Shows & Tickets
Backstage at the Geffen features surprise guests you’re sure to love. Inspiring playwrights, hilarious storytellers, and show-stopping headline performers make for an evening you won’t want to miss—all to benefit ourincredible artistic and educational initiatives.
This year, you’ll take over Westwood, enjoying award-winning cuisine at Lulu, the flagship restaurant of fellow UCLA partner Hammer Museum. This exclusive dinner is limited to 150 of Geffen Playhouse’s closest supporters.
Following dinner, you will be transported to an exciting night in the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, to experience the first Backstage at the Geffen show under the leadership of Oscar-winning Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney and Executive Director / CEO Gil Cates, Jr.
After the show, we’ll throw open the doors to our Geffen Playhouse community and end the evening under the stars with a raucous and rollicking block party with food and fun for everyone!
VIP Dinner + Event Tickets Event Tickets
Sarah WeinbergChief Development Officer310.208.6500 x140
FOUNDERS AWARD
A champion of high-quality, accessible public higher education, Gene Block has served as chancellor of UCLA—overseeing the university’s three-part mission of education, research and service—since 2007. Under Chancellor Block’s leadership, UCLA has greatly enhanced its position as a national leader in enrolling undergraduates who come from low-income backgrounds, have been traditionally underrepresented in higher education or are among the first in their families to go to college.
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TRAILBLAZERS AWARD
Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow, award-winning writer/choreographer, and co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences. Larissa will be represented across the country in the 2023-2024 season with a revised book of the beloved Jerome Robbins Broadway musical, Peter Pan. She made her Broadway debut in the 2022-2023 season with her satirical comedy, The Thanksgiving Play making her the first known female, Native playwright to be produced on Broadway (second only to the great Lynne Riggs in the 1930s).
ARTISTIC IMPACT AWARD
Colman Domingo has been nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Tony, Critics Choice Award, Independent Spirit, Gotham Award, Lawrence Olivier, Drama Desk, Drama League award. He has won an Emmy, Astra, AAFCA, NAACP Image, and Black Reel Award. In 2023, Domingo starred as Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin in Netflix and Higher Ground’s film Rustin for which he received an Academy Award nomination, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and SAG nomination. He can also be seen as “Mister” in the Warner Bros production of The Color Purple, which received a SAG Ensemble nomination and a NAACP award.READ MORE
2023 Backstage at the Geffen
2022 Backstage at the Geffen
2021 Backstage at the Geffen
2019 Backstage at the Geffen
2018 Backstage at the Geffen
Backstage at the Geffen Honorees
* Donors as of May 18, 2023.
Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve young people and the community at large in the arts.
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