Get Ready for a Cultural Extravaganza Like No Other at Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz
By Dolores Quintana
Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz (TRK), located at 10361 West Pico Boulevard, the esteemed performance venue at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles, is thrilled to announce its captivating fall season for 2023, showcasing an array of Los Angeles premieres, TRK Debuts, and beloved returning acts. Tickets for all shows are currently available at TRK.US.COM.
Kicking off the season will be the spirited performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, an iconic LGBTQ arts organization celebrated for its talent and perseverance against prejudice. Following this, the renowned Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra, under the masterful baton of Carlo Ponti, will grace the stage in support of music education initiatives in Southern California.
As the season unfolds, audiences can anticipate a diverse range of cultural experiences. Highlights include a live demonstration of Artificial Intelligence in “dSimon” by Swiss artist Simon Senn, a collection of captivating French animated films, a compelling French play starring Molière nominee Caroline Loeb in the role of iconic novelist Françoise Sagan, and a dynamic performance by the Django Festival All Stars, paying homage to the legendary Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
TRK Artistic Director Pierre Leloup expressed excitement about the season: “We’re excited to inaugurate our fall offerings with a vigorous commitment to meaningful programming across all genres and disciplines. TRK is deeply grateful to ELMA, the Jose Iturbi Foundation, TV5Monde, and KCRW and to all our sponsors for their remarkable generosity as we connect our audiences to French culture.”
We spoke with Pierre Leloup via phone and was very excited indeed about this year’s stellar programming.
Pierre Leloup: The theatre opened its doors in 2000. I’ve been programming since then, I have been the artistic director since then. We started with ten to twenty events and now we have about forty events each season. We are part of Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles, which is a private school that was founded in Los Angeles in 1964. Raymond Kabbaz is the founder of the Lycée. He wanted to build his own theater, and, unfortunately, died in 2000. He asked me if I could take the direction of the theater, which I did. I have been programming interdisciplinary events with French, Dutch, and international touch. It’s a 226-seat theatre, in Century City. So we program music and dance, and movies.
We have a few festivals and we also present shows with the students of the Lycée in the spring with a few shows presented for the parents of the students. Most of the shows are for the community and our venue is committed to promoting diversity and inclusivity through the programming. For the opening night, we are very. very proud to welcome the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Our program is very eclectic. We have theatre, we have a show on Françoise Sagan, a very famous writer in France, she is kind of like the James Dean of France. We have an animation festival with a selection of French short films.
We have dSimon, the US Premiere of a Swiss multimedia exploration on artificial intelligence. We have programming that is not French language or culture, including the famous jazz guitarist John Scofield. He’s one of the best musicians in jazz. We will have a local dance company performing in December.
Dolores Quintana: What are some of your favorite events coming up in the season?
PL: I love every show that we bring to the theatre. I am proud to be bringing John Schofield on that stage. I’m also very proud that everything we bring here is something different, a unique show each time.
Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz remains steadfast in its 23-year mission of promoting diverse cultural traditions worldwide, enriching the lives of youth, patrons, and artists in the Los Angeles area and beyond.
