Center Theatre Group is joining Deaf West Theatre to launch a new production of global rock superstars Green Day’s legendary rock opera, American Idiot, the Tony and Grammy Award winning musical. The show will run from October 9 (previews Oct. 2 – 8) to November 16, 2024, re-opening the Mark Taper Forum, as the first offering of Center Theatre Group’s One CTG. One LA. Season, which was previously announced by Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director/CEO Meghan Pressman, and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker.
With this production, CTG Artistic Director Snehal Desai will be making his CTG directorial debut. Jennifer Weber (Broadway: & Juliet, KPOP) is the choreographer; Colin Analco (Deaf West: Fidelio) is the ASL choreographer.
American Idiot is produced in collaboration with the Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre, headed by Artistic Director DJ Kurs, and features an ensemble of both Deaf and hearing actors, performing simultaneously in American Sign Language and Spoken English. CTG and Deaf West have a long history of bold and exciting collaborations, including Pippin, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, and Big River—which went on to have an acclaimed run on Broadway followed by a National Tour.
American Idiot features music by Green Day; lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong; and book by Billie Joe Armstrong & Michael Mayer.
The cast includes Steven-Adam Agdeppa (TV: Parallel, CTG: A Christmas Story); Will Branner (Broadway: Back to the Future: The Musical, National Tour: Mean Girls); Jerusha Cavazos (Broadway: The Prom); Lark Detweiler (TV: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist); Daniel Durant (Broadway: Spring Awakening, Film: CODA, TV: Dancing with the Stars, Deaf West: Fidelio); Kaia T. Fitzgerald; Brady Fritz; Landen Gonzales; Otis Jones IV (Deaf West: Fidelio); Milo Manheim (Film: Disney’s Zombies, TV: School Spirits, Dancing with the Stars); Josué Martinez; Giovanni Maucere (Deaf West: Fidelio); James Olivas (CTG: The Secret Garden); Patrick Ortiz; Mason Alexander Park (West End: Cabaret, TV: The Sandman); Monika Peña; Mars Storm Rucker (Broadway: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, A Strange Loop); Mia Sempertegui; Angel Theory (TV: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, The Walking Dead); and Ali Fumiko Whitney (Film: Find Me Falling, AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead).
The set is by Takeshi Kata (Broadway: Water for Elephants); costumes by Lena Sands; lighting by Karyn Lawrence; sound by Cricket S. Myers (Broadway & CTG: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo); projections by David Murakami; Wig, Hair, and Make-up Design by Shelia Dorn; music is supervised and conducted by David O (Broadway: Billy Crystal’s Mr. Saturday Night), music arrangements and orchestrations by Tom Kitt; casting by Beth Lipari, CSA; and the Production Stage Manager is David S. Franklin. Lindsay Allbaugh is the Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group, and Jeff Perri is the Managing Director of Deaf West.
2024/25 Season programming at the Mark Taper Forum is made possible through the generous support of the S. Mark Taper Foundation. Additional season support is provided by Perenchio Foundation.
This production of American Idiot is made possible in part by the David Lee Foundation.
Tickets now on sale at CenterTheatreGroup.org.
About American Idiot
American Idiot, Green Day’s Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum album released in 2004, follows the exhilarating journey of a new generation of young Americans as they struggle to find meaning in a post 9/11 world. The subsequent Broadway musical featured the iconic album hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “21 Guns,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Holiday,” and the blockbuster title track, “American Idiot” from Green Day’s critically acclaimed 7th studio album. The show includes every song from the renowned record plus several songs from Green Day’s 2009 album, “21st Century Breakdown,” and a previously unreleased love song entitled, “When It’s Time.”
Desai said, “To kick-off my first season, I am excited to make my CTG directorial debut at the Taper with a new take on Green Day’s American Idiot. This explosive musical will take on a whole new meaning when we join forces with our friends at Deaf West Theatre, for the fourth time in our history , to tell this punk rock and wholly American musical tale in both English and American Sign Language. Pair that with the timing of what is sure to be a memorable election year, and we have the makings of what I believe truly great theatre should be all about: timely, resonant, inclusive, and, we hope, nothing short of electrifying.”
Kurs said, “This production of American Idiot challenges us to stretch the canvas of traditional theatre, painting new possibilities by connecting the material to Deaf characters and digital innovation. The expressive power of American Sign Language will bring a vibrant symphony of meaning and emotion to the songs of Green Day.”
Kurs continued, “With this reinvention of what American Idiot can be, Deaf West Theatre and Center Theatre Group come together as two pillars of the LA cultural landscape, celebrating a rich history of collaboration which speaks to our commitment towards pushing artistic boundaries.”
About the play, which won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, Rolling Stone said, “Though American Idiot carries echoes of such rock musicals as Tommy, Hair, Rent, and Spring Awakening, it cuts its own path to the heart. You won’t know what hit you—it’s a global knockout.”
The New York Times said, “Rage and love, those consuming emotions felt with a particularly acute pang in youth, all but burn up the stage in American Idiot, the thrillingly raucous and gorgeously wrought Broadway musical. A true rock opera … the music is thrilling: charged with urgency, rich in memorable melody and propulsive rhythms. From the moment the curtain rises on a panorama of baleful youngsters it’s clear that these kids are going to make themselves at home, even if it means tearing up the place in the process.”
Green Day just released their 14th studio album Saviors and is gearing up for their massive global stadium tour, kicking off in Europe May 30th and coming to the United States July 29th. As the groundbreaking album celebrates its 20th anniversary, fans will have a chance to experience it in an exciting new medium.
This production of American Idiot was licensed by Music Theatre International.
Tickets for Green Day’s American Idiot are available through CenterTheatreGroup.org, Audience Services at (213) 972-4400 or in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Offices at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown LA 90012.
Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading not-for-profit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman, and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, programs the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Center Theatre Group is one of the country’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstances to serve Los Angeles. Founded in 1967, Center Theatre Group has produced more than 700 productions across its three stages, including such iconic shows as Zoot Suit; Angels in America; The Kentucky Cycle; Biloxi Blues; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Children of a Lesser God; Curtains; The Drowsy Chaperone; 9 to 5: The Musical; and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. CenterTheatreGroup.org
Deaf West Theatre
Founded in Los Angeles in 1991, Tony Award®-winning Deaf West Theatre led by Artistic Director, David Kurs and Managing Director, Jeff Perri, engages artists and audiences in unparalleled theater experiences inspired by Deaf culture and the expressive power of sign language, weaving ASL with spoken English to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice. Committed to innovation, collaboration, and training, DWT is the artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds. Recent and past productions include the groundbreaking production of Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio (2022) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel; a new adaptation of Oedipus (2022) at the Getty Villa Museum directed and adapted by Jenny Koons; Our Town (2017), in a co-production with the Pasadena Playhouse; Spring Awakening The Musical (2015), which transferred from Inner-City Arts to the Wallis and then to Broadway (three Tony Award® nominations including Best Revival of a Musical); Big River The Musical (2004, Tony Award® nomination and four Drama Desk Awards on Broadway); Pippin (2009), produced at the Mark Taper Forum in a co-production with Center Theatre Group; Sleeping Beauty Wakes, also a co-production with Center Theatre Group, presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; Oliver! (2000, Ovation Award for Best Musical); and A Streetcar Named Desire (2000, Ovation Award for Best Play). DeafWest.org
