NEA GRANTS GIVEN TO 8 LOCAL NONPROFIT THEATER GROUPS

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded grants totaling more than $7 million to 178 nonprofit theater groups across the country, eight of them in Southern California.

Locally, the matching grants awarded for artistic excellence went to the Center Theatre Group (Los Angeles, $305,000), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, $60,000), La Jolla Playhouse (La Jolla, $37,500), Los Angeles Actors Theatre ($35,000), Odyssey Theatre Ensemble (Los Angeles, $30,000), L.A. Theatre Works (Venice, $12,500), East West Players (Los Angeles, $7,500), and Padua Hills Playwright’s Festival (Santa Monica, $7,500).

The federal grants, for fiscal year 1986-87, will enable the groups to enhance their artistic, administrative and community service activities. Statewide, 28 groups received grants. The $305,000 grant to the Center Theatre Group was the second highest award made. (The New York Shakespeare Festival received the top grant of $315,000.) Fifty groups were awarded grants in New York.