Arts and Entertainment
December 14, 2024
From: 24th Street TheatreNow More Than Ever... AGAIN!
This holiday season it’s time to dust off that phrase from yester-year; Now More Than Ever. Because what we do at 24th STreet Theatre matters Now, More Than Ever as our nation is more divided than ever. Times like these are exactly when the arts play such a vital role, because they truly bring all types of people together. The arts are for everyone; Liberals, Conservatives, or in between. Young, old, we all need art in our lives.
24th Street’s acclaimed theatre productions are among the best in L.A. This year we were proud to receive the NAACP Award for our 2021 show Rapunzel Alone by Mike Kenny. We were also very proud of this year’s production of the U.S. Premiere of Pascal & Julien by Australian playwright Daniel Keene. Both plays were directed by our Artistic Director Debbie Devine, who makes sure that every 24th Street show is relevant to today’s world.
Theatres have historically used their art to try to move society. The Market Theatre in Johannesburg is often credited with helping end Apartheid by presenting Athol Fugard’s work. Our co-founder, Jon White-Spunner came from The Market Theatre. He knew the importance of including community at 24th Street as he did at The Market in South Africa. We’ve kept that ethos for nearly 30 years now with our Mission: To Engage, Educate, and Provoke audiences of all ages with world-class art and arts education.
24th Street goes even further in making a difference by giving 100 scholarships to inner-city families each year for 30wks of free afterschool programs. We engage our community with free and low-cost tickets to Spanish-language theatre and one of the biggest Dia de los Muertos celebrations in the city. And there is no better theatre fieldtrip in Los Angeles than 24th Street’s, which served 10,000 students this year and over 100,000 LA County students in the last 2 decades.
Benjamin Franklin didn’t say “A Republic. And you can keep it if you support your local theatre.” But he might have, if he’d have seen how much 24th Street Theatre has contributed to culture and education in our neighborhood, city, and even internationally.
24th STreet Theatre actually does our part to Save the Republic every day;
These are things that help make a community whole. They are not partisan things. They are human things. They matter. We will continue to do whatever we can, in our role as an arts organization, to make the world a better place in these coming turbulent years.