La Jolla Playhouse
The Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of the most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, artist commissions and residencies. Currently led by The Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse and 2017 Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Debby Buchholz, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and reborn in 1983 under the artistic leadership of Des McAnuff. La Jolla Playhouse has had 33 productions transfer to Broadway, garnering 38 Tony Awards, among them the currently-running, Tony Award-Winning COME FROM AWAY and SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, along with JERSEY BOYS, MEMPHIS, THE WHO'S TOMMY, BIG RIVER, as well as Billy Crystal’s 700 SUNDAYS and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I AM MY OWN WIFE, both fostered as part of the Playhouse’s Page To Stage Program. Visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.www.lajollaplayhouse.org
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Search complete. 14 mentions across 10 episodes found for "La Jolla Playhouse".
Sep 17, 2026
Jade HindmanHOST
Up next, the elusive black-billed cuckoo wreaks havoc within a group of birders in Brooklyn's Prospect Park when some of its members glimpse the rare bird and others don't.
Jade HindmanHOST
Well, we'll speak with playwright Matt Smart about his world premiere play at the La Jolla Playhouse when KPBS Midday Edition returns.
Brian D'AgostinoADVERTISER
Here in Southern California, we know all too well the devastation wildfires can cause.
Brian D'AgostinoADVERTISER
That's why our mission is to stop the next one before it starts.
Jade HindmanHOST
I'm Jade Hindman.
Jade HindmanHOST
A new play called A Black-Billed Cuckoo focuses on a group of birders in search of the rare and elusive bird.
Jade HindmanHOST
But there's much more than bird watching happening in the play, which makes it sleep from the La Jolla Playhouse's acclaimed DNA New Work series to the main stage.
Jade HindmanHOST
KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando speaks with award-winning playwright Matt Smart about birding and a community of people inspired by the idea that any given day they might see something they've never seen before.
Erica FeeGUEST
I found it at the WOW Festival in San Diego.
Erica FeeGUEST
That is curated by the La Jolla Playhouse.
Erica FeeGUEST
in San Diego.
Erica FeeGUEST
And that is about the artist Jessica Crane's time in the Arctic Circle.
David BensonGUEST
Then subsequently, uh, I kind of continued on.
David BensonGUEST
Uh, I, I went down and saw the first, uh, staging, which was in the, the La Jolla Playhouse here in Southern California, and was blown away.
David BensonGUEST
Just an amazing, amazing production.
David BensonGUEST
And that- It, it kind of stopped short, that, that, uh, production.
Kristen FogelHOST
I could see that.
Kristen FogelHOST
I mean, there have been some great partnerships with La Jolla Playhouse lately, with the Salk collaboration that we had in here.
Kristen FogelHOST
And the
Cheryl MorrowGUEST
music, of course, goes through these... um time periods because he is very important to each decade yeah as the style and you know even when entrepreneurship was not as you know on the top of everyone's Mine, especially in the black American community, even though there was always...
John SchwabHOST
With the production happening in La Jolla, a creative team had to be assembled and it was led by the multiple award winning director, Christopher Ashley.
Christopher AshleyGUEST
My producing director at La Jolla Playhouse was reading for NAMT and read the script and she came into my office and she put the script down and she said, you're reading this and I'm not leaving your office until you do and it's going to be the next musical we're producing and you should direct it.
Christopher AshleyGUEST
uh so i read it on the spot and she had there was a little cd in those days of uh all the music which i started to play in my car and really fell in love with it and i know i had been in new york during 9 11 so i had very unresolved and powerful feelings about what that event was and i was so relieved that this was actually a show that brought so much kind of generosity and heart to that experience.
Christopher AshleyGUEST
It really helped me personally.
Joan HurwitGUEST
And I think it must be Bendocino or Santa Cruz.
Joan HurwitGUEST
He's up there doing... a Doug Wright play called I Am My Own Wife, which is so funny because I actually worked with Doug Wright at the La Jolla Playhouse on that show.
Joan HurwitGUEST
But Noah gets here next week.
Joan HurwitGUEST
He's so patient.
Danica JuarezHOST
The King's Academy noted that Disney was workshopping the musical for a possible run on Broadway.
Danica JuarezHOST
The English language version with a revised book by Peter Parnell had its debut at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California in October of 2014 and ran until December of that same year.
Danica JuarezHOST
Subsequently, the show went on to open in March of 2015 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey with more changes in the libretto, including cutting the song In My Life, sung following God Help the Outcasts by Esmeralda and Phoebus.
Danica JuarezHOST
The show closed in April.
Jade HindmanHOST
What do you know about this project?
Julia Dixon EvansCORRESPONDENT
Yeah, this is a collaboration between La Jolla Playhouse, Tuyo Theatre, UC San Diego's Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Latinx Theatre Commons.
Julia Dixon EvansCORRESPONDENT
It's basically like a new play reading series, but for musicals.
Julia Dixon EvansCORRESPONDENT
So they call them concert readings.
Jenna Leigh GreenGUEST
And then for three and a half years, I wanna say after that, I would come back and forth.
Jenna Leigh GreenGUEST
We would do presentations in New York and it kept being like, they were like, it's gonna go to La Jolla Playhouse.
Jenna Leigh GreenGUEST
It's gonna go off Broadway.
Jenna Leigh GreenGUEST
It's gonna go here.
Jade HindmanHOST
Into some live theater.
Jade HindmanHOST
It's closing weekend for the family album at the La Jolla Playhouse.
Jade HindmanHOST
What should we know about that one?
Julianna DomingoGUEST
Yeah, so the family album had its world premiere last month at the Playhouse, and it follows singer-songwriter Mia Bang as she's on the verge of her big breakthrough into the industry.