A MESSAGE FROM CHRISTOPHER ASHLEY
THE RICH FAMILY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
Dear Playhouse Friends,
We are delighted to share the 2023/24 Season with you.
I constantly aspire to make La Jolla Playhouse an exhilarating place for you, our audiences, and a welcoming home for returning Playhouse artists and exciting newcomers alike to create shows that engage with our world. When I select a season, I’m looking for projects that crackle with creative exploration and fun. I’m also searching for plays and musicals that offer us clarity, inspiration and empathy.
The six world-premiere plays and musicals in our 2023/24 season have all of these qualities in abundance. Whether they’re rooted in the “now” or transport us to a past that looks very much like our present, these pieces feature bold characters who burn brightly and possess uncommon talent, vision and courage.
Some of those characters are based on extraordinary real people, like Billie Jean King and Hunter S. Thompson. Another is the hero of a 100-year-old literary masterpiece that has never felt more contemporary. Some are the unbridled inventions of marvelously theatrical playwrights. All of them provide us with unique and entertaining collective experiences – opportunities to escape to other times or places, while never failing to provide us with new insights and perspectives into our own world.
Thank you for joining us for a season of new shows that continue the Playhouse’s tradition of creating “the new and the next.”
See you soon at the Playhouse,
Christopher Ashley
The Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse
