Theatres In California | Historic Venues to Modern Performance Spaces
California is home to a vibrant theater scene, offering a diverse range of performances from Broadway-style productions to innovative regional plays. The state’s theaters are iconic venues for both historical significance and modern, cutting-edge performances. Here’s an overview of some of the most famous current and upcoming theaters in California, along with their notable productions.
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Theatres In California
The Geffen Playhouse (Los Angeles)
About: Located in the heart of Los Angeles, The Geffen Playhouse is known for its high-quality productions, often featuring well-known actors from Hollywood. The theater focuses on contemporary plays, classic works, and new play development.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Black Cypress Bayou (2024): A world-premiere play by Roger Guenveur Smith.
Witch by Jen Silverman: A dark comedy on themes of power, choice, and morality.
The Ahmanson Theatre (Los Angeles)
About: As part of the Los Angeles Music Center, The Ahmanson Theatre hosts large-scale productions, including touring Broadway musicals and classical revivals. It’s one of the go-to venues for experiencing big-name productions in Southern California.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Funny Girl: A revival of the classic musical is currently on tour here.
Hadestown (2024): The Tony Award-winning musical is scheduled to perform in early 2024.
The Curran Theatre (San Francisco)
About: A historic venue in San Francisco, the Curran Theatre is well-known for hosting Broadway-style productions and premiering new plays. It was recently renovated, blending historic charm with modern amenities.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
The Lion King: The beloved Disney musical is set to return for a limited engagement in early 2024.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: This popular continuation of the Harry Potter saga is ongoing.
The Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Berkeley)
About: The Berkeley Rep is famous for its innovative new plays, many of which have gone on to enjoy success on Broadway. The theater is a hub for avant-garde and thought-provoking performances.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee: A gripping play that combines historical narrative with live music, exploring family and identity.
Goddess: A contemporary musical rooted in African mythology and themes of love and justice.
La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego)
About: Founded by Gregory Peck, La Jolla Playhouse is a creative force in San Diego’s theater scene. The Playhouse is known for developing new plays and musicals, many of which have moved on to Broadway, such as Jersey Boys and Come From Away.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Love All: A play that tells the inspiring story of tennis legend Billie Jean King.
The Outsiders (2024): A new musical adaptation of the classic novel by S.E. Hinton.
Pasadena Playhouse (Pasadena)
About: This historic theater is a key player in Southern California’s cultural landscape. The Pasadena Playhouse presents both contemporary and classic works, with a focus on connecting community and culture.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Sunday in the Park with George: A revival of the Stephen Sondheim classic musical.
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2024): A musical tribute to the Harlem Renaissance, set to premiere in the new year.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts (Costa Mesa)
About: Located in Orange County, Segerstrom Center for the Arts is known for its large Broadway tours and international dance companies. This venue attracts top-tier productions and performers.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Wicked: The hit musical about the witches of Oz is running through the winter season.
Beetlejuice (2024): A musical adaptation of the cult-favorite Tim Burton film is scheduled for the 2024 season.
San Francisco Playhouse (San Francisco)
About: This award-winning theater is known for its commitment to presenting plays that tackle social justice issues. It also fosters new playwrights and world premieres, offering diverse programming.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Indecent: A play that explores themes of censorship, art, and love.
Sweat by Lynn Nottage: A Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the struggles of the working class in modern America.
The Old Globe (San Diego)
About: One of the most prominent regional theaters in the country, The Old Globe offers a wide range of performances, from Shakespearean classics to new plays and musicals. The theater also runs the annual Globe for All program, bringing free Shakespeare performances to underserved communities.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
The Garden: A play about two women, generations apart, who grapple with the question of legacy.
Twelfth Night (2024): A Shakespearean comedy set to open during the 2024 summer season.
The Pantages Theatre (Hollywood)
About: Known for hosting blockbuster Broadway tours, the Pantages Theatre is one of Hollywood’s most glamorous and historic venues. It’s a favorite spot for fans of large-scale musicals.
Current & Upcoming Shows:
Les Misérables (2024): The legendary musical about the French Revolution is set to tour at Pantages next year.
Moulin Rouge!: The highly anticipated, Tony-winning musical based on the Baz Luhrmann film is currently playing.
California’s theater scene is dynamic, offering everything from Broadway-level productions in iconic venues to cutting-edge plays in intimate settings. Whether you’re in the north or south of the state, there’s no shortage of remarkable performances. Keep an eye on these theaters for current shows, world premieres, and exciting new productions on the horizon.
The Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Orpheum Theatre, located at 842 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles, opened on February 15, 1926, as the fourth and last location for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. It is the city’s most renovated historical movie palace, having undergone a $3 million makeover that began in 1989.
