La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.
Formation
1947
Theatre group
- San Diego, California
Christopher Ashley
Founders: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Mel Ferrer
History[edit]
La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer.[1][2][3] In 1983, it was revived under the leadership of Des McAnuff. Since then, the Playhouse's repertoire has included 108 world premieres, thirty-two West Coast premieres, and eight American premieres, and has won more than three hundred honors, including the 1993 Tony Award as America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. It is supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the City of San Diego, and the County of San Diego. It was announced on April 10, 2007, that Christopher Ashley would succeed McAnuff as artistic director.
Among the 33 productions that originated at the Playhouse before finding success on Broadway are The Who's Tommy, Matthew Broderick's revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Jane Eyre, Dracula, the Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cry Baby, Bonnie and Clyde, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, 700 Sundays, Jersey Boys, Memphis, Peter and the Starcatcher, Chaplin, Hands on a Hardbody, Come From Away , for which director Christopher Ashley won the 2017 Tony Award, and Des McAnuff's revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, Zhivago , Big River, SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical , and a musical adaptation of The Outsiders (novel) opening on Broadway in March 2024.[4]