The Echo Theater Company has presented 60 Los Angeles Premiere Productions, 48 of them World Premieres and of those, 28 were commissioned. These productions introduced Los Angeles to Sarah Ruhl, David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp, Tanya Barfield, and Adam Bock, to name just a few. We just produced the Los Angeles premieres of Adam Bock’s A SMALL FIRE and Jessica Dickey’s ROW AFTER ROW. In February, we presented the World Premiere of Tommy Smith’s FUGUE. For our just completed first season at Atwater Village Theatre, we garnered five LADDC Awards, two Ovations and a Stage Raw for our World Premiere productions of Jessica Goldberg’s BETTER, Mickey Birnbaum’s BACKYARD and Tommy Smith’s FIREMEN. We also commissioned and presented six one acts by Shawna Casey, Miki Johnson, John Lavachielli, Jen Silverman, Brian Tanen, and Wes Walker. Before that, our World Premiere production of Gary Lennon’s A FAMILY THING won two LA Weekly Awards. We were nominated for three Ovation Awards, including Best Ensemble and Best Play, for our West Coast premiere of Mark Schultz’s EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT. The company also received seven LA Weekly Award Nominations for its World Premiere production of Matt Benjamin & Logan Brown’s WIREHEAD. The West Coast premiere of Jessica Goldberg’s BODY POLITIC garnered Ovation Nominations for Best Play and Best Ensemble while our world premiere of Bryan Davidson’s WAR MUSIC earned Ovations for Best Play and Best Ensemble. That production of WAR MUSIC was picked up and transferred to The Geffen – a first ever for a 99-seat theater production in Los Angeles.
The Echo founded and produced The Ojai Playwrights Conference where new works by Christopher Durang, David Ives, Adam Rapp, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Jessica Goldberg, among many others, were workshopped. The Echo also created and maintains ActOut: an educational outreach program dedicated to helping at-risk youth.
The Echo Theater Company supports playwrights and new works for the theater by creating an environment that empowers the playwright to their own progress while bringing fresh and engaging theatrical events to Los Angeles.