Three previous theaters carried the name Orpheum before the one at 842 Broadway, which was the last.
The Orpheum features a Beaux Arts facade created by movie theater architect G. Albert Lansburgh, as well as a Mighty Wurlitzer organ added in 1928, which is one of only three pipe organs left in Southern California.
The Orpheum Theatres are named after the Greek legendary hero Orpheus.
The Orpheum vaudeville circuit’s first location was the Grand Opera House, also known as the Grand Theater, at 110 S. Main Street (constructed in 1884, closed in 1937).
The second Orpheum location was the Orpheum Theatre (formerly the Los Angeles Theatre and then the Lyceum Theatre) at 227 S. Spring Street (opened 1888, closed 1941).
The third location was the Orpheum Theatre, now known as the Palace Theatre at 630 S. Broadway (completed in 1911 and still standing).
The Dolby Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Dolby Theatre (previously the Kodak Theatre) is a live-performance theater located in the Ovation Hollywood shopping mall and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Los Angeles’ Hollywood area. Since its inception on November 9, 2001, it has hosted the annual Academy Awards ceremony. It is located on Hollywood Boulevard, next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and across from the El Capitan.
Aside from the Academy Awards, the stadium has held several concerts and theatrical productions.
The Oscar winners’ envelopes are stored in a vault at the theatre before the ceremony.
The red carpet area outside is part of the Hollylywood Walk of Fame.
The theatre’s design includes a grand staircase inspired by the Hollywood Golden Age.
The Greek Theatre (Los Angeles)
Architects Samuel Tilden Norton, Frederick Hastings Wallis, and Tacoma firm Heath, Gove, & Bell designed the Greek Theatre, an amphitheatre and performance venue in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California. Since its opening in the early 1930s, the theater has hosted a variety of live performances and music concerts. The main stage and seating layout were inspired by ancient.
Griffith J. Griffith, a wealthy landowner, donated 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) to the city of Los Angeles in 1896 to develop Griffith Park, which inspired the construction of the Greek Theatre. In his bequest, he provided funds for the construction of a Greek theatre. The canyon site was chosen for its excellent acoustics. The cornerstone was set in 1928, and the structure was dedicated on September 25, 1930. The first performance was held on June 26, 1931, in front of a capacity crowd of 4,000.
Vista Theatre (Los Angeles)
Vista Theatre (previously Lou Bard Playhouse, Bard’s Hollywood Theatre, and Vista Continental), often known as The Vista, is a historic single-screen movie theater in Los Feliz, California, bordering East Hollywood.
Located at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, the location first came to prominence when director D.W. Griffith built an antebellum town set there for his controversial 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, often regarded as the first “blockbuster”. Lou Bard later chose the intersection as the location for the next theater in his chain, referring to it as “the great crossroads of Los Angeles”.
Wiltern Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre are a 12-story, 155-foot (47 m) Art Deco landmark located on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is usually known as the Wiltern Center. The complex, clad in blue-green glazed architectural terracotta tile and located diagonally from the street corner, is regarded as one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States. The Wiltern building is privately owned, while Live Nation’s Los Angeles division operates the Wiltern Theatre.
The Wiltern Theatre is located at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, on the western fringe of Los Angeles’ Koreatown area. Koreatown is served by bus and Metro Rail; the Wiltern Theatre is just across from the Wilshire/Western Station, which is now the westernmost station on the D Line subway.
The Peacock Theater (Los Angeles)
The Peacock Theater, formerly the Nokia Theatre and the Microsoft Theater, is a concert and theater facility located in Los Angeles’ downtown core. The theater auditorium seats 7,100 people and features one of the largest indoor stages in the United States.
In 2002, the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) commissioned ELS Architecture and Urban Design of Berkeley, California, to design the theatre. It debuted on October 18, 2007, with six concerts by the Eagles and the Dixie Chicks. On June 7, 2015, the Nokia Theatre was rebranded as Microsoft Theater as part of a new naming rights contract with AEG Live. Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile device division in 2014. As part of the new naming rights contract, the L.A. Live plaza was renamed Microsoft Square (later known as Xbox Plaza), and Microsoft upgraded the venue’s equipment.
El Rey Theater (Los Angeles)
The El Rey Theatre is a live music venue located on Miracle Mile in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Clifford A. Balch designed this art deco edifice (he also designed over twenty outstanding art deco movie theaters in Southern California). Much of the theatre, including the foyer, has retained its art deco roots and is renowned for its Zigzag and Streamline Moderne design.
