The Destination for Shakespeare in Los Angeles
SCLA provides Los Angeles with innovative, world-class theatrical productions of Shakespeare and other great works, high-quality arts education and workforce development programs for underserved youth, veterans, and formerly incarcerated people — because arts engagement builds community and changes lives.
The Shakespeare Center Comprehensive Campaign
While we are under construction, we will continue to be a home for Inspiring mainstage productions, Empowering education and youth development programs, and community Serving initiatives that uplift our community.
Now Showing at the Shakespeare Center
A Celebration of Veterans in Art
Join us for a “Celebration of Veterans in Art” as the Shakespeare Center honors current and past participants of our nationally recognized workforce training program Veterans in Art (ViA). Since 2012, the program has disseminated over $550,000 in wages and provided 200 chronically under-employed and honorably discharged Military Veterans with vocational training in the technical arts, workforce readiness skills, personal development, and healing.
Tickets are only $50 and the evening includes:
Performances and testimonials from current and past ViA participants
A special screening of a Veterans in Art documentary currently being produced by Veterans Rob Ham and Mike Dowling
Light appetizers and refreshments
AND a very special performance by The New Directions Veterans Choir, an award winning a cappella group singing renditions of doo-wop, soul, traditional gospel and popular music.
Join our Membership Program!
Becoming a member is the easiest way to help the Shakespeare Center change lives in LA! Members receive exclusive discounts to our online store (opening this month), invites to member only events, tickets to our opening season, and so much more! Join this month to get special discounts and offers!
Will Power After-School
Our signature youth serving program Will Power After-School serves poverty threshold youth ages 14-24, who are hired as full-time, paid employees to study, create, produce, and perform adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. Youth are guided throughout by trained teaching artists/mentors, human relations facilitators, and peer mentors who are program alumni. The program develops empathy and workforce skills; builds academic resilience and literacy skills; enhances interpersonal communication; and nurtures an appreciation for creative, artistic expression. It takes place during the after-school hours and on summer break and culminates in free public performances created by and featuring youth.
Veterans in Art
In 2012, SCLA launched Veterans in Art (ViA), a program offering short-term paid vocational training in technical theater arts and life-skills development for high-need, chronically underemployed, honorably discharged U.S. military veterans. Its goal is to build confidence and community for veterans who are struggling with their reentry to civilian life. ViA participants work as venue and scenic crews, audio engineers, wardrobe assistants, and technical directors for professional and WPY productions.
The Shakespeare Center Ignites Social Change
Now, more than ever, we are committed to being a vibrant hub for award-winning, contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare’s works and to serving our community through programs designed to engage and enrich people from all walks of life.
Arts Education
Will Power to Schools offers teachers at Title 1 schools professional development opportunities, arts integration training projects, and classroom curriculum materials. This nationally-recognized program enhances the way teachers inspire meaningful classroom engagement related to the works of William Shakespeare.
Our recent ground-breaking project, MACBETH: A Virtual Live-Action Graphic Novel, is one example of our highly innovative educational tools that have proven immensely popular with educators throughout Los Angeles and around the country.
Mainstage Productions
The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles offers critically acclaimed mainstage and outdoor productions that entertain and enrich audiences, igniting social change grounded in the belief that live theater is a birthright. Our most recent production of The Tempest: An Immersive Experience was named one of the “nine top Los Angeles theater offerings for 2023” by the Los Angeles Times.
In development is the play R.U.R., a 1921 classic of Czech theater written by Karel Čapek which gave the world the word "robot" and explored the rewards and risks of artificial intelligence.
Arts Based Workforce Development
Will Power After School provides at-risk youth ages 15-21 with full-time arts-based employment at partner school sites in underserved communities. Students study, create, produce, and perform adaptations of Shakespeare plays under the guidance of trained teaching artists and peer mentors who are program alumni.
Our Veterans in Art program provides paid vocational training in technical theater arts and life-skills development for high need, honorably discharged U.S. military veterans. Veterans work as venue and scenic crews, audio engineers, and wardrobe assistants for mainstage professional productions.