Established in 2012, the Latinx Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles (LTA/LA) was inspired by the Latinx Theatre Commons. As a regional branch of that national theatre movement, LTA/LA adopted the commons model. It is an ad hoc group of individual artists and practitioners from Los Angeles and Orange County.

LTA/LA held its first convening, “The State of Latinx Theatre in Los Angeles” in 2013 at the Vincent Price Art Museum on the campus of East Los Angeles College. A cohort consisting of a cross-section of scholars, actors, directors, administrators and producers set out to view, assess, and investigate the state of Latinx theater in the Los Angeles area. Theater professionals from San Diego to San Jose attended this historic convening.

Diane Rodriguez, President of the Theater Communications Group Board of Directors and Associate Artistic Director at Center Theatre Group, was the keynote speaker.

Latinx Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles held its 2nd convening titled: “Navigating Currents in American Theater” in August 2014 at East LA College Department of Theater. During this event, a spontaneous “Timeline” of the history of Latinx theater in Los Angeles from the late 1960s onward was created by many participants in attendance.

In 2015, LTA/LA initiated its first Writers’ Circle program, which incubates new works from emerging artists, while providing access to established playwrights. Since then, the Writers’ Circle has generated over 60 new works, some of which have been work-shopped with several writers going on to larger regional theaters. Two staged reading series, originally called Nest Fest, have been produced to showcase this work.

LTA/LA held its 3rd convening, “Awake and Activate” in June of 2020 as a virtual program. The event spoke to the moment, a response to all the anti-Latino rhetoric and offered tools for artists to combat hatred and prejudice. At the convening, LTA/LA also honored the life of Diane Rodriguez.

Recognizing the urgent need to research, preserve and share the history of Latinx theater in modern Los Angeles, LTA/LA initiated the groundbreaking “Voces del Teatro Oral History Archive.” This project is comprised of over 40 video and audio interviews with key elder theatremakers who established companies and developed the genre of Latinx theatre in this city from the late 1960s to the present. This archive, the only one of its kind in the country, will be housed under the Latinx Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles Collection within the Special Collections and Archives at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at California State University Los Angeles.

The Latinx Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles Collection will also be expanding to include related individual collections of Los Angeles Latinx theatre photos, documents and ephemera. This collection will provide the foundation for further scholarship regarding this vibrant and evolving cultural treasure.

LTA/LA looks forward to building new artistic relationships among our peers, bringing Latinx theater to the forefront of the Los Angeles art scene by fostering the growth and visibility of Latinx theatre in the 21st century.