM
Tuesday, August 8, 2017

“I Was Thrown Down a Staircase by Meryl Streep.” The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Laura Zucker by Steven Leigh Morris

By Steven Leigh Morris The No-Nonsense Arts Administrator A colleague had cautioned me that punctuality is a standard Laura Zucker holds in high regard, and that tardiness aggravates her…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 07:47PM
Tuesday, July 18, 2017

By the Numbers, and LA Theater Takes to the Airwaves by Steven Leigh Morris

by Steven Leigh Morris As part of its regional conference, The Dramatists Guild held a Town Hall event on Saturday night at the Veterans’ Memorial Building in Culver City. The discussion …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 01:12PM
Thursday, June 22, 2017

Not Laughing My Osoff: How Can Our Theater Function in Contentious Times? From Special Elections to Julius Caesar to the Hollywood Fringe by Steven Leigh Morris

By Steven Leigh Morris Republican Karen Handel beat Democrat Jon Ossoff by four points in Georgia’s special election on Tuesday, in that very Red State’s 6th Congressional District (a d…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 10:12PM
Monday, June 12, 2017

A Facebook Campaign Pitch Goes Haywire: The Contents and Discontents of Marketing by Steven Leigh Morris

By Steven Leigh Morris Marketing Discontents This is how the email started: “Jenna on behalf of Facebook here with a timely story that I think might be up your alley: 

Three we…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 01:37PM
Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The Curious Contradictions of Fighting for the Arts in D.C. by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS   We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Facts + + + , Gertude, we really do live in a post-fact era. And Washington, D.C. may be Ground Zero — the target for wha…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:48PM
Thursday, January 26, 2017

Art and Politics and LA STAGE Alliance by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS LA STAGE Alliance Ovations Awards on January 17 at the Ahmanson Theatre, hosted by actor, professor, and transgender activist Alexandra Billings, was as much a cel…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:48PM
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Goodbye, 2016: Snowflakes in the Desert by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS It’s been a terrible year, by every standard that snowflakes hold dear. You don’t have to live in the Atlantic northeast or in the mountains of California to…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 04:33PM
Friday, November 18, 2016

Abuse Prevention in a Coarsening Society: Reflecting on This Week’s LA STAGE Talk by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS Wednesday evening, LA STAGE Alliance and the Theatrical Producers League of Los Angeles hosted an LA STAGE Talk (presented in partnership with California Lawyers f…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 08:42PM
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

After the Fall, 2016: The U.S. on November 9, and the L.A. Theater on December 15: An Attempt at an Inspiring Message by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS so easy to draw comparisons between our 21st century incarnation of the L.A. theater Equity Waiver Wars and this dumpster fire of a national election that I’ll t…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:24PM
Tuesday, October 18, 2016

From There to Eternity, Part II: Unpublished Interviews with Gordon Davidson on Los Angeles Theatre by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS This is Part II of two previously unpublished 2011 interviews with Gordon Davidson (the founding artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum, who died two weeks ago at …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 07:57PM
Wednesday, October 5, 2016

From There to Eternity: Unpublished Interviews with Gordon Davidson, Reflecting on The Theatre by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS 2011, Gordon Davidson, who died last week at the age of 83, was six years into his retirement from his role as Founding Artisitic Director of the Mark Taper Forum,…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 07:34PM
Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Vengeance & Forgiveness in Shakespeare, and In Our Culture by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS entrancing, outdoor production of The Tempest just closed this summer’s al fresco Shakespeare festival in Griffith Park, presented by Independent Shakespeare Co.…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 05:36PM
Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Actors’ Equity Files a Motion to Dismiss by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS July 21, 2016, Actors’ Equity Association, the national stage actors/stage managers’ union, filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit Ed Asner, et al v. AEA, in the …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 05:24PM
Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Actors’ Equity Association vs. Los Angeles Theater by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS PART I: The National Stage Union is Sued (Yet Again) by Its Own Members the showdown between the New York-based actors/stage managers union, Actors’ Equity A…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 01:31PM
Monday, June 13, 2016

Abuse in Chicago, Fury in Los Angeles by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS June 8, the Chicago Reader published an exposé about a decades-old pattern of actor abuse at one highly regarded non-Equity Chicago company, Profiles Theatre. The…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 04:29PM
Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Odyssey Theatre Hit by Claim for Back-Wages by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS fuel to the long-simmering fire over whether actors working under the 99-Seat Theater Plan are “volunteers,” “independent contractors” or “employees,” …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 04:03PM
Monday, May 16, 2016

Appeal Board Ruling Against EDD Bodes Well for Small Theaters by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS months ago, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board in Northern California supported an administrative law judge and struck down a sweeping decision b…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 10:07PM
Monday, May 2, 2016

California Versus The Arts: The Tax Man Cometh by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS isn’t bad enough that California currently ranks 46th in the nation for arts funding, now the State’s Employment Development Department (EDD) is engaged in ran…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:39PM
Tuesday, March 29, 2016

A Report on LA STAGE Alliance’s Six Community Forums by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS different community forums on the future of L.A. theater, some designs LA STAGE Alliance has concocted, various challenges faced by the local stage community, and …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 04:18PM
Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Los Angeles Mid-size and Large Theaters Feeling the Pain of a Shifting Economy by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS Monday, we received the dismaying news that the 22-year-old Cabrillo Music Theatre (which operates out of the 1,800 seat Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza) is suspend…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 10:38PM
Monday, March 14, 2016

Size Doesn’t Matter. Arts Districts, and How Actors’ Equity Association Could Help by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS This is the first installment of a two-part column. STAGE Alliance held six intimate community forums at six different locations across the region over the past …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 09:12PM
Thursday, February 18, 2016

Freedom’s Just Another Word. A Poet-Playwright and her Actor-Musician Husband Flee Tehran for L.A. by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS Azadeh Ahmadibaseri and her husband, Mohammad (Mo) Faraji, are both in their early 30s, and, at the time we met, were celebrating their 43rd day of living in the U…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 12:32PM
Monday, January 11, 2016

Protected: Light Up the Sky. A Case for Arts Districts in L.A. by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS Before I was hired at the beginning of December by LA STAGE Alliance to run the joint, I recall hearing in the community a fairly common question: So what does LA STA…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:04PM
Monday, December 7, 2015

A Fantasy: L.A. Theater, New Year’s Day, 2026 by Steven Leigh Morris

"That damage was mitigated somewhat when the city’s rent stabilization program — a partnership of the city, the county and the L.A. Tourism Bureau — passed by City Council vote in 201…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 07:49PM
Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Clear Cutting. How to Make it Through Climate Change by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS last week’s Stage Raw symposium on the economics of arts coverage, KCRW commentator Anthony Byrnes made a painfully sharp point that we, as a theater community, …

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 06:39PM
Monday, October 5, 2015

Protected: Black Piet. Old Man Stereotypes Just Keep Rollin’ Along… by Steven Leigh Morris

by STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS How do we talk about offensive racial stereotypes without smarming each other with accusations of bigotry — blatant or latent? This isn’t a “diversity” dis…

SOURCE: thisstage.la at 08:18PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards