L.A.’s Latino Theater Company will celebrate its 40th Anniversary in 2025 with an ambitious, culturally diverse season of plays, tours and other events.
Founded in 1985, Latino Theater Company has operated the City of Los Angeles-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center, housed in a former bank building in Downtown’s historic core, since 2006. There, the company has created one of the most vibrant theater centers in the country, with multiple productions and events taking place simultaneously in a five-theater complex.
The new season will include six plays, three in the spring and three in the fall. In addition, the company will launch two tours and present the company’s 23rd annual Christmas pageant in December. A 40th Anniversary Gala is set to take place in September.
Kicking off the April-May Spring Season, Fidel Gomez, director of last season’s runaway hit Tacos La Brooklyn, will helm the professional West Coast premiere of Just Like Us by Karen Zacarías. Inspired by the bestselling book by Helen Thorpe and more timely now than ever, this non-fiction play follows four Latina teenage girls whose close-knit friendship is put to the test when each finds her opportunities in life dictated by immigration status—or lack thereof. Theater 3: April 19 through May 18; previews begin April 10.
Next, the world premiere of The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds, a meta-theatrical work written by the real Rickérby Hinds, was commissioned by Latino Theater Company and developed in the company’s Circle of Imaginistas playwriting group. An Afro Latino playwright, blocked by the challenge of writing what he believes will be his final play, summons characters from some of his previous plays for inspiration — only to confront chaos, comedy and a deeper understanding of his identity and the true meaning of success. Daphnie Sicre directs. Theater 1: April 26 through May 25; previews begin April 17.
Closing out the Spring Season, Chicago’s Water People Theater returns to Los Angeles for a full run of The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon, the Jeff Award-nominated drama that was a sell-out success as part of Latino Theater Company’s Encuentro 2024 theater festival. Inspired by true events, this powerful and poetically stirring drama addresses the relentless violation of human rights against journalists who strive to report the truth. Theater 2: May 3 through May 25; previews May 1 and May 2.
Summer will see a co-production with Los Angeles City College of August 29 as part of Latino Theater Company’s “IMPACT” community engagement initiative, a partnership with the Los Angeles Community College District that provides students with a world-class education in dramatic arts, bringing them into the company’s home at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. Named for the date in 1970 when Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar was killed while covering a large Chicano-led anti-war demonstration in East L.A., the play was originally created in 1990 by members of the Latino Theater Company, then known as the Latino Theater Lab. A university professor relives those late 1960s, early 1970s movement days while writing a book on the life of Salazar, who comes to life to help her recall the past and to challenge her to renew her activism. Six performances of August 29 at The LATC will precede a county-wide tour. Ramiro Segovia directs. Theater 2:August 15 through August 24.
Also this season, currently being finalized, Latino Theater Company will tour Mexico with Ghost Waltz, last season’s hit play by Oliver Mayer that boldly imagines the life of Juventino Rosas. One of Mexico’s most significant classical composers, Rosas was an Indigenous musician whose life story has gone untold and whose works have been attributed to Europeans.
On Saturday, September 13, the beautiful Los Angeles Theatre Center lobby will be transformed for Latino Theater Company’s Gala, an annual event that brings together esteemed artists, generous donors and cherished community members for an enchanting evening of kinship, fine cuisine, and heartfelt toasts. This year’s 40th anniversary theme is Noche de Luz y Sombra (“Night of Light and Shadow”).
The October-November Fall Season begins with another Latino Theater Company commission: the world premiere of The Little King of Norwalk by Circle of Imaginistas playwright Israel López Reyes. Following a DUI, Juan attends his first mandated AA meeting — where he’s mistaken for someone powerful and influential who might be of use to the corrupt mayor and his circle. Juan wields his new power to benefit himself, but soon goes too far. Can he find redemption by confessing the truth? Theater 1: Oct. 4 through November 2; previews begin September 25.
In the fourth company commission of the season, Circle of Imaginistas playwright Miranda González explores her Mexican and African American roots and the untold stories of Mexico’s underground railroad in the world premiere of Mascogos (Mahs-KO-gohs). Eighteen-year-old Jamari is fighting an unknown illness that takes him through worlds he’s never seen before, from 1864 Mexico to today’s West Side of Chicago. Unsure of where he belongs, trapped in a historical cycle, Jamari and his loved ones seek answers as they try to break free from the shackles of time. Theater 3: Oct. 11 through November 9; previews begin October 2.
Finally, Asian American theater collective Artists at Play and Latino Theater Company embark on their third collaboration with the world premiere of नेहा & Neel by Ankita Raturi. Neha (नेहा) fears she has failed to pass her language and culture down to her 17-year-old son, Neel (नील). A summer trip to visit colleges could be Neha’s last chance, if only she can get Neel to visit the historic Hope Diamond and witness a piece of Indian history for himself. नेहा & Neel asks what we lose with every generation in America, and if it’s ever too late to connect with your roots. Theater 2: Oct. 18 through November 16; previews begin October 9.
In December, Latino Theater Company returns with La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin, the company’s signature holiday pageant that takes place every year at Downtown’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Featuring over 100 actors, singers and indigenous Aztec dancers as well as children and seniors from the community, La Virgen is the City’s largest theatrical holiday pageant. (Performed in Spanish with English supertitles.) Friday, December 5 and Saturday, December 6.
Educational outreach programs in 2025 include Play at Work, a free after-school vocational training program that teaches stagecraft to Los Angeles public high school teens and young adults, taking place now through April 23; and a free, five-week Summer Youth Conservatory for high school students June 23 through July 26 (applications are now being accepted at latinotheaterco.org/conservatory).
As it enters its 40th year in 2025, Latino Theater Company was named to the Los Angeles Times “Best of Latino L.A.” list, and artistic director José Luis Valenzuela has been named the 2024 recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s Gordon Davidson Award for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in the national not-for-profit theater. The Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future. The company has operated The Los Angeles Theatre Center since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. The City, recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its “effective first-class theater center operations,” recently extended the company’s initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056.
For more information about the Latino Theater Company and this year’s events, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.
