Los Angeles, CA

A community-based theater that actively engages older adults, as well as performers of all ethnicities and experience levels.

The Cornerstone Theater Company is a community-based theater headquartered in Los Angeles, California that brings together performers of all ethnicities, ages and experience levels in productions of both new plays and contemporary adaptations of classic works.

Nuts and Bolts

• The company spent five years in the late 1980s working on 12 musical productions in rural areas of ten different states. Today the company is based in Los Angeles.
• Today, Cornerstone Theater Company continues to build bridges between and within the diverse communities of L.A. by producing plays that reach out to a new generation of community performers.
• Cornerstone's Summer Residency program works with various California communities to create productions that combine students' artistry with that of experienced professionals and community collaborators.

• Their work has touched older adults by encouraging them to participate in contemporary productions.
• The company uses experienced actors to connect with a younger generation of aspiring performers.
• In 2006, the program produced a play called "Lethe" in San Francisco by local playwright Octavio Solis. "Lethe" explores the fragility of memory and how people prepare for the end of life. Cornerstone's production included a cast of 45, of whom 31 were local older adults or caregivers.

How can you do it?

• Reach out to every age group in your community. Don't discount the elderly or youth!
• Search for contemporary works that engage multiple demographics.
• Explore the potential of rural communities for your production.

For more information on this program: The Cornerstone Theater Company