“Broadway Caliber! One of LA’s most indispensable venues’’ – Los Angeles Times
“The Fountain Theatre is, by far, the best and the brightest that Los Angeles has to offer.” – Broadway World
The Fountain Theatre is a non-profit producing organization established in 1990 by co-Artistic Directors Deborah Lawlor and Stephen Sachs dedicated to providing a nurturing, creative home for multi-ethnic theatre and dance artists. The Fountain offers a safe, supportive haven for artists of varied backgrounds to gather, interact and inspire each other toward the creation of work that will ignite and illuminate the community from which it’s drawn and give creative voice to those who may not otherwise be heard.
Now in its 26th year, The Fountain has grown into one of the most highly regarded theatres in Los Angeles. The Fountain Theatre’s activities include a year- season of fully produced new and established plays (34 world premieres and 44 U.S./West Coast/Southern California/Los Angeles premieres), a full season of Flamenco and multi-ethnic dance, a New Plays developmental series, and educational outreach programs.
To date, Fountain Theatre productions have won more than 225 awards for all areas of production, performance, and design. The Fountain has the distinction of being honored with more nominations and winning more Ovation awards than any other intimate theatre in Los Angeles, winning the preeminent Best Season Award twice in six years. The Fountain was honored with the 2014 BEST Award from the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, and has been presented with seven Awards of Excellence from the Los Angeles City Council for enhancing the cultural life of the city. The Hollywood Arts Council presented the Fountain with its Charlie Award for overall achievement of excellence in Theatre. The Fountain was instrumental in launching, hosting and guiding the Deaf West Theatre Company at the Fountain in 1991.
Fountain projects have been seen in major theaters around the country, internationally and around the world and have been made into a CBS Movie-for-Television and a BBC Radio Drama. New plays developed at the Fountain Theatre have won the PEN USA Literary Award for Drama, been named PEN Award Finalists 3 times, the Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play, LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, the Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the California Governor’s Media Access Award, and many other honors.
Recent Fountain highlights include being honored with the 2014 Ovation Award for Best Season and the 2014 BEST Award for overall excellence from the Biller Foundation; the Fountain play Bakersfield Mist in London’s West End starring Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid; the two-month sold-out run of Citizen: An American Lyric; the 25th Anniversary Gala at the Redbury Hotel; and the last seven Fountain productions consecutively highlighted as Critic’s Choice in the Los Angeles Times.
Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor, the Fountain is also the premier venue for Flamenco music and dance in Los Angeles. Since 1990 it has produced over 600 world-class Flamenco concerts on its intimate stage and nine seasons at the 1200-seat Ford Amphitheater. The Fountain has also toured Flamenco projects throughout the Western United States. The Fountain’s Forever Flamenco is in its 14th year.