El Rey was constructed in 1936 as a single-screen movie theater and served as a cinema for nearly 50 years.
From the 1980s to the early 1990s, El Rey Theatre was a dance-music club called Wall Street, but since 1994, it has been a live music venue that is currently entirely booked through Goldenvoice. The venue can accommodate 771 people and includes a balcony for VIPs in the back.
On February 26, 1991, the theatre was classified as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 520.
In 1995, it served as the backdrop for the music video for the Cowboy Junkies’ song “Angel Mine” from the Lay It Down album, which starred Janeane Garofalo.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Los Angeles)
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, one of the largest performing arts venues in the United States. The Music Center’s other halls are the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. [1]
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Los Angeles Master Chorale have moved to the newly constructed and adjacent Disney Hall, which opened in October 2003. The Pavilion now houses the Los Angeles Opera and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion hosted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Academy Awards from 1969 to 1987, 1990, 1992 to 1994, 1996, and 1999.
Largo at the Coronet (Los Angeles)
Largo, also known as Café Largo[1] Largo, lovely!, often known as Club Largo, is a nightclub and cabaret in Los Angeles, California. Largo is noted for its musical and comedy acts, as well as singer-songwriter Jon Brion’s Friday night residency.
In 1990, Cafe Largo was selected “LA’s Best Supper Club” by the Los Angeles Weekly. On July 12, 1989, the New York Times published a lengthy review titled “A Place for Poetry in a Land of Pictures”. Several reviews appeared in Newsweek, LA Style, Los Angeles Times, Buzz, Exposure, Movieline, The Edge, Details, Village View, Vogue, Interview, Playboy, and US Magazine. Boccara sold the club to Mark Flanagan and his wife Aimee Cain, an international model and former Star Search contestant. Flanagan abbreviated the name to Largo and his name to “Flanagan.” Fergus O’Flynn and Joanne McKenna, along with Flanagan, owned equal shares. Boccara went on to create LunaPark on Robertson Blvd. in West Hollywood, which he ran from Halloween 1993 to 2000.
The Fonda Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Fonda Theatre (previously the Music Box Theatre, Guild Theatre, Fox Theatre, and Pix Theatre) is a concert venue on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. The 31,000-square-foot (2,900 m2) theater was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and has staged live events, films, and radio transmissions.
On October 20, 1926, the Carter DeHaven Music Box debuted with the revue Fancy. The theatre was supposed to open two days earlier, but Arthur Kay, a key performer, became unwell, forcing a postponement. The new theater’s early investors included John Barrymore, John Gilbert, Reginald Denny, King Vidor, and Mae Murray.
The Music Box transitioned from revues to legitimate theater in 1927, with the west coast premiere of Chicago, starring Clark Gable and Nancy Carroll. The Music Box hosted stage productions for over two decades, with the exception of a period beginning in 1936 when the site was used as a transmission studio by Lux Radio Theater.
The Teragram Ballroom (Los Angeles)
The Groundlings Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Groundlings are an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. Gary Austin founded the group in 1974 and uses an improv structure influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improv techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, which was based in Chicago and then moved to St. Louis. They employed these methods to create drawings and spontaneous situations. The term is derived from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: “…to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise.” In 1975, the troupe purchased and relocated to Melrose Avenue.
The Groundlings School offers sessions every six weeks, with over 300 students per session, and the school serves over 2,000 kids each year. The competitive program has five levels (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced Improv, Writing Lab, and Advanced Writing Lab), and admittance is by audition. To continue beyond the first three levels, participants must meet the instructor’s requirements. Students in Writing Lab and Advanced Writing Lab are voted on by then-current members of the Main Company to continue or not. This vote is based on students writing and performing Groundlings-style sketch shows.
Ford Theatres (Los Angeles)
The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, sometimes known as The Ford, is a music venue in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. The 1,200-seat outdoor amphitheater is located in Cahuenga Pass in the Santa Monica Mountains, immediately across the U.S. 101 freeway from and the official sister venue of the Hollywood Bowl.
The facility, located in a County regional park, is owned and administered by the County of Los Angeles in collaboration with the Ford Theatre Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks & Recreation. Built in 1920 and named for Los Angeles County Supervisor John Anson Ford. Built in 1976, the Ford has been operated by the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2020.
Belasco Theater (Los Angeles)
The Belasco introduced Broadway to the West, then transformed into a movie palace. Following World War I, we premiered government-sponsored films, and during World War II, we showed adult movies. Then we became a church, serving Pentecostal ministries in the 1950s and LGBTQ+ groups in the 1970s. We first welcomed Hollywood film teams in the 1990s, with End of Days.
