Latino Theater Company celebrates 41 years
of theater and community with dynamic 2026 season
LOS ANGELES (January 27, 2026) — L.A.’s Latino Theater Company enters its 41st season with a dynamic slate of productions and arts education programming that celebrates its 20th anniversary operating The Los Angeles Theatre Center. The new season reflects the company’s continued commitment to bold, culturally resonant storytelling and deep collaboration with a wide-ranging array of artists at The LATC, a vibrant, multi-theater venue where multiple productions unfold simultaneously across five distinct performance spaces.
Named to the Los Angeles Times “Best of Latino L.A.” list and a 2025 “Nonprofit of the Year” by California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, the Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future. The company has operated the City of Los Angeles-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center, housed in a former bank building in Downtown L.A.’s historic core, since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. The City, recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its “effective first-class theater center operations,” recently extended the company’s initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056. This month, Latino Theater Company was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle’s 2025 Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theater. Artistic director Jose Luis Valenzuela is the recipient of multiple awards including lifetime achievement awards from both the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and theater review site Stage Raw.
“We are dedicated to making the arts accessible, relevant and rooted in community,” says Valenzuela. “From free and low-cost performances to education and training programs that nurture the next generation of artists, The Los Angeles Theatre Center continues to be a place where learning, creativity and cultural exchange thrive side by side.”
In 2026, Latino Theater Company continues to expand the canon of American theater through new commissions and world premieres, while remaining grounded in cultural traditions. The company’s work stands as a national model for how a theater can serve artists, audiences and community at the highest level.
Launching the season on January 30 with three performances through February 1, Latino Theater Company puts East Los Angeles College students on The LATC stage for three Pay–What–You-Can performances of Just Like Us by Karen Zacarías. Zacarías’ non-fiction play about four Latina teenage girls who find their opportunities in life dictated by their immigration status — or lack thereof — was a runaway hit for the company in 2025. Director Fidel Gómez, who was honored with an LA Theatre Bites award for his work on that production, returns to guide the ELAC students. Just Like Us is presented under the auspices of Latino Theater Company’s IMPACT Initiative, providing students enrolled at 19 community colleges across Los Angeles County with free access to live theater, including backstage and performance opportunities, master classes with seasoned professionals, a full subscription to all Latino Theater Company productions, and post-show discussions with artists.
Opening April 4 and running through May 3 (previews March 26 through April 3), Fidel Gómez is back at The LATC to direct the world premiere of Level Up!, by Gabriel Rivas Gómez. In this multigenerational play co-commissioned by Latino Theater Company and Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis as part of the Mellon Foundation’s Generation Now initiative, and developed in Latino Theater Company’s Circle of Imaginistas playwriting group, Desi embarks on a journey of self-discovery through real and virtual worlds in a quest to save her dog and be reunited with her mom. In the world of her videogame, Desi and her family transform into larger-than-life videogame heroes and find what it means to live as your authentic self IRL.
Running April 18 through May 17 (previews April 9 through April 17), Jose Luis Valenzuela directs the world premiere of the newest work by Latino Theater Company resident playwright Evelina Fernández, also developed in the company’s Circle of Imaginistas playwriting group. Exploring themes of memory loss, family dynamics and the burden of caregiving, The Storyteller of East LA underscores the sustaining power of love, compassion and storytelling, and the resilience of family, despite its conflicts and complexities.
Teatro Alebrijes, a one-of-a-kind LGBTQ Latinx theater ensemble from San Jose, CA, returns to The LATC from May 2 through May 24 (previews April 30 and May 1) with one of the highlights of Latino Theater Company’s 2024 Encuentro Festival: Carlota: Alhajero de Secretos (Carlota: Jewelry Box of Secrets). Carlota holds a family secret ready to burst out of her in this work that is equal parts Lorca, Ibsen and scandal… but all heart.
From April 23 through May 16, Latino Theater Company’s inaugural “Under the Stained Glass” music series will offer live music in The LATC’s Grand Lobby on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free. Grab a drink, enjoy the sounds, and stay for a performance.
Beginning September 9 (previews September 3 through September 5) and continuing through October 3, the company will present a new adaptation of Antigone directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela at the Getty Villa’s outdoor classical theater. Stay tuned for additional details at a later date.
Opening October 3 and running through November 1 (previews October 1 and October 2), Asian American theater collective Artists at Play and Latino Theater Company embark on their fourth collaboration in as many years. Known for illuminating shared histories and unexpected intersections, the two companies unite to present a production that bridges cultures and perspectives through dynamic storytelling. Additional details will be announced at a later date.
Later that month, running October 10 through November 1 (previews on October 8 and October 9), Latino Theater Company brings back another highlight from its 2024 Encuentro Festival: Austin, TX theater company Glass Half Full returns with its unique production of Yamel Cucuy. Performed in both English and Spanish (with Spanish and English supertitles), set to an original score of indigenous percussion, and blending sophisticated puppetry with live actors, this story of a girl haunted by folkloric spirits and ICE agents draws on frightening folk tales and modern horror movies to create a terrifying psychological landscape of legal and spiritual pitfalls.
Closing out October, from October 17 through November 15 (previews October 8 through October 16), MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipient Luis Alfaro continues his exploration of the stories of migrant farm workers in California’s Central Valley with Earlimart, a full-length play commissioned by Latino Theater Company and developed in the company’s Circle of Imaginistas playwriting group.
November will see the beautiful Los Angeles Theatre Center lobby transformed for Latino Theater Company annual Gala, once again bringing together esteemed artists, generous donors and cherished community members for an enchanting evening of kinship, fine cuisine, and heartfelt toasts.
Finally, on Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5, Latino Theater Company marks the 20th anniversary of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin, the company’s epic holiday production that’s taken place every year since 2006 at Downtown’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Featuring over 100 actors, singers and indigenous Aztec dancers as well as children and seniors from the community, La Virgen is the City’s largest theatrical holiday pageant. Performed in Spanish with English supertitles.
Educational outreach programs in 2026 include Play at Work, a free after-school vocational training program that teaches stagecraft to Los Angeles public high school teens and young adults, taking place February 23 through April 22 and August 31 through October 28; and a five-week Summer Youth Conservatory for high school students June 20 through July 24, with a culminating “Spotlight” performance on Saturday, July 25. Full Scholarships for Summer Youth Conservatory students are made possible through the generous support of Los Angeles County First District Supervisor, Hilda L. Solis.
For more information about the Latino Theater Company and the 2026 season, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.
# # #