In 1995, The Elephant Theatre Company was created in downtown Los Angeles. Artistic Director David Fofi, with Matthew Jones, Jimmie D. Hudson and Michael Vaez, all graduates from the Cal State Long Beach Theatre Arts program move into a space at the Angel City Brewery artist complex, just off Main street. The space doubled as a Studio theatre and the loft apartment for the four members. Focused on their desire to continue their craft after graduation and faced with the reality of “day jobs” they renovated the space and pulled together some of the most talented writers, actors, directors, and minds they had worked with over the years. This group included founding members; Co-Artistic Director Don Cesario, Gina Soto, Christopher Game, Erin Toth, Jeff Walsh, Curtis and Kimberly Brooks, Tony Foster and Anthony Roman, just to name a few. Together they opened a 45-seat theatre and called it the Elephant off Main. This eclectic space became home to nine productions in two and a half years. The goal of the company and its founders was to produce a new brand of quality original theatre in Los Angeles.
Where did the “Elephant” come from? For our first project we chose to present and evening of early Sam Shepard works from the late sixties, Red Cross, 4-H Club and Fourteen Hundred Thousand. We still needed a name for our company so we asked everyone to bring in and pitch their suggestion over a few beverages. After much deliberation, two names remained in the fold, Off Main ( for the location and philosophy) and Elephant, which was suggested by Chris, who had come across this quote while reading a Shepard biography.
“ When Sam was first starting to write plays, he was writing little, almost chamber plays. Sam was working on something we were sitting and talking about some scene he wanted to do, and he said, ‘I don’t think that could be done anyway on the stage. There’s no point to doing it.’ And I said, ‘ Look, Sam if you want an Elephant to Appear on the stage without walking on from the wings, you should just write it And see what happens from it, and then see if there’s a way to do it, or a way to make it.” -Jacques Levy (first director of Red Cross)
We felt this related to us because we had little money, a hand full of lights, homemade light board, small stage and no AC. The theatre was 110 degrees, the tech booth was in a bedroom and for the audience there were a few chairs, couches, beanbags, stools and the floor. They loved it, and so did we.
A decade later, we’ve settled in Hollywood and dropped the Off Main. The Elephant has created four theatres, which include The Lillian and The Elephant Space / Asylum & Lab. We are a company of 50 strong and have presented more then a dozen critically acclaimed productions (see Chron and Press section) and continue to strive to tackle the “Elephant.”
…and all of our spaces have AC and real seats.
6322 Santa Monica Boulevard • Los Angeles, California 90038 Telephone: (323) 962-0046 • email: elephantinfo@yahoo.com
© Copyright Elephant Theatre Company 2004. All rights reserved. Web site development by Erika Harvey / Holler Morris