Today, the music venue hosts global touring acts, local sound scenes, and special DTLA events. If walls could talk, they would proudly proclaim the visions of today’s best artists, as well as playwrights, screenwriters, spiritualists, and revolutionaries from the past. They’d whisper the dreams of stage actors turned screen stars, vibrate the beats of late-night dance parties, and hum the songs that soundtrack our lives. For we are the shrine of the story weavers. Our holy sacrament is sound.
The Soraya, CSUN (Los Angeles)
At our famous performing arts facility, you can explore a world of artistic inspiration and make significant connections. You may learn everything you need to know about us here, from our mission and principles to interesting job prospects. Explore The Soraya’s numerous programs and discover the mission that pushes us to bring the beauty of the performing arts to life.
This site is home to the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya). Nestled in the southernmost portion of campus, The Soraya invites the world to CSUN while also reflecting the curiosity and intellectual development of its students, teachers, and staff.
Million Dollar Theater (Los Angeles)
The Million Dollar Theatre, located at 307 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, was one of the earliest cinema palaces built in the United States. It debuted in 1917 with William S. Hart’s The Silent Man. It is the northernmost of the Broadway Theater District’s vintage movie palaces, located right across from the renowned Bradbury Building. The theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Million Dollar was the first movie house erected by entrepreneur Sid Grauman in 1918 as the first magnificent cinema palace in Los Angeles. Grauman was eventually responsible for Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, both on Hollywood Boulevard, and was partially responsible for the entertainment area migrating from downtown.
United Artists Theatre (Los Angeles)
The United Artists Theatre is a historic old movie palace and office building at 937 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, California. It was the highest building in the city for a year after its completion in 1927, and it remained the tallest privately owned structure in Los Angeles until 1956. Its architecture is Spanish Gothic, inspired by Segovia Cathedral in Segovia, Spain. The office space was turned into a limited-service boutique hotel in the twenty-first century, initially run by Ace Hotels and now by Kasa from 2024.
C. Howard Crane of Walker & Eisen built the theatre for the United Artists picture studio, which was founded by D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford. The theater, a classic cinema palace, was one of many built by United Artists and functioned as a prominent premiere venue. The theater takes up three floors of the 13-story skyscraper and features a 2,214-seat auditorium. Like many movie theaters, the seat rows drop toward the front of the orchestra section, forcing ticket holders to stare up at the stage.
Aratani Theatre (Los Angeles)
Since its grand opening in 1983 with a Kabuki performance by the National Theatre of Japan, the Aratani Theatre has served as a cultural foundation in Little Tokyo.
Today, the 880-seat Aratani Theatre is the focal point of Japanese and Japanese American performing arts. Through community initiatives, it also highlights the vibrantly diverse cultures of Southern California and beyond. It is an ideal setting for chamber music, dance, and drama.
Since 2014, sponsors have contributed to complete a new phase of technical modifications to the Aratani Theatre. Their kind contributions have helped to provide the theatre with modern sound, lighting, rigging, soft goods, and projection systems. The Aratani Theatre Lighting Upgrade Project was funded in part by George, Ruri, Lisa, and Nathan Sugimoto, the Ahmanson Foundation, the Aratani Foundation, Henry Ota in memory of Sue and Harry Ota, Akira Uehara, the Kawaguchi-Kihara Memorial Foundation, and the Folick family.
Bose® and JACCC have also collaborated to make the Aratani Theatre the first performing arts venue in Southern California to have a newly custom-designed Bose® RoomMatch® sound system.
The Music Center (Los Angeles)
The Los Angeles Music Center (officially the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts venues in the United States. The Music Center, located in downtown Los Angeles, consists of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Roy & Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT), and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Every year, more than 1.3 million people attend performances by The Music Center’s four internationally renowned resident companies: the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Center Theatre Group (CTG), as well as the dance series Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center. The facility hosts ongoing community events, arts festivals, outdoor concerts, and participatory arts activities.
East West Players (Los Angeles)
East West Players, a Los Angeles-based Asian American theatre troupe, was founded in 1965. East West Players, the nation’s first professional Asian American theatre organization, continues to create works and educational activities that speak to the Asian Pacific American experience today.
Mako, Rae Creevey, Beulah Quo, Soon-tek Oh, James Hong, Pat Li, June Kim, Guy Lee, and Yet Lock founded the organization in 1965 to provide a platform for Asian-American actors to perform parts other than the conventional caricatures they were constrained to in Hollywood. An early declaration of mission read: “To promote cultural understanding between the East and West by leveraging the East-West Players’ dual Oriental and American heritages.”
