Los Angeles Theater

“Hallmark Hall of Fame” premiered on Christmas Eve of 1951 with a live presentation of “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” Between January 1952 and June 1955 the “Hall of Fame” aired as a weekly series focusing predominately on biographies and historical recreations. Additional “special presentations” offered adaptations of classics from literature and the theatre which featured prominent actors, often in the roles that made them famous.

The anthology drama, created, produced and hosted by Fr. Kieser, aired nationally for over twenty years without commercial sponsorship. Over the course of Insight's run, a diverse cross-section of Hollywood artists, including Arthur Hiller, Michael Crichton, Ida Lupino and Gene Hackman contributed their talents gratis to the series—drawn by the show’s reputation for consistently stretching the creative boundaries of television.

Premiering on ABC-TV in 1953 amid a crowded broadcast landscape of similar dramatic programs, U.S. Steel Hour distinguished itself as one of the most prestigious and longest-running anthologies of the “golden age of television” before cancellation by CBS in the spring of 1963. Produced by The Theatre Guild, the series was honored with 10 Emmy Award nominations and three wins over the course of its run, including being named “Best Dramatic Program” by the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1954.

On March 3, 1991, an African-American man was brutally beaten by four white Los Angeles police officers who stopped him for speeding. On April 29, 1992, when the jury's 'not guilty' verdict dismissed the officers on trial for the assault, the city ignited into three days of rioting, looting and violence that left neighborhoods smoldering. 'Twilight: Los Angeles,' adapted from Anna Deavere Smith's searing one-woman play, captures this tumultuous and challenging moment in America's race relations

Discusses the Pachuco image and the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder case which served as the basis for the play and movie "Zoot suit." Includes interviews with playwright Luis Valdez, writer/filmmaker Luis Torres, actors from the stage production, and individuals involved in the events of 1942. Shows scenes from the play, and uses archival photos to re-create the story of the murder at Sleepy Lagoon.

Recorded Geffen Playhouse, October 2017. Eugene O'Neill's semi-autobiographical masterpiece pulls back the curtain on the Connecticut home of the Tyrone family, where deep-seated resentments and bourbon-fueled tirades cause a family to expose their darkest natures. Starring Alfred Molina as James Tyrone and Jane Kaczmarek as Mary Cavan Tyrone, this powerful production depicts a single day that begins as any other, only to become a night from which they will never recover.

The Community-Engaged Theater in Los Angeles series seeks to document the work of a grouping of theater companies in Los Angeles whose mission combines an artistic focus with explicit attention to social justice and community building. The companies included use a working method that seeks creative input from the communities in which they are staging work and make concerted efforts to solicit feedback from audiences regarding the political and social themes of the work once staged. As well, these companies have received acclaim and recognition from the theater world. Companies included in the series, once it is complete, will include Cornerstone Theater Company, Watts Village Theater Company, Los Angeles Poverty Department and East L.A. Rep.