L.A. Theatre Works
L.A. Theatre Works (LATW) has been the leading radio theater company in the U. S. for over twenty years. Producing Director Susan Albert Loewenberg brings together the world’s greatest actors to perform classic and contemporary plays, recorded on audiotapes with innovative sound technologies. The company’s award-winning Audio Theatre Collection includes more than 360 titles — the largest library of its kind in the world.
Founded in 1974, LATW’s mission is to “enrich the cultural life of our national community” by producing and preserving significant works of dramatic literature. They have produced audio plays and developed programs to “assure the widest public access to these great works.” The group’s four main programs are The Play's The Thing, Alive & Aloud, Library Access, and the Arts & Children Project. Its award-winning, critically acclaimed radio theatre series The Play's The Thing reaches listeners across the country on XM Satellite Radio, and internationally on Voice of America and other English language broadcasts. You can listen online every week at www.kpcc.org!
Alive & Aloud provides audio plays, along with study guides and resource materials, to more than 2,000 public secondary schools and libraries nationwide. It’s a tool for carrying out the LATW goal of making the arts available to incorporate into every classroom subject. Along with this program, Library Access enables 900 public libraries - particularly in areas of the country where money for the arts is limited - to get free plays from the LATW audio collection.
The Arts & Children Project has worked with over 75,000 incarcerated and at-risk students within Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Schools, after-school programs and public schools to provide workshops in literary, performing and visual arts. LATW believes students from disadvantaged areas deserve a creative outlet and the opportunity to have a voice within their community.
Nationally and locally, when funding for education is inadequate, the first areas to be cut are usually art, drama and music, but LATW believes access to the arts is essential. Studies show it improves overall student performance, instills self-esteem and discipline, and provides creative outlets for self-expression. In addition, the arts enable greater understanding of human experiences, greater respect and ease of adaptation to others values and self-expression, and increased ability with problem solving and analytical tools. Due to the tremendous value all forms of artistic self-expression have to individuals and society, groups such as the L. A. Theatre Works are determined to keep the arts alive and accessible.