<\/p>\n
Kicking off the upcoming season at the Mark Taper Forum \u2014 which recently celebrated its top-grossing musical ever with \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d<\/a> \u2014 is the world premiere of Zack Zadek\u2019s original musical \u201cThe Turning,\u201d a folk thriller set in California\u2019s Sequoia groves.<\/p>\n The show, said Center Theatre Group\u2019s artistic director Snehal Desai as the company announces its 2026-27 slate of performances, has a \u201cvery L.A. vibe.\u201d <\/p>\n Next up is a batch of shows meant to provide audiences some comedic relief amid a midterm season that\u2019s sure to sow anxiety: Karen Zacar\u00edas\u2019 \u201cDestiny of Desire,\u201d Cole Escola\u2019s \u201cOh, Mary!\u201d and the family-favorite \u201cDog Man: The Musical.\u201d Then in the spirit of springtime renewal, thought-provoking plays like \u201cJohn Proctor Is the Villain\u201d and \u201cFences\u201d will leave audiences in contemplation before festive summer item \u201cBoop! The Musical\u201d swoops in to lift spirits. <\/p>\n When Desai plans the company\u2019s season lineup, he always surveys the year ahead \u2014 literally. <\/p>\n \u201cI look at the calendar a lot as to, where do we think we\u2019re gonna be a year from now? Six to eight months from now?\u201d Desai said in a recent interview at his office in downtown L.A. <\/p>\n Some entries in Center Theatre Group\u2019s upcoming season are scheduled intuitively, like the Mischief Comedy team\u2019s \u201cChristmas Carol Goes Wrong,\u201d running in the thick of the holiday season. But with others, Desai said he orchestrated the lineup to tell a programmatic story, like an artist might order tracks on an album. <\/p>\n As an artistic director, Desai said, he always encourages visitors: \u201cJoin us all season, versus just coming for the things you like,\u201d and maybe you\u2019ll be pleasantly surprised. <\/p>\n This year as Desai consulted his calendar, he looked even farther ahead than usual, toward Center Theatre Group\u2019s 60th anniversary season (2027-28) and the L.A. Olympics in 2028. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were having conversations of, what are the plays that we want to do or we want to bring back,\u201d Desai said, when the theater company\u2019s associate artistic director Lindsay Allbaugh suggested \u201cFences,\u201d the final play of August Wilson\u2019s acclaimed Century Cycle<\/a> to be staged at Center Theatre Group. <\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s what we want,\u2019\u201d Desai said, \u201cboth to end this season and kick off our 60th.\u201d<\/p>\n The artistic director could not yet confirm who would direct the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a former Negro League baseball player and his family navigating life in 1950s segregated Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n Desai, who has not shied away from politically charged material during his tenure at the theater company, said Wilson\u2019s play aligned with his intent this season to platform work \u201casking who we are as a country and as a community and society.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted voices that felt bold and fearless, that were both outspoken and unafraid in a world where, right now, it feels like there\u2019s a lot of things that are trying to stifle us from speaking out or coming together,\u201d he said. To him, presenting \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d in Yiddish is revolutionary, as is \u201cJohn Proctor Is the Villain\u2019s\u201d dissection of a classic through a feminist lens. <\/p>\n Desai added that he planned to balance that rabble-rousing spirit with productions that leaned more \u201ccelebratory and communal\u201d and provided \u201cdifferent ways of having catharsis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Mary!\u201d offers riotous fun, and \u201cDestiny of Desire\u201d is an homage to an oft-dismissed yet widely consumed medium, the telenovela. <\/p>\n \u201cWith \u2018Destiny,\u2019 you\u2019re able to take that format of something that people often watch in isolation at home, and enjoy it together,\u201d Desai said. <\/p>\n Regional theater faces a slew of challenges: rising production and personnel costs, post-pandemic audience declines and competition from digital media. The situation has felt particularly bleak in L.A., Desai said, as seeming moments of recovery in the past year or so were squashed by the L.A. wildfires<\/a>, then last summer\u2019s immigration crackdown<\/a> and associated civil unrest. <\/p>\n \u201cWe just constantly live in this time period that feels like we\u2019re on shifting sands,\u201d Desai said. Nonetheless, the company is finding paths through the desert, including with alternative programming through CTG: FWD<\/a>.<\/p>\n The CTG: FWD initiative this season will bring \u201cRiverdance 30 – The New Generation,\u201d \u201cClue\u201d and \u201cThe Music Man\u201d to the Ahmanson Theatre, and \u201cDog Man\u201d to the Kirk Douglas Theatre. <\/p>\n Another strategy Desai said the theater company has employed is heavy investment in new works development, particularly new musical development. New works are time-and resource-intensive, Desai said, but they\u2019re also good investments, offering the best chances at longevity and commercial prospects. <\/p>\n With \u201cThe Turning,\u201d Center Theatre Group spotlights an emerging voice that Desai said represents \u201cthe future of American theater.\u201d<\/p>\n After Desai was introduced to Zadek\u2019s folksy musical \u201cThe Turning,\u201d he said, \u201cI just kept listening to it over and over again. I was like, \u2018I can\u2019t wait for the cast recording of this to be on Spotify.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The artistic director was also thrilled to find an ultra-rare gem in Zadek\u2019s piece: a truly original story. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of things are adaptations these days: adaptations of films, of TV shows,\u201d Desai said. \u201cSo to get a world premiere musical that is based on its own original concept \u2014 that, I found, was really compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n Following back-to-back seasons of directing his own productions, Desai is taking a breather this go-around to focus on broader administrative duties. But he still hopes to be a resource for visiting directors learning how to navigate the \u201cspecial space\u201d that is the Mark Taper Forum \u2014 and its neighbors the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre, which will get its own season announcement in the spring or early summer. <\/p>\n