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 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.

Current Projects

The Čapek Initiative: R.U.R.

During our renovation project, we will be developing, in partnership with the Consul General of the Czech Republic and the Svanda Theater, a new English language adaptation of the play R.U.R., a 1921 classic of Czech theater written by Karel Čapek. This play, which gave the world the word "robot” confronted utopian notions of science and technology, which were as hotly debated in Čapek’s time as they are today. In producing this culturally prescient play, our aim is to stimulate conversation about the rewards and risks of artificial intelligence, the technology of the present that is generating the same kind of anxiety and excitement that Čapek wrote about so brilliantly over 100 years ago.

Will Power Afterschool

Our signature youth serving program Will Power After School will continue to provide 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.

Veterans in Art

SCLA’s Veterans in Art (ViA) program provides paid vocational training in technical theater arts and life-skills development for high need, honorably discharged U.S. military veterans. Launched in 2013, the program is SCLA’s arts-based transitional employment opportunity for U.S. military veterans who work as venue and scenic crews, audio engineers, wardrobe assistants, ushers, parking attendants, site specific marketers, technical directors, and actors for SCLA’s mainstage professional 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.