Outsourcing the search for new works

It was with great sadness that I read of Michael Ritchie’s decision to eliminate Center Theatre Group’s new play programs [“Center Theatre Cuts New Play Programs,” by Don Shirley, May 24]. It is inconceivable to me that, in a city that produces as much theater as Los Angeles does, there is no support left for the development of new work.

What Ritchie fails to recognize is that the Mark Taper Forum was built on the backs of new, emerging playwrights. With the help of men and women such as Luis Alfaro (at the Taper), and Juliette Carrillo and Jose Cruz Gonzalez (both at South Coast Rep), exciting new writers were able to share their diverse artistic voices. It is sad to watch these voices silenced.

Thorin Alexander

Los Angeles

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As a playwright and former theater critic, I agree with Michael Ritchie’s decision to eliminate play development programs. Ritchie knows a good or developmentally worthy play when he reads one. If you have labs devoted to the development of ethnic playwrights, you have put yourself in a trap. What if you can’t at one time find a fine African American or Latino or Asian writer with potential? How do you justify your existence? How do you keep the public and private money flowing?

Ritchie’s decision to look at productions of small L.A. theaters is a good one. That’s where much of the real development is taking place.

Frank Filosa

Glendale